Though it was first introduced 5 years ago, Zoetis’ Dormosedan Gel is still relatively new to many farriers. It is a drug that works to gain a sedated state in horses. 

During his International Hoof-Care Summit presentation, Kenton Morgan, a technical service veterinarian for Zoetis, described how the drug works, when it should be used, how it should be used and important tips to keep in mind when using the drug.

Injectable Vs. Gel

Dormosedan Injectable has been on the market longer than the gel counterpart and is more familiar in the industry, but there are some notable differences to take into account when using the gel for the first time.

Both are prescription drugs, meaning that a veterinarian working with the horse must prescribe Dormosedan. The gel can be administered by any caregiver, the owner or trainer of the horse orally, while the injectable, as the name would suggest, has to be injected by a veterinarian. 

If a large amount of the injectable is administered to the horse, there will be some pain relieving effects, but you will not get those even with large amounts of the gel. 

The gel is for very mild sedation and restraint. “The gel is for non-painful procedures. If we’re going to be doing something with this horse that’s going to hurt, maybe some therapeutic shoeing that you might do on a very laminitic horse or something along those lines, this is not going to provide much pain relief for that animal,” he says. “The injectable would be the product we would need for that.”

How To Administer The Gel

Veterinarian Kenton Morgan shows the audience what a Dormosedan Gel syringe looks like, saying that the small tube and volume of gel needed to sedate a horse easily fit under the horse’s tongue to administer the drug.

Dormosedan Gel is designed to be absorbed by the mucus membranes of the mouth, so it has to be administered under the horse’s tongue. The syringe containing the drug should simply be stuck under the tongue and administered.

“It’s not designed to be swallowed,” says Morgan. “If the horse swallows it, then it won’t work because there’s very little absorption in the GI tract of the horse. 

“You don’t just put it back on top of the tongue like we would for a de-wormer. You have to give this under the tongue. It’s a very small volume of gel, so it’s easy to do,” he says.

The syringe holds about 3 milliliters of gel, which is enough for about a 1,300-pound horse. An easy way to determine the proper dose for the horse is to note the notches on the syringe are in 110-pound increments, though the smallest dose you can give is for a 300-pound horse or pony. 

Morgan says that while the product’s label says the drug is for one-time use, you can split the drug up between two horses or use another dose the next day. “As long as the product looks normal to you, go ahead and use it. But if it has any dark staining, you should discard it,” he says. 

“What we’re concerned about with a one-dose product is fungal growth once we’ve contaminated the end of the tube in the horse’s mouth. As long as you keep it at room temperature, you can use it appropriately as needed.”

Wearing gloves also is recommended when administering the drug. “According to the label, we should wear gloves because humans can absorb the drug through our skin. If you have intact skin, without any cuts, it takes a full hour from contact for you to absorb any appreciable amount,” Morgan says. “The drug is blue in color, so if you see it on your hands or if the owner sees it on his or her hands, as long as they wash it off, they will be fine.”

If the drug is absorbed into a human’s system, either through the skin or because the horse sneezed on a person, getting it in their eyes or mouth, and it is not washed off, Morgan says the person will begin to feel symptoms similar to those that the horse feels. People will eventually metabolize the drug, meaning the drug will eventually wear off, just like horses, but Morgan says the person should still seek immediate medical attention.

Timing Administration

Dormosedan Gel takes 35 to 40 minutes to take full effect in the horse, though the time can vary with each individual horse. 

“At 25 minutes, the horse’s head will start to go down, but if you jump in on him at 25 minutes, you’ll be disappointed with the results because the drug won’t have fully taken effect,” Morgan says. 

Once the drug takes effect, the sedation can last 1 1/2 to 3 hours, again, depending on the individual horse. “The drug is slower to get on board, but once it gets on board, it has a longer duration of effect, so it’s handy if you’re doing something that requires a bit of time,” he says. 

The timing also can be useful as it allows farriers to call ahead of time to the owner and ask them to administer the drug an hour before the farrier intends to arrive. 

“Or maybe you’ve called the horse owner and said you’ll be there in an hour, and then stuff happens and you’re not there for an hour and a half. You should still have plenty of time to get done what you need to do,” Morgan says. 

Another tip is not to feed or water the horse after administration until the sedation has worn off. “There would be some horses where after the drug was administered, the owner would stick the horse in the stall to let the drug take effect, and some horses would go over to the water bucket and they run their tongue in there and they’d rinse some of the drug out,” he says. “So now we recommend that once you administer it, you remove food and water from the horse.”

If you try to feed the horse while it is sedated, Morgan says there is also the chance the horse will choke or aspirate. The drug can affect the muscles of the throat, which increases the risk for these eating-related dangers.

When To Use It

Dormosedan Gel can be used in any instance that requires mild sedation and restraint procedures. Morgan cites the examples of body clipping, changing or removing a bandage and pulling manes. 

“A lot of horses won’t like you, just like when I was in private practice, a lot of horses didn’t like me,” he says. “So we can talk about the lack of training and all that, but the fact of the matter is some horses don’t get along with us very well, so it’s also handy for that.”

While the drug can be useful to farriers, Morgan says it is not designed for farriers to keep a large supply with them wherever they go. 

“It’s really not designed for you to have a box of this in your truck all the time. Number one, that adds liability to you if something should go south,” he says. “And it takes the vet out of the loop, which is not a good thing. So the best thing to do is, if you have experience with this horse and you know it’s going to be a problem, talk to the owner and ask them to go see their vet and ask for a tube of Dormosedan Gel.”