equioxx alternative for 50 cent a day!!

[paintjumper]

I initially posted on another thread but I thought it might be buried so I am double posting for everyone else. I have an old stallion that needs equioxx daily. I can not take that expense as he will be on it for the rest of his life so I turned to the internet for a solution and I found it for less than 50 cent a day!!! The same drug!! Go to your dog vet and get the 227 mg previcox tablet for dogs. The tablets are scored, (have a breaking line down the middle). Break the tablet in half and then break the halfed tablet in half again, so the entire tablet has now been quartered. One quarter of the tablet is equal to 1 tube of equiox!! Feed the horse 1/4 tablet every day. My guy eats it right out of my hand in a hand full of sweet feed and he never knows he has had it! It seems a dogs metabolism metabolizes the drug 4 times faster than a horse, thus the small amount needed for a horse. My guy has been on it for more than a month and he is doing very well. Hope this helps everybody's pocketbook.

[Bayou Roux]

Do a search. Been discussed ad nauseum. But yes, it's a good find.

[paintjumper]

I just know $14 a day, forever, was making me nauseated!!! And my husband worse than that!!!

[Bayou Roux]

I know the feeling. Sorry to snark. Caught me at a bad moment with quick fingers.

[Gayla]

So many of us miss the threads that everyone references. When I have done searches trying to find info on a particular drug or supplement it really doesn't work well. So, thanks. :)

[Kiwayu]

My vet won't let me try the previcoxx. :sigh: She said it's off label use and that if something is to happen to my horse from it, the company won't cover it. Unfortunately, my vet goes strictly by the rules. I love her dearly, and her motto has its perks but it sucks to have to pay $12 a dose.

[Simkie]

My vet won't let me try the previcoxx. :sigh: She said it's off label use and that if something is to happen to my horse from it, the company won't cover it. Unfortunately, my vet goes strictly by the rules. I love her dearly, and her motto has its perks but it sucks to have to pay $12 a dose.

Even my SMALL animal vet gave me all of his Previcox samples when I told him I was using it on my horse. If you have little animals, it wouldn't hurt to ask your small animal vet. I have a great relationship with mine...

[paintjumper]

my vet had never thought of the idea until I brought it to her attention but once she realized the "math" of the medication she was excited as she too owns an elderly gentleman that is in need of help. Your vet has no excuse, they should help you and your horse.

[Laurierace]

Forgive the hijack. Do any of you have experience with using the canine version on a canine? I have my elderly lab on metacam but would like to up the anty a little bit as she is having less comfortable days than she used to. I am not really worried about anything other than pain relief as we are already on borrowed time. I have been giving her a shot of dex about once a week as well but she isn't happy about the injections.

[Simkie]

Forgive the hijack. Do any of you have experience with using the canine version on a canine? I have my elderly lab on metacam but would like to up the anty a little bit as she is having less comfortable days than she used to. I am not really worried about anything other than pain relief as we are already on borrowed time. I have been giving her a shot of dex about once a week as well but she isn't happy about the injections.

My small animal vet tried previcox and did NOT like it. In the couple cases he used it on, the dog developed stomach ulcers and had to be treated with omeprazole.

He much prefers deramax.

[greysandbays]

My vet won't let me try the previcoxx. :sigh: She said it's off label use and that if something is to happen to my horse from it, the company won't cover it. Unfortunately, my vet goes strictly by the rules. I love her dearly, and her motto has its perks but it sucks to have to pay $12 a dose.

And your vet thinks your horse getting nothing because the price is too high is going keep make something happen that's better than whatever might happen from "off lable useage" just how???

[Kiwayu]

Smikie & Graysandbay- I only use the Equioxx when Kiwayu get's shod. Ever since he's had Lyme 3x he has a hard time flexing and staying flexed for the farrier. The Equioxx works miracles and at $12 a dose every 6-8 weeks, it's not going to kill me. It would be nice to be able to save a few bucks here and there and not worry if Kiwayu decides to be a PITA and spit the paste out which he does once in a while.

Smikie- My small animal vet is my horse vet. :sigh:

[paintjumper]

I have never used previcox on my dogs. My two older dogs are on Deramaxx and they do very well on that.

[Laurierace]

Thanks, I will look into that.

