how can I get my horse to eat his medicine

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angel01

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Hi all

My last thread was about my horse having an injured leg

had vet out today he got injections for the infection, and she left me with some bute, and another type of sachet witch is like granuales yuck.

Anyway made his feeds up with the recommended medicine vet said give him, but he turned his nose up to it with disgust and would,nt eat his tea,

Have any of you any ideas how i am going to get him to take this medicine he needs for pain relief and antimflamatry, I even put treacle in his feeds still not having it

he always has a good appitate

thakyou
 
Crush the granules up in a pessle and mortar and make a paste, and administer in a syringe. Either that, or try a honey sandwich.
 
Apple juice and plenty of treats! (ofc not too meany though!) we chop up a banana and put it in with ours and mop up the powder left on the sides with it! Medicine is usually bitter so Anything sweet is usually the trick tbh!
 
We grated carrotts/parsnips and apples into buzz's when he was on bute and anti b's also added two tiny drops of peppermint essence, worked a treat
 
It's probably Noradine granules you've been given - it's an antibiotic. Unfortunately, it tastes very very bitter (dip your finger in!) and some horses refuse to eat it. You might have problems crushing it and syringing it because a) it doesn't dissolve into the water/apple juice/whatever you'd use b) you have to tip it in from the end c) as you tip it in it drips out of the bottom d) when you then try to put the plunger in, it squirts everywhere and runs down your arm and there goes £5 of Noradine! Been there done it. Honey or treacle sandwich might work but again, a determined Noradine hater will refuse to touch it at the 1st taste. Slopping apple juice into his feed won't deter the determined horse, nor will coring an apple, packing the Noradine in it and trying to wedge the top of the apple core back on. Suspicions aroused, some horses won't go within 10 miles of it. And for every 1 of these methods that fail, you're chucking a £5 sachet down the plughole! Good luck! My horse is so passionately anti Noradine that I have to buy the pre filled paste tubes (like wormers). They work a treat. But at £18 a tube instead of £5 a sachet, you need to seriously love your horse!!!
 
If it's already in his feed and he won't touch it, let him think another horse is going to eat it. This worked with my bute hater, I just borrowed a greedy pony and let it sniff at his feed (which was in a door manger) and he didn't find it quite so bad ;)
 
Thankyou for all your replies and suggestions so far

I got down the yard this morning to find out that he had,nt ate is breakfast either.

Sooooo a horse owner on the same block as me suggested trying him with something he has,nt had before, so we tried him with a bit of ready grass with the bute sachet,,,,and he loved it ate every single bit,

At least i got one sachet down.

I have the task of tackling him with his nyrodine tonigt which is going to be fun ha,

Is ready grass ok to feed a tB though???
 
As far as the syringe method goes, cut the little spikey bit off the end of the syringe with a sharp knife, this will leave you a big enough hole with which to suck up the paste, but that it won't drip back out again. You will have to grind the granules down, like I said, with a pessle and mortar, then add a bit of warm water and a spoonfull of honey. Make sure it's not too runny, just runny enough to allow you to suck it up in the syringe. Then treat it as a wormer paste, and don't let the horse loewer his head after putting it in the mouth.
 
:) my horse i lost a few weeks ago was a bugger with meds and this post has made me smile thinking about it!

Over the years, things i found that have worked.....
jam sandwiches
apple juice in feed
treale - can work added to feed on on a wooden spoon with the meds on (assuming its only a small amount of meds)
malt extract in feed (that was my dads idea)
peppermint flavouring in feed
grated carrot in feed (maybe with some mashed up apple added)

also had a livery whos horse was on long term bute, she used to make peppermint creams with bute in for him!

i always found that if its quite a bit per dose, dont try and get it all down at once, but every 5-10 minutes (with a few nice unmedicated treats inbetween)

Hope your horsey is better soon :)
 
This is an update to the drama i am having lol

Tried to give his medicine tonight yet again failed :(

I tried a bit of feed with the medicine this was small handfulls at a time with breaks inbetween with the following

Apples
Banana
carrot
apple Juice
honey

ARRRRR nothing he would,nt touch anything, he wanted to but he was too clued up clever boy i dont know what else i can do I have to Nydrine sachets left and dont want to waste them

I think i might try the yogut and angel delight tomorrow night

he will have to go hungry again tonight which im not at all happy about, id rather of him have his tea than to have his hay nets,

HELP i really am at my witts end, and need a hug i am shatterd its took me two hours tonight trying everything,,, wow, i feel like such a failure right now: confused:
 
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I cannot get bute down my mare in any way!!! I feed danilon when she needs pain relief for any reason, this isn't bitter tasting like bute and she'll eat it.
 
You could try freezing the granules as when frozen they don't taste so bad!! We used to do it years ago when the wormers were crud!
 
Use an irrigation syringe (from the vet) which has a wide nozzle. Mix meds and drinking chocolate to a thick paste and give as a wormer.
We had a Shire who threw a jam & bute sandwich into her water bucket after I gave it to her twice. She made sure I couldn't give it to her again.
 
Hold up, why can't you give him his haynets? Don't leave him with nothing to eat all night. Give him a normal feed if he doesn't want the one with the meds in, he still needs to eat or he'll end up with colic as well!!!
 
i wish they could realise that we're only doing it to help them :rolleyes:

mine had bute and equitrim in his dinner and he was not impressed - he was picking the pony nuts out of it and leaving the mix of chaff, molasses and medicine in the bucket :mad:

going to have to get creative tomorrow morning :p
 
Get some glycerine from either your local chemist or the baking aisle in the supermarket, grind the granules in a mortar and pestle or old salt grinder (you can get them with sea salt in) mix granules with glycerine till they dissolve and syringe in like wormer. Its quite thick and if you do a bit at a time they can't really spit it out. Good luck with your horse.
 
lhotse said:
Hold up, why can't you give him his haynets? Don't leave him with nothing to eat all night. Give him a normal feed if he doesn't want the one with the meds in, he still needs to eat or he'll end up with colic as well!!!
Click to expand...

I did put the haynets back in before i left duhhh,,dont think id leave him with anything, and if anything he did have an apple a few carrots some banana just left the rest he did,nt like so he did get something just picked out what he wanted and have left the feed with him as he was hungry i also topped it up with his dengi and he ate that so he has,nt gone that hungry and he does have 3 big haynets for the night :)
 
I had to make up feeds for a mare at the yard who'd cut her nose, so she was on Bute and anti-biotics. It was all granuly and horrible, but using beet pulp and a smidgen of molasses, she didn't seem to notice it in amongst the chaff and barley because the feed was wet. Otherwise I've been told apple juice is a wonderful way of getting medication into a horse, but lots of drugs might not have the right texture and solubility to make it viable.
 
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