Hello - complete novice to posting ! Prascend problems

[Amber Rambler]

Hi - hope someone can offer some advice here. Have a Cushings Cob x Hackney mare about 10 years old so every day it is the problem of finding something which Amber will accept with her pill in. OK - so it's not as though we haven't tried everything but she has no specific "favourite" thing and although she may take a carrot one day she won't the next and she ambles off around the field and totally refuses to take the treat which by now the pill has dissolved in. We have been quite inventive and I have researched loads of web sites trying to get ideas and the following are just some ! Apple - do you know a horse who hates apples ? She does !, carrot, honey or syrup bread, fruit cake, sultannas, soft mints, polos, special horsey biscuits - you name it we have tried it - even if we put the pill in her usual hard food she will sometimes refuse it - it is as if she can "smell" the pill. We are at our wits end because she is just so unreliable and we can't find anything that she will regularly like. Also, she is very prone to laminitis so we have to be careful she doesn't get "overweight" so feeding her hard food in the summer even if a handful with the Prascend in it probably is not a good idea ! Shame Boehringer who make Prascend can't develop a "sticky patch" or an implant which the vet could inject once a year. I did contact Boehringers about such a development but they weren't interested as they make enough profit from the pills ! If anyone has any suggestions I would be really grateful as she has to take her pill every day otherwise she will get ill quite quickly. Thanks !

 

[JillA]

Get a lamb colostrum syringe, dissolve the tablet in some apple puree. Check her mouth is empty of food and syringe it in - the only reliable way my 36yr old (arab mare with a Phd lol) will take hers. If she isn't good enough to take meds from a syringe you might have to train her with just the apple puree for a few times first.

 

[Amber Rambler]

Hi -= thank you so much for your help ! She really is a stubborn mare but I will definitely give this a whirl - she won't take an ordinary apple when most horses would "kill" for an apple - she just turns her nose up and ambles away - hence her name, Amber Rambler !!!

 

[JillA]

I knew someone who fitted them into the centre hole of a polo, I think it might have to be half at a time. Polos are strong enough tasting to mask the bitter taste of the Prascend, but don't give her a choice, shove it on her tongue and keep her mouth closed until she has chewed it

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

My (ex) livery used to crush them on her ponies teeth on the side of her mouth.
Oddly tho pony wouldn't eat anything offered if she thought it suspicious, she was happy to have pills etc popped inside the side of her mouth & then crushed on her lower jaw.

 

[CazD]

I feel your pain. Our cushings pony is just like yours. She is a rescue and was virtually feral when she arrived 5 years ago. Even now she is difficult to handle. Syringing anything in her mouth is impossible as touching her mouth will result in her rearing up and even making her feel "trapped" sends her into a blind panic. I've tried every idea going for getting her to take the prascend. She is suspicious of everything and wont take anything from anyone's hands. I got to the point of plaiting the tablet into a bit of grass and then putting the pile on the ground in front of her, which worked for a while and then stopped. The best thing we have found is to give her a small feed morning and evening and put the tablet into the centre of the small mound of feed. If we fail in the morning we can then try again in the evening. Unfortunately we have to feed the other two ponies as well at the same time as if she is the only one getting a feed then she wont touch it! She seems more comfortable with the routine of a feed every time we turn up.some weeks we cant get her to take more than 1 tablet, some weeks we manage 5. I work on the basis that I have tried my best, she is around 28 and has had 5 good years with us after goodness knows what kind of life and if she gets laminitis or goes downhill then we will pts.