Cow meds for people.

Confession time. HOw many of you have self medicated using animal medications/treatments for yourself?

When we were kids on the farm when the vet would show up for major cattle handling, us kids and the foreman's kids would line up and the vet would give us the once over. Look in our eyes, down our throats, feel our skulls, I suppose checking for bots. I do not remember any penicillin shots in the butt, but I have been treated for ringworm with the same stuff they used on the calves.

Hubby takes glucosamine daily for a body that is beginning to object to the daily battering his job subjects it too. Glucosamine used to help but more and more the hurting is bigger and bigger. So I bought a large jar of equine glucosamine supplement after hearing several other people swear by it. It was $109, which I thought was pretty pricey, but considering he is not a 1000 pound animal and will be taking it in much smaller doses, it will last a long time. Long enough to either cure him or kill him. It is too soon to tell if there is any improvement, but he says it tastes like something I scraped out of the cat box.

I have a friend (and by that I mean literally a friend, this is not me I'm talking about) who had sever shoulder damage and spent much of his time in unrelenting pain until he discovered the amazing pain relieving properties of bute. If it can relieve your horse, it will work for you too, and in a BIG way! He was always very happy. Very happy. Really, really happy. But not in pain.

Lets be all politically correct and toss out the obligatory and completely insincere caution against injecting yourself with unknown antibitoics you have lurking in the fridge. Tut tut, we frown upon off label use. But I would love to know what horse linament, cow balm or goat supplements you have partaken of and to wht effect. I am eager to see if Hubby's aching joints feel better and if he starts sleeping standing up.

Uno, I love the topics you come up with! I'll be interested to hear what others have to say on this one. I don't have any stories to offer but think I might get me some bute for my shoulder that has had a 5mm tear in it for years and is now starting to really bother me.

i dunno if this counts...but i have used "bag balm for cow utters"on my lips for chap stick. i have used vet wrap to wrap my knee for support for riding, and used ïco-o-gel for my knee its a cooling agent for the joints we used on the thoroughbreds after running, its feels good...lOL

Chicory, as glib as I might sound I will caution that bute, while it did relieve my friend's pain, made him a little kookoo too. Like, don't take bute and operate heavy equipment.

You might want to investigate this horse supplement. Everything I've heard is anecdotal, but watching Hubby slowly cease up I figure it's worth a try. IT's basically glucosamine with a little extra horse power. THe proof is in the pudding.

Many farm women, my mom included, have discovered the wonders of udder balm for chapped skin. Now it's available in the drugstores, but it was hard owrking farm folk, using it in an off label way, that popularized it into the mainstream. (my big sentences make it sound like I know what I'm talking about. I don't.)

Ummm yeah I will confes to this. I usually have a bottle or two of horse sized novo-trimel (trimethaprin sulfa). I have been known pop a few doses if I feel the painful beginnings of a uti (tmi???). I have been prescribed that before so I do know my dose. Why bother sitting in the walk in clinic when the answer is in the cupboard! I also took a few doses last fall when I chopped the end of my finger 99% off and while I did go to the drs (next day mind you, I got the bleeding to stop and wrapped it better then she did) she did not give me any antibiotics. When the finger started feeling hot I popped a few. I am allergic to penacillins so I am fairly limited in that department.

I will admit to giving hubby antibiotics left from the dogs laceration repair.

The glucoszmine for horses is just fine. The human stuff usually has to go through more testing to be labeled for human consumption which they get to charge more.

I would be careful with some drugs as we may not metabolize it the same ad an animal. There is an animal antibiotic called Baytril that's related to the human version Ciprofloxacin. Apparently humans can convert this drug to cipro as it's metabolized but is causes massive hallucinations along the way! Bute could do similar things in people plus burn a hole in your gut! If your looking for something stronger then advil you can ask the pharmacist for Napeoxen (alieve). you can also ask the Pharmacist for Tylenol ones which have a small amount of codeine. Not many people know that and can be good if your not sensitive to codine.

