Use the navigation bar above to access articles and more discussions on this topic.
| Author |
Message |
    
Dr. Carol Artlett
| | Posted on Thursday, Jul 8, 1999 - 11:28 am: |   |
My horse is being fed isoxsuprine because of his poor hoof structure (cracking and chipping, with the belief that this drug will speed up the nail growth. He is not lame nor does he have any other foot problems. DrO what is your thoughts on this? The info sheets indicate that this is "one of the most abused drugs". Have I unwittingly contributed to the abuse? |
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Friday, Jul 9, 1999 - 6:50 am: | |
Hello Doc,
I think most of the abuse comes from the vet's pushing this drug for uses that are unsupported by any scientific research and sometimes using it in the face of research that supports the idea it is not helpful. This is a great example of the latter. The reasoning is that since it is a vasodialator it may help increase blood supply to the coronet and therfore increase the quality of the horn, very recent research says:
Vet Surg 1999 May-Jun;28(3):154-60
The effect of oral isoxsuprine and pentoxifylline on digital and laminar blood flow in healthy horses.
Ingle-Fehr JE, Baxter GM
Department of Clinical Sciences, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To quantitate blood flow in the palmar digital artery and dorsal laminae of the hoof in standing, unmedicated, nonsedated horses, and in horses treated with oral isoxsuprine, oral pentoxifylline, and intravenous acetylpromazine as a positive control.
CONCLUSION: Neither isoxsuprine nor pentoxifylline increased blood flow to the digit or dorsal laminae in healthy horses. Acepromazine caused an increased blood flow to the digit. Based on the results of this study acetylpromazine potentially would have a greater effect on improving digital blood flow than oral isoxsuprine or pentoxifylline when treating ischemic conditions of the foot in horses.
Absence of detectable pharmacological effects after oral administration of isoxsuprine.
Harkins JD, Mundy GD, Stanley S, Woods WE, Sams RA, Richardson DR, Grambow SC, Tobin T
Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center and the Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506, USA.
Isoxsuprine is reported to be a peripheral vasodilator used in human and veterinary medicine to treat ischaemic vascular disease. In horses, it is generally administered orally to treat navicular disease and other lower limb problems. To define the scope and duration of its pharmacological responses after oral administration, 6 horses were dosed with isoxsuprine HCl (1.2 mg/kg bwt) q. 12 h for 8 days and then tested to assess the duration and extent of pharmacological actions. There was no significant difference between isoxsuprine and control treatment values for heart rate, spontaneous activity, sweat production, anal muscle tone, core and skin temperatures, and cutaneous blood flow. The lack of pharmacological effect following oral administration was in sharp contrast to the marked response following i.v. dosing reported in earlier experiments. (The earlier experiments did not detect a significant increase in cutaneous blood flow but there were some remrkable neurological, other smooth muscle, and cardiovascular effects from large IV dosing, effects where limited to less than 4 hours duration...DrO)
For specifc recommendations on help with this problem see the article on cracks in the Disease: Lameness sections. I have included these and other references in the isoxsuprine article
DrO |
Dr. Carol Artlett
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jul 13, 1999 - 2:42 pm: | |
DrO, thank you for the info. I guess the bottom line is I am wasting my money by using it on a horse that does not have abnormal blood flow to the hooves as he does not have navicular. I just have to wait while his hoof condition improves with better diet and Farrier's Formula.
Again, Thanks Very Much
Carol |
