Allergy to grass

[Jo C]

Patrick has an allergy to rye and sorrell grass, has anyone come across this before and how do you manage it please?
Edited to say it gives him very bad breathing problems.

 

[eventersrus]

friend of mine has a horse that is also allergic to grass,l think in summer he is out pm and in am he is on shavings and haylege,as soon as he has any hay he coughs alot but touch wood no coughing now,maybe he could get worse in the summer,l am not sure

 

[Jo C]

Mine is on soaked hay but really don't know how to manage the grass problem, he has been in since Sep due to a combination of the respiratory problems and laminitis (caused by steroids treating the respiratory problems

) but is now ready to go back out. I just don't know what to do for the best really.

 

[Bubbles]

Hi, two horses on my old yard suffered with this: they were both allergy tested and then had auto immune vaccination programmes tailor made to their particular allergies. One in particular was allergic to even having long grass touch his face when he was grazing: all the hair fell off and he couldn't stop scratching. So with the jabs (every fortnight, sorry, don't know cost implications), limiting his turnout during spring and keeping him in short grass whilst always wearing a turnout sheet, the horse has a normal life. Speak to your vet, they should be able to help.

 

[Jo C]

The vaccinations were mentioned however I still have a £1100 vet bill to pay which the insurance company won't cover (long story!) so am reluctant to go down this route. As the symptoms appear to be respiratory only I did discuss using a nose net with my vet but he didn't seem to think this would help. I think its going to be a case of trial and error really but thank you for your reply it's appreciated.

 

[tcarter]

Hi

I had a mare who would get summer time breathing problems - very badly. She was fine in the winter on soaked hay - but come Spring she heaved badly and breathing became an effort.

It got progressively worst each year (from the age of 17). It was managed at first on Ventipulim (sp.) , then steriod tablets, inhaler, steriod injections.

In the end she struggled to walk to the field and eventually the effort to breath and function normally (she was retired long ago) was too much and she was PTS (aged 21).

I wish you luck - I know how distressing it can be