# Giving Bute twice a day?? ERU help...



## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

So, Miss Lacey is in the midst of another ERU attack right (just flared up this morning+prgressing scary fast like last time) and is therefore in a ton of pain. I put in a call to the vet this morning but haven't heard back yet. 
If I don't hear from them tonight/early tomorrow, I will be calling again. 

Anyway, last time (in April), the vet prescribed 24/7 flymasking, 2gm bute/day for 5 days, and some ointment in her eyes. 
She's already flymasked like a champ, so check. I don't want to put the ointment in her eyes because it's steroid-based and if she has any sort of eye abrasion, ulcers could result, so no check. 
That leaves the bute. Last time the vet said to give it all at once but that left her feeling GREAT in the evening and not so great in the morning. 

I'm thinking that it might be better to seperate that bute into two seperate doses so she has more even "feel good" coverage, yes?

She got some bute this morning (.25gm) and I'm planning on giving her 1.5gm this evening since her eyes are rapidly swelling and she's really in pain, but I'm not sure about tomorrow.

In the event that I can't get contact with the vet (I BETTER or else someone, aka us, is finding a new vet) before tomorrow evening, is it ok to give give 1gm of bute in the morning and 1 at night? Or is something about that frowned upon?


And of course, as soon as I hear from the vet I will do whatever she says but until then, I feel like following her previous instructions is probably safe...

Thanks!


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## Roperchick (Feb 1, 2010)

i know with our old arab, when he would get really bad arthritis wise we gave him half and half. so in the morning he would get half the prescribed (1 gram total) with some grain and then the same at night...gave him "round the clock coverage" so to speak.


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## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

I am no vet.

But if it was my horse I wouldn't hesitate. I would either split the doses and see how she does or maybe give a "loading dose" then dose accordingly afterwards.

From what I understand, Bute given in large doses given on a regular basis can be harmful. But a loading dose then a maintenance dose for a short time after is not.
I could be wrong and I am sure someone will pipe up if I am.

Good luck, I hope she recovers soon!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Splitting the dose between day & night is what most folks I know do. If your horse needs it to control the pain & inflammation, he needs it, so don't stop giving it to him as the benefits outweigh the risks at this point.


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

Depends. I'm not sure how they decide bute dosages, but I'll use ibuprofen in humans as an example.

The best dose for pain relief is 400mg, but the best dose for fighting inflammation is 800mg. The dose also determines how often you can take it. I would call the vet and ask in this case.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it! 

It looks like I caught it right in time yesterday because after getting 1.5g's of bute yesterday, the swelling was basically totally down today. I think she's still in pain because if I take her flymask off to check her eyes, she basically does her best to get her head back into the flymask but she's on the right path.
I was able to finally get in contact with the vet this morning (apparently there were lots of emergencies yesterday so I'm not miffed anymore, haha) and she agreed with what I did yesterday (dosing L up on bute) and we came up with a plan for what I should do in the future (2g's of bute the first day, 1g/day for 4 more days, give them a heads up on the first day, etc), so yay for that.

On the bummer hand, I believe Lacey may have lost that final little bit of sight she had had in right eye with this episode. 
Today the farrier came to do her hooves and while she was her usual cool self about that, she acted shocked and did her little "Why HELLO there, buddy!!" nicker when he finished with Lady (who was on Lacey's right side) and walked back around behind Lacey to her left side. 
But, if she did lose that sight, I'm not overly bummed, in that she had just enough sight for things seen through that eye to be unreasonably scary. So it might actually be nice for her to not have that eye seeing "scary" stuff constantly.
I guess that's the unfortunate breaks of the game... :-|


Anyway, thanks!


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