Getting a fussy horse to eat bute......??

[dannykins]

Just wondering if you had any ideas? The horse just has a scoop of hi-fi lite and apples and carrots but won't touch it at all with bute in! Have tried splitting it over two feeds so only half a sachet in each feed, and have tried mollasses, apple juice, treacle, hidden in an apple but he just won't touch it!!

Any other ideas?? Thanks!

 

[LankyLucy]

Try mixing with honey or apple sauce and making it into a sandwich. Works for mine.

 

[rrose]

apple sauce

 

[RachelB]

My friend's horse won't touch anything with either bute or wormer in, and won't eat anything until the taste has gone from her mouth. Including grass, when she gets turned out she will just stand and sulk. The only way she's found of getting anything down her throat is to syringe it down (she mixes bute with a bit of water into a paste) and stand for at least 10 mins massaging Cracks' throat until she swallows.
Other than that, I've heard that apple juice may be good although haven't tried it myself.

 

[eventergirl87]

yup if our wont eat it feed....... we dont fuss them with other food just water wack in bute syringe, in and hold up neck and massage it till they swallow.

 

[dunc_n_toby]

black treacle in a sandwich with the bute inside. . . . irresistable!

 

[_daisy_]

mine wont eat it either. Ive tried molasses etc but she still knows what im trying to give her. Gave it up as a bad job and started giving her danilon instead as its sugar coated - she loves it!!

 

[brighteyes]

Use Danilon instead.

 

[taceann]

Ask vet for Bute in paste form in syringe or ask for Danilon which is supposed to be tastier but more expensive.

Mine can sniff it from half a mile and I tried every flavour of sandwich, juice that you can think of, none worked. The sachets are very difficult to dissolve in water anyway. The best I managed was to mix with icing sugar and water into a paste and use an old syringe.

Easier to ask vet for it already in paste form !

 

[cariadssogreat]

I always make polo mint gravy - and it works every time. Just allow polos to dissolve into boiling water, pour over a small feed with the bute in and bobs ur uncle.

 

[harvgj19]

bread and butter sandwich always worked for me, or putting mollichaff in his dinner.

 

[flyingfeet]

We had a little copper tube bent like a pipe - you'd tip the bute in and then puff into the mouth of the horse.

Offending horse still looked very hurt, but easier than mixing it up in a syringe as bute doesn't dissolve easily.

Also watch for cunning horses learning to 'blow back', otherwise you end up with the mouthful of bute (this is probably totally un-health and safety!)

 

[Little_Mare]

Oh no - I forgot all about the trauma of getting my old pony to have it! She was a nightmare but from reading the replies it seems a few are - no one I knew at the time had come across one so determined not to have it!

We used the water and a syringe method too but as a few others have said its not ideal as bute is insoluble and blocks the syringe if you don't keep shaking it up! It shows how sensitive they are - my mum even tried some to see how bad it tasted and she said it was tasteless!

 

[ann-jen]

If you are having a real job getting them in ask your vet for the tablet version. They come in 200mg sugar coated tablets - 5 of these are equivalent to 1 sachet of bute. They look exactly like mint imperials so if you mix the 5 butes with some real mint imperials they go down no problem.

 

[Caritas]

You could put it in sa big syringe with water or put abour 5 scoops of garlic in his feed with it. Only of course if your horse likes it, it really works for mine. Good luck!!

 

[madhector]

jam sandwich

 

[JessPickle]

getting some vegetables and using a vege peeler, then putting them in the feeds then in order to eat them they have to eat the bute. A few polos also work because mint is quite strong

 

[cosmo_sam]

I'm sure I've heard somewhere that freezing it before administering kills the smell?? I haven't tried it though

 

[Tempi]

when Bloss was off her food last week and i was having to give her bute i emptied the sachet into a large suringe, held the end, filled with water, shock it (to mix it up) and suringed it in. Worked really well.

 

[Sags_Deer]

Use danillon instead far easier! or the syringe in water, custard etc.

 

[bracken1]

Try mint. Widely used for disguising medicine

 

[Joya]

When Gem wouldn't eat it, I had to hollow out a carrot and pour the bute in there, she ate it and then realised...ooh if looks could kill! LOL

 

[S_N]

1. Take a 50ml syringe and pull out the plunger
2. Fill approx. 2/3rds with HOT tap water (keep your finger/thumb over spouty end)
3. Pour in opened sachet(s) of bute
4. Reposition plunger into syringe, and in one movement, push plunger in gently and turn syringe over so that the spout is facing the ceiling.
5. Shake well
6. Administer to horse

 

[RobinHood]

Putting in the fridge or the freezer seems to remove the smell/taste of it. I normally mix it with a bit of yohurt, put it on a wooden spoon and stick it on the tongue.

 

[BBs]

We had a horse who had to have bute daily for teh rest of his life. He wouldnt take it either so we had to mix a sachet with water and shoot it down his mouth with a syringe

 

[ss1]

Mine is really fussy too, the only way I can get it down her is to grate a couple of apples, mix the bute with that and then put it between 2 slices of bread. The bute mixes with the juice and they can't pick it out that way, dispurses the powder and they can't usually tell it's there.