Alright that's my confession for the night

Quesion, what sort of glucosamine is it?

People usually use glucosamine sulfate. It sure works for me. I was getting some pain in my fingers and I started taking it and the pain went away. Then I heard on the radio that some scientists had just finished a big study where they concluded that glucosamine didn't do any harm but they didn't see where it helped either. So I stopped taking it. The pain came back. So I started taking it again. The pain went away again (this all happened over a period of months).

Anywho, the reason I ask is that, when our Lab was geting old and stiff, a friend told me to give her glucosamine hydrochloride (their vet had told them to use I on their dog). She said we would prbably see an iprovement in abot 3 months... we could see it in ONE!

So I've been wondering if there would be any difference between the glucsamine sulfate and glucosamine hydrochloride (according to some sites, there isn't but still...)

fuzzylittlefriend wrote: painful beginnings of a uti (tmi???).

I can't stand acronyms, cause for the most part, I don't know what they stand for, please elaborate, I need to know, smiling.

I can honestly say that I haven't partaken in any medications for critters on myself because I haven't had many ailments. Many surgeries, but not ailments that require the use of antibiotics, etc.....

I honestly do not see any issue with taking any drug, if you can figure out the proper dosage, the manner in which the body utilizes it, etc., etc. You get the point. Uno, again you have began a wonderful thread and I think that this is a good one, I can't wait to hear responses from others and hope others speak freely and don't feel any finger pointed at them about, "well, ya shouldn't be doin' that" cause, aren't drugs drugs, just slight variations?

Don't think I like the sounds of bute though, nor the sound of baytril converting to ceprix, with hallucinations along the way (I don't like hallucinations, seen too many of them in my younger years , they scare me ). Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I don't know about all of this ? It would seem a bit scarey to take something with out knowing the end results before hand ??.I have heard of people treating ringworm with the same medication as what there cattle were given , but that was external , internal ?? well all I can say is Good Luck , and who knows being a living guinea pig you might find a new cure ? We take as little medication as possiable around here , but I understand that there ae those who have a lot of pains who do need to , so have at it .

ChicoryFarm wrote:I might get me some bute for my shoulder that has had a 5mm tear in it for years and is now starting to really bother me.

Off topic so will be brief, please email me if you want more information. Had a massive torn rotator cuff, the worst the doctor had seen in along time, arthroscopic surgery, only a dimple in my top shoulder, healed and the power in that arm, woudl rock your socks!! CynthiaM.

Uno, thanks for the warning and even though I gave the impression i was going to run out today and buy it I actually have jar of some kind of prescription anti-inflammatory cream for humans but it's causing an allergic reaction so must get it diluted.

Cindi darlin', I'll be in touch. Seems we have yet another thing in common now with our shoulders along with our love for buff orps, which I'm loving! I'll contact you and have a few PM's and emails I must get caught up with today first.

I use an animal antibiotic cream if it is the closest thing to a cut- and it often is.

If the kids at school gave me lice I would not hesitate to eprinex my scalp!

I wouldn't use anything that has a withdrawal time for eggs, milk or meat.

Sue

.

The best I can do is the bag balm. I had what the doctors called winters foot(excema). It was extremly painful my feet would crack between the toes and it would just be this massive slice no blood just the meat of my foot showing. Then the rest of my foot would peel like a sunburn. When it was bad i couldn't walk and western meds like cortate creams stopped working. My mom had a friend give her this green tin and she wouldn't let me see what it was but with care and regular treatment I soon healed.The doc told me that around the age 16/17 our bodies go thru another change and I would probably out grow the majority of it.Lucky me I did.
However I passed it down to my youngest he doesn't have it as bad as I did but does also have it on his fingertips. If I leave him alone it can get as bad as my feet. I have however found this extreme cream thru avon and swear by it for our skin it doesn't sting and the skin doesn't react when you use it on open wounds.
Having said all of that I think that if your pain is increasing its ok to think outside of the conventional box. What works for others might not work for you trail and error.Do your homework of course
I have to ask as well what is uti? (tmi)

