# Boswellia Serrata or Bute??



## joan (26 September 2010)

My 16 year old horse has been suffering with recurring slight lameness in his right fore for approx 18 months.  Vet suspects soft tissue damage but after Xrays and Ultra Sound only an MRI scan will give a definitive diagnosis - which I can't afford as he is not insured.  After joint injections and PRP he has come sound but normally after 5 or 6 months it flares up again.  Vet is due to see him again tomorrow and I'm wondering whether to just give up with the injections and just medicate with Bute.  However, I've heard that Boswellia Serrata is a better anti inflamatory than Bute as it has less side effects.  Does anyone use this and, if so, is it good??


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## maggiesmum (27 September 2010)

I found boswellia to be fantastic, if it controls the pain then it is reportedly easier on the live than both bute and devils claw.


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## irish_only (7 October 2010)

Or if you have a river near you go and pick some willow. They eat it readily (only need about one 12" shoot) and contain salicylic acid. (Recommended in a book I have for natural remedies and found it does work)
Salicylic acid (from Latin salix, willow tree, from the bark of which the substance is obtained) is a beta hydroxy acid. This colorless crystalline organic acid is widely used in organic synthesis and functions as a plant hormone. It is derived from the metabolism of salicin. In addition to being a compound that is chemically similar to but not identical to the active component of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), it is probably best known for its use in anti-acne treatments. The salts and esters of salicylic acid are known as salicylates.


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## dressagecrazy (7 October 2010)

joan said:



			My 16 year old horse has been suffering with recurring slight lameness in his right fore for approx 18 months.  Vet suspects soft tissue damage but after Xrays and Ultra Sound only an MRI scan will give a definitive diagnosis - which I can't afford as he is not insured.  After joint injections and PRP he has come sound but normally after 5 or 6 months it flares up again.  Vet is due to see him again tomorrow and I'm wondering whether to just give up with the injections and just medicate with Bute.  However, I've heard that Boswellia Serrata is a better anti inflamatory than Bute as it has less side effects.  Does anyone use this and, if so, is it good??
		
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I think there is a little confusion here, Boswellia is more effective & gentler on the stomach than Devils Claw - Not BUTE.

If your horse is suffering soft tissue damage then i would carry on with the path that works & work closely with you vet.
 You can feed Boswellia along side without any problems but in your horses case i doubt it would be that effective & certainly not as effective as Bute. My own horses have been on it a long time & with my old boy i feed it along side Danilon.


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## Zuzzie (7 October 2010)

dressagecrazy said:



			I think there is a little confusion here, Boswellia is more effective & gentler on the stomach than Devils Claw - Not BUTE.

If your horse is suffering soft tissue damage then i would carry on with the path that works & work closely with you vet.
 You can feed Boswellia along side without any problems but in your horses case i doubt it would be that effective & certainly not as effective as Bute. My own horses have been on it a long time & with my old boy i feed it along side Danilon.
		
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Thanks for the advice - its cleared up a few question marks - very helpful.


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## ImogenBurrows (7 October 2010)

Errr.... 'bute.


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## maggiesmum (7 October 2010)

No, no confusion - its well known that long term Bute affects the digestive system.


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## ImogenBurrows (7 October 2010)

maggiesmum said:



			No, no confusion - its well known that long term Bute affects the digestive system.
		
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Ooo - see my post on the danilon vs bute thread from a few weeks ago...
most common GI effect is Right doral colitis - rare IME. I don't know how may horse I've put on bute and I've not seen it due to bute yet.  Seen problems in sick foas, but if you are senisble with the dsoing you'll find side effects are reported rarely....I think the thread started about keeping a horse on danilon daily.


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## applecart14 (8 October 2010)

joan said:



			My 16 year old horse has been suffering with recurring slight lameness in his right fore for approx 18 months.  Vet suspects soft tissue damage but after Xrays and Ultra Sound only an MRI scan will give a definitive diagnosis - which I can't afford as he is not insured.  After joint injections and PRP he has come sound but normally after 5 or 6 months it flares up again.  Vet is due to see him again tomorrow and I'm wondering whether to just give up with the injections and just medicate with Bute.  However, I've heard that Boswellia Serrata is a better anti inflamatory than Bute as it has less side effects.  Does anyone use this and, if so, is it good??
		
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People seem to have a hang up about bute (myself included to a degree). Ok so bute is perfectly safe in the short term, but if you have a smaller horse and it can get buy on one bute a day then it is perfectly safe and acceptable to give your horse this, and I know of people who have gone years with their horses on one bute a day without a liver problem.  I really didn't want to go down this route with my horse as the vet suggested it at the time but I really didn't think it was necessary and fortunately (touch wood) 8 months on and I'm glad I stuck by my original decision as I wouldn't have known if it was the bute having the effect of him being sound or not.  Its only when you have a large horse such as myself (approx 620KG WB) that you realise that one bute a day is not going to make much difference long term.  It is then that I would be reluctant to feed more than one a day every day.  As for Boswelia I have heard it is very good at pain relief so I would be asking your vet his honest opinion as to you using this in place of bute.


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## applecart14 (8 October 2010)

irish_only said:



			Or if you have a river near you go and pick some willow. They eat it readily (only need about one 12" shoot) and contain salicylic acid. (Recommended in a book I have for natural remedies and found it does work)
Salicylic acid (from Latin salix, willow tree, from the bark of which the substance is obtained) is a beta hydroxy acid. This colorless crystalline organic acid is widely used in organic synthesis and functions as a plant hormone. It is derived from the metabolism of salicin. In addition to being a compound that is chemically similar to but not identical to the active component of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), it is probably best known for its use in anti-acne treatments. The salts and esters of salicylic acid are known as salicylates.
		
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How interesting.  I love reading things like that and finding out about the more natural approach.  I have used things like comfrey before now with sucess.  Solihull used to have an excellent shop - a health food store and they used to sell herbs from big jars, many rows of them, and I used to buy my horse dried spearmint by the pound from there as it was so much cheaper than the feed merchants - alas like so many others it has been replaced by a newer shop that no longer does this service.

Here is a link about boswellia

http://sites.google.com/site/ankylosingspondylitisinfo/boswellia-serrata


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## dressagecrazy (8 October 2010)

maggiesmum said:



			No, no confusion - its well known that long term Bute affects the digestive system.
		
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Think ive been misunderstood, im well aware of the potential damage of any NSAID type drug, been on them myself for years.

However my point was that Boswellia is NOT more effective than Bute. 

For a problem such as the OP has stated i would not go down the route of just using Boswellia as imo it would not be effective enough this is from my own experience from using Boswellia & having a horse with soft tissue damage. Boswellia was not effective at all for such a problem.


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## spaniel (8 October 2010)

I agree.  If you want the effectiveness of bute then you need to use bute.  

The side effects are very rare and most vets now use Danilon anyway which is buffered.


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## joan (8 October 2010)

Many thanks for all your helpful posts.  As my horse is 16.3hh and is currently on 1 bute per day I think I will probably stick to this as he is doing well on it.  I was just a bit concerned about any possible long term damage but everyone more or less agrees that a big horse should be able to cope well on this dosage.
Cheers everyone.


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## spacefaer (8 October 2010)

I have an old arthritic ID maxicob - he's on a Boswellia joint supplement - Feel Good 30 Joint & Relief - which has the same effect as giving him 2 sachets of bute.  He is also on 1 sachet of bute a day and is sound.  Without the boswellia, the single sachet of bute doesn't touch him - he's almost sound without the bute.


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