Ligament healing time and Cartrophen

[legend]

My boy has (at best guess before bone scanning) injured a ligament in sacroiliac area (prob sacro-sciatic). He's had 6 weeks of rest to see if he came sound on his own, and we are now looking at cartrophen injections to hopefully help the healing along. Was wondering if anyone had any experience of this and if so how successful it was? Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

 

[RachelB]

My horse had a torn tendon (DDFT) last year and also had degeneration of the cartilage attaching the DDFT to the pedal bone. She had a course of four Cartrophen injections over as many weeks in the hope that it would encourage the cartilage to repair and so prevent adhesions forming. *Touch wood* she came sound this year so there should be no adhesions in there and the cartilage should have repaired ok (I did have the option to surgically smooth the cartilage off but didn't go for that) but there's no way of telling if the Cartrophen worked. In my mind, it was worth a shot as my insurance were happy to pay for it. DO check with your insurance before agreeing though, as it's not a licensed drug with horses some companies will refuse to pay. My vet (I trust her implicitly, she is fab) thinks Cartrophen is damned good stuff.

 

[star]

my horse has cartrophen jabs when he damaged his annular liagments - it didn't do anything though

 

[millerj]

i have also had this for annular ligament without any positive results.

As previously said beware of insurance as not licensed for horses but for beasts.

 

[wjgfred]

My horse has a current tear to the deep digital flexor tendon. This being confirmed by MRI. He had four x once weekly injection of cartrophen and came sound after the fourth injection. I obviously have a long way to go as he needs a year of field rest but he will continue to have further monthly injections of cartrophen. My experiences of it were very good, although obviously with a different injury. Do be warned though, if you do decide to go for it, I saw no changes for the first three injections and then a drastic change to soundness after the fourth injection. I have also had no problems with the insurance company paying for it. I hope this helps a bit and good luck !!