ideas for medicating fussy cushings pony

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CazD

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My elderly rescue pony was diagnosed with cushings earlier this year and is on half a prascend tablet per day. I'm having real problems finding something to hide the tablet in which she will eat. She has had difficult past and is dangerous to worm with a syringe so dissolving the tablet and trying to syringe it in her mouth is not a possibility. She wont take anything hand fed to her. She will take a tablet for a few days hidden in various things but then goes off it and refuses to touch it. So far I've done bread, carrot, fast fibre, damp mollichaff and sugar beet. She wont touch apple. What else can anyone recommend/suggest?
 
CazD said:
My elderly rescue pony was diagnosed with cushings earlier this year and is on half a prascend tablet per day. I'm having real problems finding something to hide the tablet in which she will eat. She has had difficult past and is dangerous to worm with a syringe so dissolving the tablet and trying to syringe it in her mouth is not a possibility. She wont take anything hand fed to her. She will take a tablet for a few days hidden in various things but then goes off it and refuses to touch it. So far I've done bread, carrot, fast fibre, damp mollichaff and sugar beet. She wont touch apple. What else can anyone recommend/suggest?
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I used spearmint for my fussy mare. Worked a treat. Just put it in her normal feed.
 
This exact thing has happened with all 4 of ours on prascend, they'll take it in something for a few days then refuse it, and you run out of things eventually!
One of ours will eat it in an apple just now but the other 3 we just have to put it in and make sure they don't spit it out. They're all shettys though so it's not too difficult.
What about banana? Honey?
 
She doesn't like mint - none of mine do. Hubby tried mixing the fast fibre with honey dissolved in water this evening in the hope something a bit sweet would tempt her - but no joy. Will give the banana a go tomorrow. I'm tearing my hair out with worry about how to get the tablets into her. Putting the tablet straight into her mouth is a complete no-no as I value my life LOL.
 
I dissolve it in half a cup of water and then mix it into the feed.I assume you are doing this?.Does she mind Garlic?,perhaps try that in the feed to try and mask it.
 
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I try to vary the treats as much as possible so he isn't expecting the tablet. Also sometimes he gets a treat for no reason so he doesn't always associate the treat with the tablet. Some times nothing works so it just gets shoved in & head held up till he swallows. Also sometimes I give the treat , sneak the tablet in the side of his mouth then give another treat .
 
Mine was on two tablets a day - started by inserting into carrot, apple, whatever, but ended up crushing the tablets and mixing in feed that included some (soaked) sugarbeet. Had no bother after that
 
Get a little pestal and mortar to crunch them into a powder then mix in with your sugar beet: I used to have to do that with 100 tablets a day but it worked every time especially if you vary the treats too.
 
in the summer a vet reccommended custard, she was saying when she was training if they had a fussy horse, whatever the ora medication they would put it in custard and evry horse loved it...although she also said it had to be the fancier ones like ambrosia, they wouldn't touch tesco's value :D
 
Mine has hers in apple puree, made from local cooking apples. I dissolve the tablets in the tiniest drop of water, add some puree (been mashed with a blender so there are no lumps) and syringe it into her mouth. That was the only way I could be sure she was getting it all, and her ACTH levels have plummeted since I have been doing it that way. I got a lamb colostrum syringe which is perfect without the tube - you could just do the tabs and water but there is a risk they will spit it out, the apple encourages them to swallow it all..
 
My horse will take his Prascend tablet if it's either pressed into a carrot, or alternatively if I put it in the centre of 3 x sugar free polos - it fits perfectly! I now know why they've got the hole in the middle!
 
I tried everything possible with my lad, he'd be fine for a couple of days then refuse so I'd change what I was putting the tablets in and the cycle would continue until he refused to take anything from any of us ( we would rotate who would give him anything as he was very suspicious )I tried all sorts of weird an elaborate things for them to work but to no avail

Out of frustration I just popped the tablet right into the side of his mouth. Weirdly it's worked and I haven't had a problem since :/
 
Had the same problem with my mare - she'd tolerate something for a few days, then refuse - so I ended up syringing eventually. But two things that worked for a while where malt loaf (a small ball with pill in the middle) and scraping some molassed lick out of a likit with a spoon, wrapping it around the pill and sticking normal pony nuts to the outside. She took that as a treat for a while, but eventually turned up her nose at any food offered by hand.
 