[Ghazzu]

Y'all might want to direct your ire at the manufacturer who charges such different prices for small vs. large animal formulations. That's where the blame belongs.

It is against federal regulations to dispense the small animal drug in place of the large.

(Yes, I *know* it's not a high enforcement priority.)

But what you're asking your vet to do is break the law for your benefit, and getting angry when s/he won't.
That's not really fair.

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

My small animal vet gave my lame Jack Russell some Previcox to try. Before I give anything new I do research on it & what I found on Previcox made me dump it all out. According to what I read many many many dogs have died from it due to mainly GI bleeds but also liver problems. Nope, I'm not a vet & maybe my fears are unfounded but the stuff I read scared me to death. Just thought I'd throw that into the mix!

[atr]

I WAS getting it from my horse vet. Unfortunately, Merial jumped all over him and threatened to cut him off, so I'm SOL now. So be careful who you tell about this little find.

I Don't have a dog, so I reckon I'm out of luck there, too. So Mr Ancient Horse is back on bute again. He's doing fine so far, but...

[Happy Feet]

my vet had never thought of the idea until I brought it to her attention but once she realized the "math" of the medication she was excited as she too owns an elderly gentleman that is in need of help. Your vet has no excuse, they should help you and your horse.

They do have a good excuse. Using Previcoxx is off label for horses, drug interaction and problems happan all the time, if something happened with your horse while on Previcoxx, the vet is up the creek without a paddle, and a large hole in her canoe. If you go to the FDA site to see reported reactions to Equioxx, and for that matter Previcoxx too, you will see it is not a completely safe drug. Ulcers, is one of the listed reactions....

[paintjumper]

no medication is. I happen to have a 31 year old stallion that needs it to get around. On the equioxx he moves quite freely, not on the equioxx he has trouble getting to his feet once he lays down. I have made a decision, along with my vet, to have him live out the rest of his life as comfortably as I can, if he should develop ulcers or liver or kidney disease down the road we will handle it with his best interests in mind. I simply wanted to share a money saving tip with my fellow horse folks, we all could use it these days with this bleak economy. Use it if you like.

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

Hey if you have a 31 yr old you must be doing something very right! He makes me think of one of my patients when they took vioxx off the market. This little 80 something yr old women just fell apart. She went from walking around to not being able to sit much less stand comfortably. The pain contributed to her falling & not surviving the surgery to repair the broken hip. She'd have lived much longer if they'd let her have the vioxx. I've heard many similar stories from other nurses. You just have to sometimes choose the lesser of two evils don't you?

[paintjumper]

I lost his favorite girlfriend when she was 38!!! All of these guys are horses too, not ponies! I too am a nurse and believe QUALITY of life is so much more important than quantity of life. Being a critical care nurse for 22 years just kinda filters over to my animal friends!! My vet says I can pull off miracles that she would never dream of. This stallion is my recent miracle, when I called her he had been down more than 24 hours, it seems he laid too close to the fence during the middle of the night and wrangled with the fence just enough to really get him sore. She was very concerned due to his age and unknown extent of his injuries that he would never get back to his feet. That was about a month ago and yesterday he was cantering the fence line talking to the girls!

[purplnurpl]

I talked to my vet about it on Friday after reading the older COTH thread.
He said there is a 3x loading dose. I fought him on it and he said, nope. you have to 3x dose it the first day. Is that right? I've never seen any reference to that here.

He then spray painted my name across my horse's side because I'm a PITA. But that is for another thread.

[Simkie]

I talked to my vet about it on Friday after reading the older COTH thread.
He said there is a 3x loading dose. I fought him on it and he said, nope. you have to 3x dose it the first day. Is that right? I've never seen any reference to that here.

He then spray painted my name across my horse's side because I'm a PITA. But that is for another thread.

I have heard of a 2x loading here on this board, but I have never seen it referenced in the product information.

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

Wow, Paint Jumper, that gives me hope for the 22 yr old Hann. gelding I've put back to work. 22 yrs as CC nurse? That's a LOT of stress. My best friend has over 30 yrs in Atlanta hospital in ICU. Don't know how you all stay with that job so long. I only lasted 2 years then went to home health. Less stress.

