Durango
Equine Veterinary Clinic
Oral Medications
Your veterinarian has just prescribed an oral medication for your horse. It is very important to give all the medication as prescribed for best results. Many horses will feel better after 2-3 days, don’t stop medicating your horse unless directed by your vet. It is very important to finish the medications or your horse’s problems may relapse, or you horse could end up with a low grade resistant infection.
Most tablets dissolve well in warm water. The best way to prepare them is to place the desired number of tablets in a small bowl and put just enough water to cover them. They should dissolve easily. If not, then you can crush them up with a Mortar and Pestle or a coffee bean grinder.
Then mix the medication with a flavored topping of your choice (pancake syrup, applesauce, yogurt, pumpkin puree, Kayro syrup, or molasses). The old adage “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” is true. This helps medicate your horse with less stress and refusal. We have had great success with pancake syrup – it sticks to the medicine and grain and helps hide any bitter taste.
There are two ways to give oral medications; mixed in grains or with a dose syringe. If your horse is not a picky eater mixing medication in grain is the easiest way to go (as long as your horse eats all of it!). Otherwise, foals and all other horses can be medicated with a dose syringe. Pull the dissolved medication up in the syringe and administer it in the horse’s mouth with the same technique you would use to past deworm a horse. Make sure the horse gets all of it!
20908 West Durango Street * Buckeye, Arizona 85326 * Phone (623)386-2928 * Fax (623)386-7914