LittleRoodolphRider said:
in the summer a vet reccommended custard, she was saying when she was training if they had a fussy horse, whatever the ora medication they would put it in custard and evry horse loved it...although she also said it had to be the fancier ones like ambrosia, they wouldn't touch tesco's value :D
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I wonder if that would also work for sedalin gel?
 
russianhorse said:
I tried everything possible with my lad, he'd be fine for a couple of days then refuse so I'd change what I was putting the tablets in and the cycle would continue until he refused to take anything from any of us ( we would rotate who would give him anything as he was very suspicious )I tried all sorts of weird an elaborate things for them to work but to no avail

Out of frustration I just popped the tablet right into the side of his mouth. Weirdly it's worked and I haven't had a problem since :/
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This is exactly what she is like. She comes straight over like she wants a treat but then when I offer it to her, she sniffs it and turns away from me as thought I've offered her something horrible. Even offering her a treat without the tablet gets the same response. Putting a tablet or syringe in her mouth isn't possible as she is a rescue and difficult to handle at the best of times. Will try the custard though - I had no idea horses would eat custard LOL.
 
CazD said:
My elderly rescue pony was diagnosed with cushings earlier this year and is on half a prascend tablet per day. I'm having real problems finding something to hide the tablet in which she will eat. She has had difficult past and is dangerous to worm with a syringe so dissolving the tablet and trying to syringe it in her mouth is not a possibility. She wont take anything hand fed to her. She will take a tablet for a few days hidden in various things but then goes off it and refuses to touch it. So far I've done bread, carrot, fast fibre, damp mollichaff and sugar beet. She wont touch apple. What else can anyone recommend/suggest?
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My donkey has recently been diagnosed with cushings - what i do is get a pinch of fibergy and a pinch of nuts and a pinch of fast fibre and put her pill in, she is only on a half, I bring her in at 2pm and leave her with that and its always gone before her main feed at 4pm. These feeds are not her usual so she thinks its a treat and eats it.

There are other ideas here http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/veterinary.html
 
HollyWoozle said:
Have you tried marmite? Sounds bonkers but all of ours love it and I used to hide medication in marmite sandwiches. It's so strong that it masks the taste.
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It isn't the taste/smell that is the problem. She wont touch anything even if there is no tablet in it. All she will eat at the moment is grass or hay. I need to find something she will eat first before I can try hiding a tablet in it.
 
CazD said:
It isn't the taste/smell that is the problem. She wont touch anything even if there is no tablet in it. All she will eat at the moment is grass or hay. I need to find something she will eat first before I can try hiding a tablet in it.
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What about ready grass???
 
CazD said:
It isn't the taste/smell that is the problem. She wont touch anything even if there is no tablet in it. All she will eat at the moment is grass or hay. I need to find something she will eat first before I can try hiding a tablet in it.
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Ok,i understand more now.Try it dissolved in soaked Grass Nuts.Or perhaps add the solution to a bucket of soaked hay.
 
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HGA-12 said:
What about ready grass???
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She'd maybe eat that as she eat grass, its just difficult trying to put a tablet in with it. I did manage to hand feed her some grass this evening and I "think" she ate the tablet with it - I don't think it dropped out on the floor.
 
I'm having a similar problem. I've started dipping the carrot with the tablet in into molasses. It's working at the moment but for how long?
 
How long has she been on the tablets? Mine wouldnt eat anything but grass and hay for while but eventually started eating feed again (only certain ones though!) I had the same problem, he got suspicious of all apples and carrots, wouldn't eat them.

He is now fussy with feed still but he LOVES the new cushings feed, cushcare by dodson and horell, so what I do is put a bit of speedibeet in a scoop, use two knives to crush the tablet into it, then add a handful of the cushings feed, and if necessary add some treats. He will eat it all, and I can see whether he's eaten the tablets, because if i hide them in his normal feed he will spit it out.

He then gets his normal bucket of feed after the tablet ordeal, which is chaff and the cushcare, its really good stuff, he has put loads of weight on with it.
 
CazD said:
She'd maybe eat that as she eat grass, its just difficult trying to put a tablet in with it. I did manage to hand feed her some grass this evening and I "think" she ate the tablet with it - I don't think it dropped out on the floor.
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What about doing what I am doing, just littlerally give her a handfull of ready grass with the pill, then later her usual meal, I darent put the pill in M evening feed as she does leave a lot of it but the small meal of things she does not have in her diet she does and at least I know she has eaten it.
 
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