sedalin, a few questions please!

[joeanne]

the girls on our yard are currently looking after a horse while the owners are on holiday.
on monday i had to call thier vet out as the horse was walking on 3 legs, holding the fourth off the floor and kicking the leg out every so often in pain.
vet finally turned up at 9pm (we called at 4!) and had to sedate the horse to get near the foot.
diagnosis....abcess.
we have been told to hot tub twice a day and poltice, and this is where the fun begins.
she wont let you near or by the foot, and as she is 16.3 and the tallest of us is only 5.1ft the decision was made by the vet to use sedalin to sedate her enough for us to do the job.
yeah well....very funny, the vet didnt give us a dosage to use, so going by the instructions on the box for a heavier sedation you would use 1.5 time the normal dose. results it says should be seen in 15 mins to half hour. i waited an hour and nothing! not even mildly sleepy!
to get the vet out to sedate her is going to cost almost 90 quid and isnt really an option for something thats got to be done twice a day!
if anyone can suggest anything i would be very grateful!
having been squashed two days in a row and STILL not got a dressing on the damn foot is starting to grate slightly!

 

[hellspells]

Hi

If she was already a bit worked up the sedalin wouldn't have any effect - but you may find her sleepy later on. The heaviest sedation rate for sedalin is fairly stonking so I am fairly surprised it yeilded nothing at all.
Could you prehaps phone the vet and ask for some ACP tablets - obviously not ideal for a horse but put in a honey sandwhich they go down quite well!

Good luck

 

[BigRed]

I know it is an old fashioned thing to say, but why don't you twitch her.

Veterinary sedation is expensive and you need to get on and deal with this problem. Many horses will calm down when you twitch them and you can actually release the twitch very quickly and they remain calm.

 

[Morgan123]

Amazing that sedalin did nothing - has my nervous horse out for the count! I found it way better than ACP.

Had same trouble wiht my nervous horse before when he had an abcess, he's scared of bandages, tape etc - and the hoof was obv painful (and a back foot) so i was in tears for a few days before coming up with solution which is much quicker than traditional poultice. May not help you that much cos you do ahve to puick the foot up - but as follows, anyway:

get someone nearby to help. prepare the poultice material, a sanitary towel(!) (as thick as poss!), and a thick woollen sock. Pick up foot and clean as best you can in EITHer a clean straw stable or on a clean yard. Then really quickly slap on the poultice and sanitary towel over top (waterproof so stops dirt etc getting in) - then get the sock (helps if someone has already rucked it up for you) over the hoof and dressing. it will hold still while you get tape on it (if you can). If not, then it will hold at least for a while. Much simpler than bandaging.

have heard of people doing similar things with newborn nappies - if that helps!

If you have access to an old mac boot or hoof eeze boot, put that on over top to keep clean - then you're sorted for a few days, at least!

Meanwhile, you could try simple calming things, e.g. having someone pushing pressure pouints on ears, pushing gently on eyelids (is a new one i was told by vet last week, apparently great!), get someone to hold tail if it's a back leg - and maybe twitching, of course.

With sedalin, if you make the horse trot fast about fifteen mibnutes before you need it to behave, it will whizz round blood stream and tire them out completely (supposedly). Might be worth a try!

Hope some of this is useful, anyway!!

 

[miller]

Sedalin does nothing for OH's mare either - doesn't even appear to go even slighty sleepy even on higher dose.

I would try twitch also (but again Oh's mare gets worse with one)

 

[kanter]

Sedalin takes 3-4 hours to work on my horse - ther5e is a huge variation, I've never seen it work in less than an hour though.

For a big horse I would think you need half a tube (5ml) for moderate sedation.

I would second that it might be worth trying a twitch, it doesn't work for all horses but def worth a shot to help you get the job done.

 

[kanter]

[ QUOTE ]
Amazing that sedalin did nothing - has my nervous horse out for the count! I found it way better than ACP.



[/ QUOTE ]

BTW Sedalin is the same drug as ACP, it just gets absorbed more quickly beacause it's a gel

 

[SO1]

I gave my 14h pony a whole tube of sedalin and he still went mad on it so I think if it is a very stressful situation it will have little effect.

 

[Morgan123]

I think it is a different drug - i was talking about a gel form of ACP and it was definitely different in terms of reaction times and levels with my horse - though i don't have the ingredients lists to check.

 

[joeanne]

the sedalin really didnt have any effect. she was dosed up to the gills and despite being left for an hour she was still jumping around like a springbock!
i cant twitch as she has a hole in her mouth inside the upper lip which goes almost through to her nostril (one thing after another with this horse).
i imagined that the sedalin combined with the painkilling effect of the bute would have done it!
shows how wrong you can be!

 

[Marchtime]

One thing I've found is it is important to make sure when you give the sedalin it goes under the tongue not on top. The sedalin is absorbed through the mucus membranes and therefore if it does not go under the tongue the absorbtion rate is greatly affected. I find it works brilliantly on my TB when he's been on box rest - I give 3ml and it takes 25mins to have full effect. I'd be looking to give your mare 5ml.

 

[star]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it is a different drug - i was talking about a gel form of ACP and it was definitely different in terms of reaction times and levels with my horse - though i don't have the ingredients lists to check.

[/ QUOTE ]

sedalin is ACP. ACP is the active ingredient in both of them - proper name acepromazine. it's just that sedalin is a gel so it's absorbed quicker than the ACP tablets.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

I know it sounds harsh but when a horse needs emergency veterinary care you've just gotta do whatever it takes. My rescued mare is an absolute cow over anything she decides she doesn't want done. This ranges from the totally painless experience of having her poxy beard trimmed to having to squeeze parts of her udder as she's just gone down with summer mastitis. She doesn't exactly try to kill you but she says NO in a very definite and potentially dangerous way. Well, we have had some success (eventually) with twitching and for a minor vet thing (just a feather mite jab for gods sake) the vet did a mini twitch by just pinching a big piece of neck skin, which worked a treat. However, she's now gone for schooling and the beard trimming was a major battle but the expert and wonderful non-violent trainer put her in a headcollar and solid leadrope and threaded the leadrope through the RING in her stable (NOT through baler twine). Then she took all the slack up until Angel was almost kissing the wall. She holds the other end. When Angel is a tit, she is shouted and at and at one point (trimming the feathers on her back legs) she kicked out so got a smack but when she stands calmly, the rope is relaxed and the release of pressure is the reward. Angel got the hang of it very, very fast and was able to understand that the same rules applied when she needed to be closely examined for the mastitis. She stood quietly, nose an inch from the wall but the rope slack, and allowed the vet to have a good look and even to squeeze gunge from the affected teats. A week ago, that would have been certain death! So I'd recommend absolute firmness - it has GOT to be done so you need to do whatever it takes. Try sedalin, ACP, twitching of all sorts, pinning with a give-and-take rope system. Anything. Broken ned needs to be mended!

 

[CrazyMare]

If you have big enough hands use a fold of skin on the neck to twitch. My equine dentist did this yesterday with dozy stupid gelding, I can't manage it though, my hands just aren't big or strong enough.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Recently i have used sedalin on my horse to pull his mane!
I found that you do need to administer it before the horse gets tense and it took about an hour then i was able to pull his mane while he was twitched- neither worked alone. he seemed very sleepy but would suddenly wake up when i tried to pull unless both were done together. I gave him 3ml and he is 15.3 so i would go with 5ml as has been suggested then twitch (with an old fashioned string twitch)
Things like this really are a nightmare! good luck x