Page 30 - Canada Spring 2021

EQUINE HEALTH
When Banamine first came out about 1980, people considered it a cure-all. “We thought we could just give a shot of Banamine and make the horse better.”
When Banamine first came out about 1980, people considered it
a cure-all. “We thought we could just give a shot of Banamine and make the horse better. But, we soon found out that the horses that needed surgery didn’t get surgery as soon as they should. We’d give Banamine, and it would be 4-5 hours before the horses started showing they were sick again. Sometimes, those
few hours were the difference in whether they lived or died. If the horse is not a surgical candidate, giving Banamine is fine. But if the horse does need surgery, you shouldn’t wait. There is a lot
of responsibility that goes with the owner giving Banamine – whether the paste or the injectable (whether by IV or oral).”
Banamine may mask colic symptoms enough that you end up being a little late with the decision to do surgery. The horse seems better after the Banamine, so the owner goes off and does something else for a while, and then comes back to find the horse is worse again. By then, it may
be evening, and the optimum window of time for doing colic surgery (before the horse is
too shocky and the gut too compromised) may be gone.
“If the horse is shocky and you give a full dose of Banamine, this is hard on the kidneys because that horse is dehydrated (not as much circulating blood volume, because of shock). Or if you
have a hard-working horse that’s dehydrated, you need to get 10 to 15 liters of fluid into him before you give him any drugs. And then you should give only a quarter
or a third of a dose of Banamine,” he explains.
Dr. Matt Randall, a veterinarian at Collier Equine, in Waller, Texas, says there seems
to be more risk for clostridial infections with full doses of Banamine, compared to a half dose or less. “You can give the product orally, however, to reduce risk for problems. I recommend to my clients that if they can’t get the injectable product into the vein, to just give a little extra and squirt it in the mouth. It tastes terrible, but they can get it into the horse that way if the horse
is having a serious problem like colic,” says Matt.
Many people have given IM injections of Banamine for years without problems, but they need to be aware of the risk. “It’s a low risk, but it is a risk. I have seen three cases and all of these
horses were very sick and toxic. There is often a fair amount of swelling at the injection site.
The typical ‘calling card’ of clostridial myositis is gas bubbles under the skin. It feels like Rice Krispies. If you ever feel gas under the skin on a horse that’s recently had an intramuscular injection, this is serious and warrants an emergency visit to the veterinarian. It can make a big difference in the outcome if
you can start treating it early, to reduce the extent of complications.”
The most recent case he’s seen was when a horse owner called
to say her horse colicked a couple days earlier. “She had some Banamine, but couldn’t give an injection in the vein so she gave it in the muscle. The next day, her horse was a little stiff-necked and sore at the injection site, so she gave some penicillin, which was fine. Two days after the Banamine shot was when she called me. The mare’s neck was swollen on both sides and she had a fever of 104, and a toxic line on the mucous membranes on her gum.
“The owner told me what had happened, so I was looking for evidence of gas under the skin – because I was thinking it probably
30 SPEEDHORSE CANADA Spring 2021