Robinson Animal Healthcare on the vital product for your first aid kit
We all dread our horse injuring himself, but there’s one vital product that should be in every horse owner’s first aid kit, as Robinson Animal Healthcare reveals
WHEN STOCKING UP your equine first aid kit, what factors do you consider when deciding which products to buy? Robinson Animal Healthcare helps you understand the importance of using first aid products that are licensed for veterinary use.
The most important item
Most people associate veterinary medicinal products with liquid medicines taken orally, injected medicines or tablets in solid form. However, they also include skin-applied preparations and specially impregnated dressings or poultices. Animalintex® by Robinson Animal Healthcare is the only poultice that can be legally used to treat a whole host of conditions – including infected wounds, hoof punctures, corns, bruised soles, thrush, seedy toe, abscesses, laminitis, sandcracks and thorns – thanks to it being licensed by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD).
Licensed for safety
First produced in the mid-1930s, Animalintex® has held its licence since 1992 and is still the only poultice licensed for use on horses and dogs in the UK. When you take a medicine, you trust that it’s been regulated to be safe, contains the ingredients stated on the packaging in the correct dosage and is manufactured to ensure consistency of quality every time. The same is true of a licensed veterinary medicine. In contrast, an unlicensed poultice doesn’t have to undergo the same checks. Instead it’s down to the manufacturer’s discretion as to the limits, controls and testing that are in place for their product. To obtain this licence, Animalintex® is strictly controlled to ensure efficacy, safety and consistency across every batch. Without a licence, a product cannot claim to treat any type of condition on its marketing material and packaging. If it does, the manufacturer is breaking VMD guidelines.
Fight infection and heal faster
Animalintex® is unique in that each poultice contains two active ingredients comprising boric acid to kill infection and promote faster healing, and tragacanth to draw out dirt and infection, and reduce inflammation. This, in combination with different layers of absorbent material, padding and a lowadherent, wound-facing layer, creates the proven formulation. Renowned as a hot poultice for treating foot abscesses and infected wounds, Animalintex® can also be used as a cold poultice to treat bruising, capped hocks, sore shins, sprains, strains and splints. Animalintex® Hoof Treatment is also available in packs containing convenient, ready-made hoof-shaped dressings. A must-have item for any first aid kit, Animalintex® is arguably the most important product you should keep to hand due to its effectiveness and versatility. Animalintex® retails at around £5.50.