[paintjumper]

But my recent case was a bit different due to the urgency of trying to get him to his feet. With him, I gave him 20cc Dex IV, then 10cc the following day, then I started him on the equioxx paste on the third day. I did not boost the paste by a loading dose as I had used the Dex the days before. Since then I have given him the regular dose once a day (I give it with the evening meal since his problems are getting to his feet after laying down at night) and so far he is doing well. I'm not sure I would multiply the dose by 3 because it is a potent drug.

[DMK]

I talked to my vet about it on Friday after reading the older COTH thread.
He said there is a 3x loading dose. I fought him on it and he said, nope. you have to 3x dose it the first day. Is that right? I've never seen any reference to that here.

I've heard about giving equioxx more frequently than 1-2X a day on horses in surgical facilities, but I'm thinking those are generally severe pain cases being managed any way they can, and this is just something a bit easier on the GI tract than bute/banamine.

It's probably not something I would do on my own, but then again if I had a horse needing that much pain management, I'd already bve talking to the vet.

Right now I like previcox for my older horse - he just needs the extra help after a hard work and previcox seems to do a good job.

[Laurierace]

20 CCs of dex? Holy cow, I am amazed his feet didn't fall off. The most I have ever given at one time is 5.

[Druid Acres]

So if I'm understanding this right, you give a horse 1/4 of a dog pill? :confused:

[purplnurpl]

So if I'm understanding this right, you give a horse 1/4 of a dog pill? :confused:

I was wondering this as well. How is it that a dog takes the same amount?
I think the smallest size offered is = to one horse dose--?

[Simkie]

I was wondering this as well. How is it that a dog takes the same amount?
I think the smallest size offered is = to one horse dose--?

Dogs are dosed at 2.27 mg/lb.

Horses are dosed at 0.045 mg/lb.

It is not at all unusual for different species to have different tolerances. They are, after all, completely different species. Just because they both have 4 legs and a tail doesn't mean they metabolize drugs in the same manner.

[atr]

My vet never mentioned a loading dose with Equioxx. He did however say that it would take 3 doses (3 days) to reach peak effectiveness.

Merial really are into ripping off horse people. I wouldn't normally say that, because I do realize that research has to be paid for, corporations are indeed allowed to make a profit, etc. etc., but the fact that the dog drug is SO much cheaper really chaps my hide.

[kcmel]

20 CCs of dex? Holy cow, I am amazed his feet didn't fall off. The most I have ever given at one time is 5.


Well, the dex comes in different forumulations; e.g., 1 mg/mL or 5 mg/mL. So if it is 1 mg/mL that would only be 20 mg total which is not that unreasonable.

[tpup]

Re: loading dose? Yep - my vet did - of Previcox for my arthritic horse. He recommended 1 full tablet first day, then 1/2 tab every day after that. I grilled him and even called him the next day before starting to double and triple check and he insisted that yes, it's fine. Started last week and all is fine. This is top lameness vet who has had very good experience with Equioxx and Previcox. Said after a month we can try going back to 1/4 tab to see how he does, but he felt based on my horse and his condition(s), that 1/2 tab was appropriate.

He explained the reason horses only get 1/4 or 1/2 tab of a dog pill is that they metabolize the pill very differently than dogs. He also said it is very, very safe - even for my guy who had ulcers in January. Fingers crossed and we'll see.

[paintjumper]

now I won't be afraid to give him a bit more if he needs it. Very good. I thought 20 cc of Dex was a bit much too but then I thought about the MEGA loading doses we give humans with spinal injuries (which was a big concern with my guy at the time) and he did well with it. thanks again for sharing your experiences with this drug.

[Iride]

Re: loading dose? Yep - my vet did - of Previcox for my arthritic horse. He recommended 1 full tablet first day, then 1/2 tab every day after that. I grilled him and even called him the next day before starting to double and triple check and he insisted that yes, it's fine. Started last week and all is fine. This is top lameness vet who has had very good experience with Equioxx and Previcox. Said after a month we can try going back to 1/4 tab to see how he does, but he felt based on my horse and his condition(s), that 1/2 tab was appropriate.

He explained the reason horses only get 1/4 or 1/2 tab of a dog pill is that they metabolize the pill very differently than dogs. He also said it is very, very safe - even for my guy who had ulcers in January. Fingers crossed and we'll see.

Tpup, any updates?