Six bute a day

JJS

JJS

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Hi all,

Just a quick question for you. Tudor had the vet out today. The suspicion is that he has something either muscular or spinal going on, but no firm diagnosis other than that. What is clear, however, is that he's incredibly sore, so he's been put on a course of bute.

However, I was a little surprised by the amount prescribed. My mum was the one who was told the dosage as I was helping another livery get their horse ready to be seen, but she wrote it down straight away:

- Three sachets of bute twice a day for two days
- One and a half sachets twice a day for three days
- One sachet twice a day after that.

I've never known another horse be prescribed so high a dose, so I was wondering if anyone else had? I just wanted an idea of whether I needed to be ringing the vet to check the amount he prescribed or not.
 
I guess it could be possible for a short term thing, one of mine had 4x a day for a couple of days once.
 
It's probably only given that high in very extreme cases my mare was on 6 bute a day for some weeks when she had laminitis she was not comfortable on less in the early stages.
 
Goldenstar said:
That's an extreme dose unlesgs the horse is huge I would check with the vet .
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Pearlsasinger said:
I would check that out. I did once have a 17.2 Shire on such a big dose but it is extreme.
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That's what I thought too. He was 16hh when he was last measured, although I believe he's probably an inch or two taller now, and an Irish Sport Horse type, so hardly huge. Not the best picture but this gives you a rough idea of how he's built.

nriIQtf.jpg


I just didn't want to bother the vet unnecessarily, as he apparently repeated the dosage twice, the second time so my mum could write it down. He's a vet I would ordinarily trust, but at the same time, I obviously have no desire to overdose my boy!
 
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I wonder if your mum misheard or the vet mumbled as if it was two twice and day then one and half then one that would be the usual pattern of weaning and then down to one a day.
If it was to start on 3 twice a day I would have expected the initial reduction to be higher than 1 1/2 as that's a big step down I would have thought it would have gone down to 2 twice daily. I would speak with vet to confirm.
 
Thats a loading dose but still a bit extreme. When my old mare was ill they put her on that, but the 2nd vet diagreed saying that over a point it doesnt make a difference and can be harmful. However she went upto 9 a day for the last fews days and that didnt make a difference.
 
I've had a horse 'bute tested' before - high dosage for a week or so to see if there was a change in behaviour that we would put down to pain before going in to further investigation (nothing 'obvious' on initial vet exam) - she was 15.3/16, fairly fine, and on 4 sachets a day.
 
If he's that uncomfortable why not give an IM injection of a newer anti-inflamm? Or even Danilon? Even short term bute at 6g per day is going to play havoc with his stomach.
 
sallyg said:
The loading dose is 8.8mg/kg/day for so 6 sachets per day would be suitable for a horse weighing approximately 650-700kg
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That's interesting. My two are about 670kg and 710kg respectively and have never had more than 2 twice a day as a loading dose.
 
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