As one with years of experience with bute (not my best
recommendation, of course), I would recommend always giving bute (the lowest
dose possible) with food. I divide the dose into two equal amounts and
dissolve it in a small amount of water. I then put the dissolved bute into
a good-sized mash (what works for me is soaked beet pulp and alfalfa
pellets). I also give a course of Gastrogard after the horse has been on
bute for a few months. Every horse is different. I don't know
anything at all about donkeys. However, I do have one horse that has been
on bute off and on for over 15 years because of severe arthritis. He's
still in good flesh and has an excellent appetite. He did at one
point develop oral ulcers that we decided (U.C. Davis and I) were related to
bute. I think that might have come about because I had him boarded and he
was given bute paste, but I am certainly not sure. He also had colic
surgery at one point. Although the surgeon did not find a reason for his
colic, it's possible he had ulcers. He was given Gastrogard and recovered
uneventfully.
Heidi or someone else can correct me, but when I
researched natural substances, it seemed to me that the active ingredient was
always a version of aspirin, which like bute causes ulcers.
There is also a new topical product called Surpass that I
looked into, but finally gave up on for anything but very short term
fixes. You can only use is for ten days at a time apparently because it
will cause sores on the skin.
