Giving shots... help

[hooti4me]

I have an Equine Dentist coming out at the end of the month, to check teeth. I've never used an Equine Dentist before, I've always used my regular vet.. Anyways, I know they give them a sedative. OK, heres the problem. Last time I gave Benny a shot, he completely freaked out. He reared, bolted, reared and bolted. I would almost be afraid to put him in the stall, in fear of him getting someone or himself hurt. So my question would be how do you prepare a horse for a shot? Not sure if a lip twitch would work. I need to call the dentist back and tell him about the problem, and see what he says too. It was quite dangerous last time, and we were trying to give him a shot of banamine, but we never got it in.

[winterlakesfarm]

I have assisted on hundreds of dentals and held lots of needle phobic horses......be relaxed and blase and act like he has never pitched a fit before. Sometimes they key off of us coming at them loaded for a hard time. Try a "neck roll" grab a roll of skin on his neck (opposite side to get him looking and paying attention to you)and roll it into your fist as hard as you can and make sure your dentist is sneaky(hide the needle til the last minute, fast and accurate with shots. You can hang onto a roll of skin far easier than a twitch on a rearing horse. You can practice covering his eyes with a towel for a few days before the appt. All you have to do is get the 1st sedative in and then the rest go easily. Worst comes to worst paste bute the morning before the dental and paste banamine after you won't need the shots. A lip chain or chain over the nose works well on horses that like to rear. I am leary of twitches as unless you can hang on for dear life a twitch being slung around by a rearing horse is damn dangerous!

[Just Jolene]

1.- I use banamine paste, might be better for you, too....

2.- don't do anything different unless the dentist says otherwise. It will probably be easier with the ED administering the sedative...he's a pro, but us normal people tend to give off a certain "vibe" when we're about to go in for the "poke". The same horse who "blows up" on me doesn't even realize the vet did anything ;D

3. If for some reason you have to be the one sedating (some Equine Dentists are DVMs, but in many states you don't even need a high school diploma to float teeth) 3 cc's of ace subligually can sedate them enough that you can give a shot with 2 more cc's without them noticing so much ;D

[qhflicka]

Do your horses really need a sedative to have their teeth checked or floated? You have a while to get the horses used to having their mouths worked with.
Do you "play" with their lips and give gum massages? Gum massages calm horses down when nervous and get them to breathe when they hold their breaths. I also get my horses to open their mouths wide, before I deworm them, to check that there is no grass/hay. If there is, I take it all out. Horses will keep some in their mouth when they see you coming with a tube of dewormer. They know it will help in spitting the dewormer out.
I also then play with their tongue, so they get used to having it handled for teeth check ups and floating.

"Normal people give off a certain "vibe" " - very true. Horses pick up on one's fear, hesitation, insecurity, and lack of confidence. Their sense of smell is excellent - when we are nervous, we sweat; they watch our body language, (such as shallow breathing or holding our breath when we are nervous - just like horses do when fearful); they hear our change of voice tone (usually higher when we are nervous). Horses, being prey animals, are very, very observant. We are regarded (usually) as the leader, and when the leader is scared of course the horse will be fearful and react accordingly. We have to be AWARE of this when dealing with our horses at any time.

[hooti4me]

When he colicked in July, I had company, and Benny was trying to colic on me. He was laying down more then normal. He wasn't showing any other colic signs except layign down. I had given him a trailer ride earlier that day, and he pooped. My company arrived, and I still had a horse that was going down. I had my neighbor come over to give him a shot of banamine, so it was busy around here, I was nervous and anxious with a colicky horse and company. Its hard to say if he'd be better on a normal day.
He was rearing, then he was pushing his body into mine, flinging his head around...etc. IT was NOT pretty. I even had my husband come and try to hold him, and the horse flung himself up, and then he fell down. IT was even worse with my husband. We basically said forget it, as she was stickign him, and then he'd rear, and he bent the needle.
I'll just have to call and talk to the ED and see what he says.

[cutiepiepmu]

In my experience - most Dentists as well as DVM's are extremely experienced in giving shots and can generally walk up and have the whole thing over before your horse even knows what hit him. Odds are they will take the needle off the syringe and insert the needle. If he wants to flail they will let him move until he settles, THEN give the shot by reconnecting the syringe to the needle. Most are fast though - and by the time your kid realizes what has happened it is over....

So don't worry - he will be FINE

With my percheron - He nearly passes out when I try to give him his vaccinations - let alone when we had to do an IV on him. He got so freaked he started shaking and nearly went down.. But - by the time he was done freaking out, the shot had been over for a couple of minutes LOL.

Go figure!

Sara in WA

[cat67]

Here's what I do on a horse I know has issues:

1) person at head covers the horse's eye so that they can't see what I'm about to do.

2) rap with my knuckles on horse's neck...rap rap rap NEEDLE

3) after initial hysterics, attach syringe and give shot

The rapping on the neck prepares them that something is coming and then the poke doesn't seem like such a big deal.

[cutiepiepmu]

Cat that sounds about like what I do

sara in WA

[shellyr]

Cat, that is exactly how my vet taught me to give shots.

[squirrels]

I've always done the tapping trick, too, Cat. ;D Never fails.

My vet also taught me another trick where you pinch the skin on the neck (like if you're testing for dehydration) next to where you want to give the shot. As you push the needle in at the base of your pinch, pull the skin out. She swears the horses can't feel it when you do it that way, and I've never had a horse so much as twitch an ear when I've done that. But I've only tried it on a couple horses.

Then I noticed that my dentist used the same trick on my cheek last time I had a cavity filled and I struck up a converstaion with him about it. Yeah, I felt the needle, but barely. Apparently they teach that trick in dental school...