I remember getting small amounts of bute for sports injuries, this was before you had to take an animal to the vet to get bute. I agree, it was something that you needed to be very careful with it as it could send you loopy!! We also use horse liniment for ourselves. I even tried out some powdered horse penicillen once not too long ago. I use vet wrap regularly, and actually let the gymnasts I was coaching use it also. I buy it by the case. We also use bag balm for lips, chapped/dried skin, and saddle sores. The best thing we ever found for rope burns, or burns of any kind was a hoof product called Aloe Hoof. You can no longer purchase the good stuff, but can purchase a similar product, it just does not have the mink oil which made it a little better when it was added in. That is all I can think of for now. I do caution anyone to be very careful using products for animals!

HigginsRAT wrote:


Dogs, best thing I got told about when my dogs started getting old, was Cartrophen shots. You (or a vet--just a sub Q shot) do up a series of shots, one week apart for a month and then once every three months or as you begin to note them spending more and more time on the couch, in pain not all lubed up. Rick use to tell me, Makins needs another shot, her LUBEY DUBEY shot, please. We began giving her cartrophen at about age nine or ten and she got five or six year of off the couch, back to puppy (not really but those with an old dog or dogs know what I mean!) make me beam with happiness, lubey life in her body so she could move again. I never bothered her with the Glucosamine and if I notice any of the four we have now having couch potato syndrome, I'll be back for more cartrophen shots on them. I never saw any side affects and it made it so she was part of the pack again. In her very final years, she also got Metcam (that crap has side affects, think eventually you got organ function reduction, but hey, we all gotta weigh the quality of LIFE questions too) on a experimental dose, so at age 12 years to 15 years 2 weeks. She was on a 1/4 to 1/2 dose daily, squirt in her night time kibbies and broth din din. I was just SO happy to breathe life back into a dog that was sentenced to laying around on the couch. Usually right about half way thru the day of me giving her a new Cartrophen shot, she'd make that leap, the two front paws extended out, OH MY! Catch her--she might hurt herself!! The results were that dramatic. Lubey dubey...LOL

And BTW, she was outta an OFA Excellent dam (only 2 percent of ACDs had that rating back 20 years ago) and OFA Good sire, Makins herself was OFA Good in hips and OFA Clear in elbows, so not a hip or elbow dysplasia issue.

If the Glucosamine works for your dawg great, but if or when it don't go visit Cartrophen and see how that works out.

That old Lab passed on some years ago and the glucosamine really helped her in the last 2 or 3 years. It was no bother, she got to be very good at taking the pills (mind you, that dog would eat anything).

I'll keep the cartrophen in mind when our current dogs get to that age though. Thanks.

Cynthia - UTI = urinary tract infection I was not sure if the was " too much info

In the dog world a glucosamine supplement is usually the 1st mode of action. I am a fan of combo supplements such as Recovery or Sashas blend. They offer more support in the anti-inflammatory department. We mostly use cartrophen post orthopedic surgery to help restore normal joint function. We do offer it to arthritic dogs as well. Last resort is a NSAID ( non-steroidal anti inflammatory). Metacam is wonderful for long term use as it is really one of the safest out there. It's also nice as you can play with the dose and use the smallest effective dose. It does have it's potential side effects but like Higgins said you out weigh the side effects for the comfort factor. Monitoring kidney and liver values every 6 months can catch any potential changes.

.

Fowler, this horse glucosamine is.. glucosamine hydrochloride (plant source)
methyl sulfonyl methane (msm)
Vit C
Vit E
Betaine
magnesium
hyaluronic acid

- not necessarily in that order

Also contains Nutricol, a proprietary bioflavinoid complex containing EGCG, theaflavin, proanthocyanidins and resveratrol from green tea and grapes. (I have no idea what all the means)

It is, as mentioned by someone else, Recovery EQ, which apparently is now packaged for human consumption in smaller containers with a higher price. But I've only been told this, never seen it. I think I will buy some gel caps and fill them as Hubby claims this tastes quite vile.

