Mouth ulcers and bute?

[Mandy_Lee_]

Hi,

I have a 16yr old mare that has recently come down with laminitis. As advised by my vet she has now been on 4 sachets of bute a day for the past 2 weeks and 2 a day for the 2 weeks prior. I have noticed she was eating less than usual (this horse can eat and eat and eat) so checked her mouth and found that she has some sores on her gums.

As she's never had any issues with her mouth before, I did some research into if this could have been caused by the bute but couldn't find anything conclusive. Has anybody else been in a similar situation/ know if it could be bute related or have any idea on how I can make her more comfortable? Thanks

 

[Birker2020]

I don't think there is any correlation between bute and mouth ulcers or sores but if you want to help soothe them and heal them get some Chlorexadine mouthwash and dilute slightly with water and syringe it into your horses mouth over the sores. It will help it heal. If you get minty Chlorexadine it will make the ordeal much more manageable to your horse!

Here is the link from my post when my girl got a mouth abscess and a photo of it. This is what worked for us. It took two weeks of doing it once a day but that and the antibiotics from the vet really helped.

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/abscess-on-gum.775715/

 

[shergar]

Yes there is a link between bute and mouth ulcers if you mix the bute with water and syringe in to the mouth , never had a problem when mixed in to a feed , other than the odd horse that will not eat it ,Danilon seems to be the one that horse s will eat .

 

[Marnie]

Many years ago I had a horse with navicular syndrome who was on 3 bute a day and who developed sores on his lips and ulcers in his mouth - it looked like someone had burnt his lips with a cigarette. He also had very bad diarrhoea. This was put down to bute - we took him off it and the diarrhoea resolved and the ulcers healed so the vet's conclusion was that they had been caused by the bute, whether that was actually the case or not I don't know. I was told at the time it was quite rare but possible.