Any tips?

[rockllews]

Well my TB was diagnosed with navicular disease this last week . I'm looking around for any suggestions to get him to eat his meds that he'll be on probably the rest of his live (he's only 13). Bute and isoxsuprene, powder form. Our vet recommended mixing apple sauce, molasses, or honey with the meds and grain when I explained he wasn't touching his grain with it drugged. Well the apple sauce and molasses are of no interest to him. They'll try the honey today. I'm thinking we may need to buy a sweeter grain to mix these with, since we're currently just trying to mix his regular supplements with them (tasty but not sweet).

Any other suggestions?

He is a difficult wormer, so if we can avoid having to orally medicate him with a syringe, that'd be great. I don't think my dad wants to deal with that every day for the next few+ years 'til I can take him off their hands.

Thanks!

[Kiki's Mom]

Chelsea, how bad is the Navicular disease? Is the bone totally gone or is this the first stages? The isoxoprene is extremely bitter as is the bute. Have you had him re-shod to correct the angles, stand him up on his toes to take the pressure off the Navicular bone? Egg bars work well for extreme cases. Sometimes you can get away with less meds with corrective shoeing.

I had a horse with ND for a long , long time and found that he would eat his meds in a VERY sweetened bran mash. Rice bran worked best for my horse and I slowly added honey, apple juice, and brown sugar as I added meds to disguise the taste of the meds. I even used strawberry jello powder which Dusty loved.....

Good luck...not a good DX but it is manageable IF you can get the horse to eat his meds

[rockllews]

Thanks Helen for the apple juice and brown sugar ideas. I'm frankly surprised he rejected the applesauce mix. We need to find the right "treat" for him soon because that bute was pricey and I haven't the slightest idea yet what isoxsuprene will run.... I'm probably going to choke on my vet bill!

I haven't seen the radiographs but the spurs seen, I was told by my vet, are usually only visible in the more severe cases. He wants me to stop in next time I'm home so I can look at them. I honestly forgot to ask about riding, I was more concerned about the treatment plan. Yes, we'll be trimming his feet different- rolling the front of them, but unfortunately I had them trimmed a couple days before the second appointment when they figured out the condition. I'll have my farrier come back out in a couple weeks when he gets some growth on them. If that doesn't work, the vet recommended bar shoes (aka egg shoes??). I'm hoping this will be manageable.

Another person has recommended Karo or Maple Syrup for the really finicky horses, and if the regular supps aren't working, adding sweet cob grain. (We normally feed him rice bran as the base of his supp regime.)

I wish I was home so I could figure out the right concoction for Orion myself. As a person with mild control-freak issues , it's sometimes frustrating to leave all my animals in others' care. (But my parents do a great job, which I definitely appreciate. )

[Kmack]

Try Banana...

[lightonthebay]

Was this diagnosis confirmed with an X-ray? I think it is unusual for TBs to get navicular. Quarter horse with tiny feet are more prone to this disease. The sypmtoms of contracted heels are often mistaken for navicular. The treatment for contracted heels is the oposite of the "traditional" treatment of navicular i.e. lower the heels and get some ground contact on the frog. Of course, your horse may have navicular but I would make sure because contracted heels are a reversible malady.

[susans]

You can try softening up the pills with water, then add the molasses, then mix with feed. It seems once the pills have been made into a paste, the molasses hides the taste. It just depends on if your horse will eat damp feed. I've given Banamine this way to a horse you couldn't give shots to, and nothing tastes worse than that!

[rockllews]

Lightonthebay, My vets diagnosed it with x-rays; they weren't able to do nerve blocks though because someone :roll: was not wanting to cooperate anymore.... Thanks for the info though.

And thanks to you, too, Susan. I hope Orion will take damp feed- he hasn't so far. But, my dad just bought some sweet cob grain today to make the mix more irresistable. When we come up with the "recipe," I'll share it. *For the Pickiest Eaters.*

[HopeSpringsFarm]

Rockllews, my horse wouldn't eat applesauce either, though he loves apples. Since your parents have to dose him, have them mix his drugs with coke (coca cola). Did you ever do that experiment in school where you put a tooth in the coke and it dissolves overnight? Good stuff for dissolving pills! The fizz of the coke will dissolve that isoxuprine right up. Bute you have to crush up first; it will dissolve but it takes awhile. Or you can do what I did: keep a little jar and a 6pack of cheap cola, (bottles not cans so you can use part of a bottle) in my feed room. I'd pour the mixture I'd already made on the feed and after feeding, put the pills in the jar and pour the coke on them so they'd be dissolved for the next meal. Next meal, pour the jar on and repeat. THe coke fizzes up and dissolves the pills like you wouldn't believe! It will dissolve isox.almost immediately; SMZ takes a bit longer and bute a couple hours if you don't crush the tablets. t It makes a nasty yellowish gray liquid.

Be careful if you do this in your kitchen not leave the jar lying around. I keep it inside when it's cold enough to freeze. One time hubby saw the jar (a fancy mustard jar) and thought it was mustard and smeared horse drug paste all over his burger. ROTFLMAO--you should've seen him spitting burger after he bit into it! No wonder horses hate that stuff. But karo or molasses seems to disguise it pretty well. I have a retired foxhunter, 17 y.o. TB gelding that got a deep cut last year that turned into a bone infection on a back ankle. He had to have so many drugs, for months, and he's a picky eater but with the coke mixture and the karo syrup he'd eat it in his food. Last go round my vet also gave me powdered bute that was apple-flavored. It worked pretty well and even my picky eater old horse ate it. Hope that helps!

[rockllews]

One time hubby saw the jar (a fancy mustard jar) and thought it was mustard and smeared horse drug paste all over his burger. ROTFLMAO--you should've seen him spitting burger after he bit into it! No wonder horses hate that stuff.

That is horrible! Poor guy!

Thanks for the tips. His bute actually is "bitter apple" flavored. As much as he hated that stuff, I'd hate to try to get him to take the regular stuff.

Do you know if the coke chemicals have any chemical reactions with the isoxsuprene that would affect its effectiveness? It seems like a good idea but I just want to double check. I was planning on just getting a pill crusher, crushing the tablets, and putting them in individual containers/baggies.

We did find a solution for Orion!!! My dad bought him some sweet cob grain and now mixes the molasses and bute into it, along with the rest of his supplements & grain. I don't know if he's gotten the isoxsuprene yet from the vet (guess I should ask...) but I don't think it will pose a problem. I'm also curious as to how much sweet grain he's mixing... I don't need him too hot to ride . He's already goofy enough :roll:

Thanks again everyone!