Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Bute vs. Banamine: What is the diff? Part I

So Harv has a bad stone bruise, I think, and Bute seems to result in dramatic improvement. I got to talking to someone about Bute vs Banamine, and ended up doing a little research.

True of both Banamine and Bute
  • Both are  non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)s. 
  •  Both work by blocking prostaglandin production throughout the body. Blockage of prostaglandins results in decreased inflammation and pain, which is the desired effect.
  • Unfortunately, blocking prostaglandin pathways also results in decreased blood flow to some parts of the body, including the lining of the intestines and the kidneys. Decreased blood flow damages the tissues, and results in death of kidney cells (renal papillary necrosis) and formation of ulcers throughout the gastrointestinal tract (lips, tongue, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine/colon).
  • Both are risky when administered in particular situations, such as when a horse is dehydrated, shows signs of "tying up,"or is being treated with some types of injectable antibiotics. Side effects are also more common in foals and young horses.  
  • Both carry GI risks.
I always wondered why people always use Bute when their horse is lame, never Banamine. So I did a little research. Here are a few sources.

Bute and Banamine from flyingchanges.com
Bute and Banamine: What horse owners should know from Thalequine.com
You oughta know about Banamine from Western Horse Review




Coming up next: Banamine 


3 comments:

  1. Stacey: I wanted to tell you that my aged gelding, Reno, became dead lame last summer, out of clear blue sky. I gave bute, it helped. I treated for abcess, nothing. He had never been lame in the five years I had had him. After a week or so, lameness disappeared. He was losing weight. Had teeth floated. Kept dumping the senior feed to him. No weight gain. Lameness appears again. Had basic blood work done...liver numbers through the roof! Crazy-high...the vet asked if he could have gotten into poison? Nope. So we gave him 10 days Uniprim because we weren't going to do anything expensive or crazy for him, at age 29. He improved! When the farrier heard that the liver numbers were so crazy, he immediately said, "there's your lameness. When liver numbers are that out of whack, it can result in lameness." Wanted you to be aware.

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  2. Wow, the article plus Netherfieldmom's comment are good info for any and all horse owners. Thank you.
    ~ Danni ~

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