[haydenfoxtrotters]

My little mare who had major surgery last month on a dislocated femur has been on bute, per vets instructions. They sent her home on the following - 1/2 tab bute once a day, Equioxx once a day, sucralfate twice a day, and Gastroguard. We did this for about 4 weeks post surgery. I started alternating bute and banamine, every other day, about a week/10 days ago, and am hoping I can wean her off the bute entirely. This was major surgery though - I'm kind of walking a fine line with keeping her pain free enough that she will continue to move and regain some strength, and at the same time not overdoing the bute etc. I very rarely use bute for the minis, but there are times I think when it is necessary.
Jan

[haydenfoxtrotters]

I too have been taught not to give to much bute to minis and have observed the muscle spasms in my mini this past winter when he foundered. We discovered he was a high insulin resistant horse so discovered he did much better when taken off meds and put on supplements to bring down his insulin level, which they are finding as a trigger for foundering especially when there are no fresh grass, feed issues and it seems to happen in the winter.

After bringing him through all that, he unfortunately has injured his hip which seems to be a dislocated femur like Jan talked about with her mare. It has been two weeks and have been on the equioxx and seems to be in less pain and more like himself although cannot still walk on the hind leg. The vets were not able to get a high enough picture (xray) of the hip joint because of the size of their portable and the thickness in this area. My vet seems ready to give up on him but he seems to be in less and less pain and eats fine. It seems wrong not to give this time....their isn't much swelling at all so don't know if I believe the femur head is fractured like the vet thinks. She has not worked with many minis so was wondering if anything similar has happened in the mini world out there!

Thanks!
Tamara

[ddeeva]

My mini came home from Auburn Univ last yr after having a ENTEROLITH colic surgery & they had me put her on GASTROGUARD for 4 wks from the stress of surgery, & her not being able to eat much.