METFORMIN tastes disgusing - how to get pony to take it?

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JEZA

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Dear All
My pony has been diagnosed today with Insulin Resistance and prescribed 9 tablets of Metformin twice a day. It tastes disgusting!! Has anyone any suggestions as to how to get a very suspicious pony to take it??
Many thanks in advance
 
Well all the following have been tried at my yard:

Hollowed out carrots
In a handful of pony nuts
Crushed in feed
Crushed in water and syringed
Plain ole stick it in and hold his head up
Crushed in smooshed Pear

all have varying success :)
 
One of our liveries was the same, we tried cutting an apple/pear in half then digging out little notches to put the pills into and putting them in his feed....that worked for a while!! Think we also tried crushing them but they dont crush very well. In the end he did just eat them in his feed so persevere!!
 
I assume you're getting them from a pharmacy? Some generic makes have coatings and some do not - avoid Milpharm and get Teva or Actavis as they are coated. Place them on the horses tongue, hold its mouth up higher than the throat and rub its neck so it swallows. The coating will stop it tasting the tablets and it should just swallow them. I gave my horse gabapentin in this way and never had any issues
 
We have a pony on our yard on Metaformin and we ground the tablets up in an old coffee bean grinder and fed it in powder form and have had no problems with her eating it this way. We do dampen down the feed with some water too.
 
If they are crushable, then crush and mix with hot chocolate powder and hot water, get an irrigation syringe, or an empty wormer syringe and squirt in the horses mouth. I did that with bute for 3 years with the old appy, worked a treat. :)
 
Avoid using anything too sugarry to get them down him as this will somewhat defeat the point of giving them. I've had success with crushing them into a handful of chaff, with half a pot of apple flavoured baby food mixed in.
 
I found mine from relon chem dissolve. It takes 2/3 hours but they dissolve completely in cold water. You can then syringe which saves crushing or I read a post somewhere that they were dissolved in wet speedibeet and fed that way.
 
I can vouch for its taste - I got some on my fingers the first time I used it!

I crush them with a rolling pin and mix in with the feed. I mix up Dodson & Horrells Safe and Sound with a good dollop of Speedibeet and he seems not to notice the taste.

However I have now managed to cut the metformin out - the pony is managed by lots of exercise, reduced grazing time and low calorie feed the whole time. No carrots, sugar free polos, 2nd cut meadow haylage, or soaked hay. He is also kept much slimmer!

Has your vet suggested a management plan? Mine only needs metformin occasionally now and it saves money and the hassle of crushing them up. Much better long term too for the pony.
 
I disolved them in water and poured into his feed - never had any problems with him eating it and he is normally a fussy boy! He was on 16 twice a day!
 
Ask for a couple of sample pots from your vet and a 50ml dosing syringe!

The crush up the required amount of metformin using a pestle an mortar.

Place in sample pot.

Add sugar free cordial (neat)

Leave to dissolve for 1 day

Put in syringe and stick in mouth

They LOVE IT!!!!!

(Keep doing your sample pots therefore one will always be ready to use)

You can add ready brek if you need to make it stay in their mouths better!
 
Apple sauce! :-) Works everytime for me, crush them up and mix into a small amount of apple sauce. My old mare would take it out of a scoop or mixed in with a small feed :-)
 
Our fussy pony has recently started on 12 Metformin twice a day. They do taste disgusting, so I knew we would have trouble! When my friend's horse was on them, she used to crush them up in a coffee grinder, add the powder to his usual damp feed and add lots of Feedmark pure dried mint. Fussy took one mouthful like that, pulled a face and wouldn't eat it. We now dissolve the tablets in about half an inch of water in a cup. They take about 6 hours to dissolve (we do the early morning ones overnight). We then add Tesco high juice apple squash, only about a quarter of an inch, just enough to make the water change colour and smell like apples. We mix it in with his usual damp feed (mainly Healthy Hooves) and Fussy scoffs the lot. Hope this helps!
 
Our pony is on 4 twice a day, i crush them in a pestle and mortar with a sugar free polo then mix in with her very small handful of happy hoof!
 
As a person who was precribed Metformin I can confirm is does taste absolutely foul, it also made me feel nauseous, gave me diahorrhea and I was continually burping! LOVELY! I now have the slow release version which does not make you feel so rough thank goodness. They do say it takes a while for your body to get used to the side effects and this is true. However, main disadvantage from my point of view is can't have alcohol! Don't imagine this will unduly worry your pony though!

My friend's pony has had the same problem as yours and she tried loads of things to get him to take the tablets. The tried lots of methods but this worked for her: she crushed the tablets in a proper pill crusher as they are impossible to crush using most conventional methods. She added the crushed pills to his feed with garlic, mint and cider vinegar.

A lot of the methods others have suggested on here are not appropriate as they are adding sugar. Natural sugars should be avoided too, mushing up fruit is not an option.

Good luck.
 
Juliette - I was diagnosed with insulin resistance last week. Have been on 500mg of metformin since Wednesday. I've had no side affects so far, im just waiting for them to kick in. Double my dose to 100mg tomorrow so maybe I'll start feeling it soon.

The information leaflet with my pills says I can't drink heavily and I didn't have a little drink on Friday night and felt fine. Can you not drink at all on the extended release version?
 
ecb89 said:
Juliette - I was diagnosed with insulin resistance last week. Have been on 500mg of metformin since Wednesday. I've had no side affects so far, im just waiting for them to kick in. Double my dose to 100mg tomorrow so maybe I'll start feeling it soon.

The information leaflet with my pills says I can't drink heavily and I didn't have a little drink on Friday night and felt fine. Can you not drink at all on the extended release version?
Click to expand...

ecb89 - according to the blurb in the packet no. However, having spoken to the Pharmacist he said it just heightens any side effects you get from the medication and it is ok to have the odd glass. Unforuntately every time I have tried to drink, one mouthful and I feel really dizzy and odd. I have also tried low alcohol stuff unsuccessfully, dizzy after a drink with 0.5 units of alcohol and hang over the next day..........I jest not!

Glad you aren't suffering side effects, ( I think the consultant said 15% of people aren't able to take them but 85% are obviously fine). Have to say i felt so rough on the normal Metformin, but can cope with the slow release, although i do have to eat regularly (not an issue!) and take the tablets with food.
 
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