# prevacox dosing?



## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

I have a horse here who has been on Previcox for years without any problems. He gets it daily & if any horse would have a bad reaction to something it would be him.
I get the dog dose pills (1 pill) & cut them into 4 pieces (1/4 pill for horse dose), which sounds weird but the horse dose is smaller. Much cheaper than buying the pills made for horses.

I think your vet's plan would work although some say Previcox requires a double loading dose for a bit when first using.


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## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

Why not try it? What's the worst that can happen, you have to up the dose again?
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## MImares4 (Jan 26, 2016)

My 31 year old gets 1 pill every day. She's been on it since November and will be on it the rest of her life. My vet said he had a client's horse on it for 5 years. It wasn't the Previcox that killed the horse the poor thing broke its leg  

Since my horse has been on it she is so frisky and feels great! I don't mind the cost every month because her feeling better and watching her run and play is so worth it! I wish I would've known about it sooner I would've put her on it years ago!
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## busysmurf (Feb 16, 2012)

I LOVE Previcox!! The horses at the farm who are on it get a 1/4 tab daily (not sure what that comes out to as far as exact dosage), and that seems to be a good maintenance dose. Depending on the horse, we may up it to half a pill for shows


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

My horse has been on previcox twice for different reasons. The first time, the vet had him on half of the big dog tablets (they do come in several different sizes) per day for a week. The second time was more long term: a quarter tablet daily for about 8 weeks. My horse did come up with ulcers after the longer term treatment but there were a lot of other contributing stressful factors as well (including a barn move) so I don't know how much if any of it was affected by the previcox.

I'd certainly give the every other day schedule a try. You'll notice if it's not helping his arthritis as much as the daily schedule and you can always increase the dosage again in that case.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

I've consulted with two different lameness specialist vets in the past. 

Previcox is technically illegal for vets to prescribe for horses (equine version is Equioxx) but most will still do it anyway because it is the exact same medication for a fraction of the cost. 

It comes in two sizes: A 227 mg tablet and a 57 mg tablet. 

A "normal" dosage for a horse is 57 mg. So if you have the larger tablets, you'll need to break/cut them into 4 pieces. I find the 57's are much more ACCURATE because you don't have to worry about breaking them into pieces that aren't the same size.

For Previcox to be the most effective, you have to obtain a loading dose in the horse's system and then maintain that dose. The loading dose is to give 3 of the 57 mg tablets on the first day, and then 1 a day thereafter. 

It works best if you can give the pill every day at the same time, again, so the drug level can be maintained. 

With my own horses, it seems that the Previcox really "kicks in" after they've been on it about a week. 

Previcox is NOT like bute (for example) where bute will have an immediate effect even if you only give it one time. 

From my experience, if I am going to give a horse Previcox, I'm going to give them one 57 mg tab a day, as it is directed. Personally, I would not dose it any less than that, because you aren't going to keep the level consistent in the body. 

Remember also that Previcox only MASKS the pain but doesn't actually fix any problems. But with that said, it sure can be a very useful tool for pain management.


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## livelovelaughride (Sep 13, 2011)

Just adding my .02.
My local vet has my guy on every other day for maintenance. He isn't keen on every day for the reason that Previcox can be hard on the kidneys. We recently had been dosing every day (for a month) on another lameness vet's prescription, and to be safe, we got the blood taken for kidney function.

A friend of mine tried previcoxx for her rocky mountain gelding. Each time she tried it, he began to show colic symptoms. Interesting how it affects different horses.

My horse has been on it for about a year and a half. Between that and Osphos, I am seeing a big change in his comfort level.


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