Having battled urinary tract infections for years, and oh the agony those things can cause....I'd have swallowed diesel fuel if I thought it would help. I never thought that the prescribed sulfa drugs and the horse sulfa drugs might be similar. BUt one is in the tack shed and the other is a long wait at the walk in clinic, a day or two for lab results, then another trip to town to pick up the prescription and by this time you are wild with pain and fever...to heck with that! Horse meds it is next time that happens!

HigginsRAT wrote:
I need someone to play ball and be on my side, not bleed me out because I happen to care about the creatures. Don't lie to me!! Every penny I don't spend on vet bills, means a better life here for the others that rely on us to keep them in the fashion they are use to being in...har har.

On the other hand, we have medicare but no 'Veticare'. Maybe we should be going to the doctor with fake symptoms to get meds for our animals.

"Doc you've gotta help me! I've got featherlice and roundworms and I need a Leptospirosis booster (just give me the syringe and I'll do it at home)!"

Yes cartrophen can be wonderful. But like anything it works great for some more so then others. Usually we will start a cartrophen series and a glucosamine supplement at the same time as usually the cartrophen will work faster and by the time the injection series is done the other is also taking effect.

I'm a big fan of recovery with one horse on the equine powder and one small dog on the chew tablets.

A lot of the animal drugs are the same as what's on the human pharmacy shelfs. Some stuff is formulated for animals in dosing sizes or flavored chew tabs.

I would say to anyone who has a large breed dog don't be afraid to ask your vet to write a prescription to a human pharmacy as it can be way cheaper for certain things. Especially if you have a walmart their prescriptions are minimally marked up. It apparently their marketing strategy as for every person who comes in for a prescription will spend another $60 elsewhere in the store. But there are defiantly some drugs worth getting scripted out.

Yes o agree Uno I hate the wait game and mine usually come on and progress so quickly I won't wait for the dr! I never leave home with out a few tablets just in case!

Hmm......

Well from my point of view, I see both sides of the coin - I work in a vet clinic and am just in my 3rd year of nursing school on my way to being an RN.

I place a lot of value on the use of supplements such as recovery, cosequin, cartrophen. I have also used Sasha's blend - wonderful stuff for fussy dogs. Now, recovery can be used for human consumption, they even make a human formula. However, the horsey formula is much, much cheaper. You are right, UNO, it's much stronger so one must be careful when dosing or they might get the trots (not the horsey gait!). I know a woman who had amazing results for dealing with her rheumatoid arthritis with taking recovery (horse version). She thought she might share her dog's recovery one day when she ran out of horse recovery, apparently it is liver flavored and not so palateable with OJ as it is for dogs on their food.

There are a lot of cross overs between human and animal pharmacology, we use hydromorphone, zantac, cefazolin, etc etc etc in both worlds. BUT, I honestly feel it is much safer to use human drugs from human pharmacies for human ailments. There is a great difference in the metabolism of drugs by humans vs animals. There is also a great deal of research put into humam pharmacology, much, much more research then for animal pharmacology. There is also the fact that you are going to outlive your dog, horse, cat, by many, many years and while something may be safe for a dog for the two years they need it, it's damaging to human liver (kidneys, etc) long term. Some of the antibiotics and pain medications used in vet medicine are very OLD, and while we have used some in human medicine at some point, the research has provided reasons to use newer, safer or more effective/reliable drugs.

Anyways, that's just my two cents. Sure it might not kill you to do it once or twice, I most definitely would not use them long term or regularly.

Good post Briarwood, very balanced and well thought out. Have you considered journalism as a career?

I too enjoyed Briarwood's post. And what is of great interest to me is that I had not idea there is often a fine line between the 'ingredients' for human meds and animal meds. Makes me feel better about when I have to medicate my animals.