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  Discussion on Optimal bute administration
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Member:
9193

Posted on Friday, May 5, 2006 - 1:34 pm:

My vet has prescribed bute for my horse to help with a mild arthritis in his LF fetlock and hocks. He recommended that the bute should not be given every day and that a couple of days a week he should not get the bute.

I ride this horse for an hour (rehabbing) five days a week. I am giving him 1Gm of bute every other day, so he gets four days a week on bute which are usually the days I ride and three days a week without.

Is this an OK schedule? Or should I give consecutive days off of the bute? He seems to be tolerating this schedule without any noticiable problems and his trotting (four minutes now) has been sound. He has been on this schedule for about three weeks now and since the rains have stopped we can do our walking on the bridle paths now instead of the arena, so walking the different easy grades of slope are part of our conditioning as well.

Thanks so much,
Debra
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, May 6, 2006 - 7:53 am:

Hello Debra,
there is no rehabbing with chronic arthritis (DJD). Forced work is likely to accelerate the DJD as opposed to good old pasture rest where the horse gets plenty of self induced exercise to keep things limber. That is not to say that the horse should not be used under saddle, this is why we have them and I think it can be done with minimal increase in rate of progression. But let's be honest about this what we are doing is trying to find out how much exercise the horse can tolerate without causing acute lameness.

Bute can contribute to slowing down this progress. We provide a recommended schedule with this objective in mind in the article on Equine Diseases » Lameness » Joint & Bone Diseases » Arthritis and DJD: An Overview. Also you will see our general philosophy on how to approach riding the horse with DJD.

To answer your specific question yes, I think the arthritis helping / lessening the bute toxicity properties would be best accomplished with several consecutive days off.
DrO
Member:
9193

Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 4:00 pm:

Thanks for your response Dr O.

I need to clarify that the rehabbing is connected to the ongoing healing process of his LF tendon/ligament injury that was diagnosed 13 months ago. (I didn't want to bore you with that detail again). Since the arthritis is also in his LF ankle, I have since understood that there is a balancing act I need to conduct whereby I do enough exercise to promote the healing of the tendon/ligament structures, but do not accelerate/over exert the ankle issue. (ie.. is being able to trot for 20 minutes a realistic rehab goal for this horse..)

I changed his bute schedule to two days off and one day on since your reply. I guess the next question that comes to mind is should I keep him on a regular cycle of bute prophalactically or just go on a day by day basis depending on how he seems to be going for a period of time. I have not posed that question to both my regular vet or Dr Gillis, so talking to them regarding this balancing act seems like the next logical step in this learning process.

Thank you for providing the information that you do. It helps me to understand the problem I am facing and then be able to ask the questions that need to be addressed.

Smiles,
Debra
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 8:25 am:

I would balance it with how he is doing, if there is no lameness I would not treat.
DrO
Member:
9193

Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 12:26 pm:

Thanks Dr O.. that feels comfortable for me and makes the most sense too.

Since the rains stopped a few weeks ago and the bridle trail became usable again, he certainly hasn't felt lame at all!! He would happily trot more than the four minutes we are at now.

He will go for another ultrasound in a few weeks, so in the meantime we will continue with the rehab protocol to keep one vet happy and continue getting him out for rides to keep the other vet satisfied. So far it is all a win-win deal!!

Smiles,
Debra
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