Compounded Products for Performance Horses
Compounded Products for Performance Horses
August 14, 2010
Scott Berliner R.Ph.
One of the most rewarding experiences in my career has been some of the work I have done with performance horses. These animals are bred for speed and purpose and when treated properly love their jobs. Like other athletes these beautiful equines have special needs, and in a sport that is highly competitive, these needs are difficult to meet. First of all, a lot of the older medications that were used are not made any more. Life Science Pharmacy is continuing to make these at the requests of veterinarians. Some of these requests include carbazochrome, caco copper, ATP, the original “EPM” medicine, and many other discontinued formulations. Many of these are inexpensive and have less side effects but have been replaced with newer more profitable entities or just aren’t made because of the economics, namely the profitability. We continue to compound the products that work and invite our equine community to call for more information on these.
In our sports division we formulate and compound a line of injectables for many prominent veterinarians taking care of these thoroughbred and standardbred horses. These include natural joint support. Our special aminoglycan formula is twice the strength of other available products allowing for smaller injections and a more affordable way of maintaining the joints. These big muscular animals range in weight from 1000 to 1300 pounds yet stand on joints the same size as humans so joint health is always a primary concern. Our special hyaluronic acid formulas can insure healthy lubricated joints especially when used with acetyl-d-glucosamine, which we compound at the request of these veterinary physicians. We have an oral form of these ingredients that can easily be used by “top dressing” the feed. Our products are formulated for ease of use and around the feeding patterns of the horses.
Special formulations of vitamins that help build stronger blood as well as vitamin and mineral injections that can help with tying up, a dangerous problem are just a few of the more natural approaches we have for supporting the health of these expensive animals. Other amino acids for the strength of the lungs, liver and immune system are other formulas we make at the request of some very prominent veterinarians.
Our formulations also include some functional products. While not natural they do help with the special needs of these highly bred animals. From allergy issues to breathing issues, to colic and tying up we have better approaches. We make use of homeopathic, herbal and nutritional products for the health and longevity of our animals.
Even though these are beautiful and muscular animals, the fact is they do live outdoors a good portion of the time and often pick up parasites and other problems that can cause gastrointestinal issues that can compromise their health and performance. We have many solutions at affordable prices both natural and pharmaceutical. Toltrazuril has been requested more often than anything these days and we are able to make this both as an oral liquid as well as an oral gel(we apple flavor it to keep the horse from pushing it out).
All of our veterinary products are made from human grade ingredients compounded to your veterinarians specifications. Our licensed pharmacy compounds strictly to USP standards and quality,safety, and efficacy are never compromised for the price. Due to the volume that we do in this area, our buying power allows for lower prices and higher quality. We invite our patients, physicians and veterinarians to come and inspect all of our laboratories both sterile and non-sterile. As the exclusive compounding pharmacy for the New York City Mounted Police we have the opportunity to develop special approaches for the different needs of our equine community. Our antibacterial and antifungal shampoos are extremely efficient at cleansing away the problems that horses out in the public all day can face. Just as we get jock itch our horse can get fungal infections from sweating under the saddle. The veterinarian for the mounted unit orders these products all the time.
As a small high end compounding laboratory our pharmacists take the time to check every ingredient, every formula for every prescription we fill. We are constantly formulating new products to meet the demands of the equine community and invite owners and their veterinarians to contact us for more information about availability and price of the products they are using. We are motivated to be competitive both in quality and price while continuing to expand our laboratory facilities.
