Oral sedatives for clipping.....detomidine?

9

{97702}

...
Joined
9 July 2012
Messages
14,849
Visit site
As an alternative for paying a fortune for the vet to come out & sedate my boy for clipping, I am wondering about trying an oral sedative for him. I have always found Sedalin to be useless, it has never worked on any horse I've tried it on (vet said it is useless too!) but he has suggested detomidine gel which I haven't used before.

has anyone any experiences of using this? The vet said it worked for "most" horses and the cost would be 1/2 the price of a vet call out & injected sedative, so I am quite keen to try it :)
 
Ah ha I have now checked the forum :D I think I may have got the drug name wrong, it is an oral gel I am talking about which there are lots of threads about - sorry!
 
Yep that is the one JLav - when I searched under that name lots of threads came up, but experiences seem to be a bit varied and I am still undecided :( Vet or Gel.... vet or gel..... :D
 
Dormosedan gel is fab. Did mine with it on Sunday. You do have to put it under their tongue for it to work. I give it to the horse and leave it tied up where it's going to be clipped. Half an hour later horse should be snoozing and away you go.

Much easier and cheaper than the vet although vet does need to give it to you
 
Works well with my TB, though not so well on the big beast. Its more expensive than Sedalin - about £35 a syringe I think but still cheaper than call out plus IV! Make sure they don't just swallow it or it wont work as well.
 
Definitely worth a try. My lad is almost over his clipping fear since using domo gel. But you must use rubber gloves when administering because if you get any on yourself you will be snoozing before the horse does.
 
It's worth a try, it didn't work for my lad but we have since found that he fights all forms of sedation including IV sedation from the vet!
 
Just note that all sedatives (including herbal ones that work) interfere with learning, so it can be more effective and save money in the long run to habituate the horse to clippers instead.
 
PS - make sure the horse doesn't have a pre-existing atrioventricular (AV) or sinoatrial (SA) block before use, and there are also other conditions the manufacturer advises against using with (e.g. respiratory diseases).
 
KautoStar1 said:
But you must use rubber gloves when administering because if you get any on yourself you will be snoozing before the horse does.
Click to expand...
Yes; watch out for other bare areas of skin too. It can also cause low heart rate and low blood pressure: if you start feeling funny then call the doctor but DON'T drive. Also note that if you use it with bare hands and are a smoker then you can end up with nicotine poisoning.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top