Twohorses
Well-Known Member
My words were "extended use" --- use of bute past the intolerable threshold of acute pain. Some people get carried away with the use of pain killers and feed them when they aren't really needed
My point was to alert the OP to not plan on keeping the horse on bute forever, under the guise of making him feel better.
There is a product called Equiox (or the dog version called Previcox) that we use. They are identical products, work every bit as well as bute, and are not nearly as brutal on the stomach as bute
FWIW, it was ME who questioned the vet about PTS'ng my horse due to the pain of founder --- I was not about to let the horse (regardless of the bute he was on and icing his hooves 2X/daily) to needlessly go on, if there was no hope. It was the lameness vet who said the horse still had plenty of fight in his eyes and to give him a few months. Those few months were up in November, 2012 -- the horse had made a remarkable turnaround, developed ulcers from the long term use of bute, and we still live with ulcer flare ups, even though he is running and bucking around his pasture because his hooves are packed in EquiPak
Everything I have posted is based on my own experience with my IR horse. He will live with the ramifications of serious founder for the rest of his life. Which I never thought he would make it coming seven years, he will be 24 in August. Every day he greets me with his ears forward & eyes bright is a gift but it has been a grueling & expensive road to recovery. He would be rideable for very light hacks if I could still ride.
IMHO, getting hung up on the bute portion of this thread should not be the main issue --- figuring out what works to de-rotate the coffin bones, develop a strict diet plan, method/hours of turnout time should be foremost.
While ^^^^that varies from horse-to-to since the key word is metabolism, the bottom line is frequent trims by a farrier who specializes in corrective work, a good lameness vet, a diet with the lowest NSC value possible yet still gives the horse all the needed vitamins/minerals.
Also FWIW, horses are not safe from founder or laminitis in the winter. One can Google "cold weather laminitis" and get any number of scholarly and scary articles regarding the subject.
My point was to alert the OP to not plan on keeping the horse on bute forever, under the guise of making him feel better.
There is a product called Equiox (or the dog version called Previcox) that we use. They are identical products, work every bit as well as bute, and are not nearly as brutal on the stomach as bute
FWIW, it was ME who questioned the vet about PTS'ng my horse due to the pain of founder --- I was not about to let the horse (regardless of the bute he was on and icing his hooves 2X/daily) to needlessly go on, if there was no hope. It was the lameness vet who said the horse still had plenty of fight in his eyes and to give him a few months. Those few months were up in November, 2012 -- the horse had made a remarkable turnaround, developed ulcers from the long term use of bute, and we still live with ulcer flare ups, even though he is running and bucking around his pasture because his hooves are packed in EquiPak
Everything I have posted is based on my own experience with my IR horse. He will live with the ramifications of serious founder for the rest of his life. Which I never thought he would make it coming seven years, he will be 24 in August. Every day he greets me with his ears forward & eyes bright is a gift but it has been a grueling & expensive road to recovery. He would be rideable for very light hacks if I could still ride.
IMHO, getting hung up on the bute portion of this thread should not be the main issue --- figuring out what works to de-rotate the coffin bones, develop a strict diet plan, method/hours of turnout time should be foremost.
While ^^^^that varies from horse-to-to since the key word is metabolism, the bottom line is frequent trims by a farrier who specializes in corrective work, a good lameness vet, a diet with the lowest NSC value possible yet still gives the horse all the needed vitamins/minerals.
Also FWIW, horses are not safe from founder or laminitis in the winter. One can Google "cold weather laminitis" and get any number of scholarly and scary articles regarding the subject.