Asthma attack

[Melb]

I have a thoroughbred gelding, I recently moved him to a new yard and turned him out in a large field with two other horses. The field was dry and there were lots of wild plants and trees, but I thought nothing of it because the other two horses were fine. Since the dry hot weather began he developed a cough and I was quite proud of the fact that he never got coughs. However his breathing got bad so I called the vet out and he said he was having an asthma attack! He gave him injections and said to get back if it recurred. I turned him out in another paddock that didn't seem so dusty. It hasn't recurred but the cough has returned not as bad as before but worrying all the same as I can only walk him, trotting causes him to cough. Anyway, the vet has said he needs asthma inhalers 3 times a day. Do you think this is going to be a long term thing, anyone else gone through anything similar?

 

[spaniel]

Yes a few years ago. We had a very dry, hot and sultry few weeks and my horse also had a very frightening severe attack. I thought he was going to die and on top of the asthma he also colicked through stress.

The vet gave steroids and left a big supply of ventipulmin. Id already got him on a dust free regime and the following year he started to cough through the summer again and we found that contrary to the COPD rules he was better kept in the stable away from pollen and polutants in the air.

Did a lot of research and found that vitamin C is very lacking in the lungs of horses with breathing problems (this was discovered through various post mortems and was written up in H+H so you may be able to search for it). I phoned NAF and explained that I wanted to try supplementing with large quantities of vitamin C and they recommended DTox.

I have used it at the loading dose for the last two years each day and, touch wood, his lungs are now very good.

It may be worth phoning them and asking if this would be suitable in your case, they also have a new respiratory product which might be even better but Im too scared to change!!

 

[airedale]

Mine has started off the same early as march this year. The ventipulmin and the steroid mask did not work for him. He is now on allergy therapy involving injections every day and after 4 weeks he does seem to be making progress. I'm lucky that this is a specialism of my vet or I might not have had this treatment offered.

I also have mine on the NAF Respirator (following on from a course of D-tox).
There is (pardon the pun) something in the air this year as mine is in the same yard with the same feed and on totally the same routine as the last 6 years and yet has acquired this problem.

 

[Madam_max]

What does your horse make of the inhalers? My horse wouldn't have any of it. Now have to manage with Ventipulmin, which is costing a bomb.

 

[lilym]

you might be interested in respirator from NAF proved very effective in clinical trials, and i have 3 customers singing it's praises!! might be worth a look?

 

[BundleBrandy]

Zak had one attack, went on ventipulmin for a short while, and never suffered it again.

 

[airedale]

My horse is a saint and coped with the inhalers. They worked for him in the stable but made no improvement under saddle

The allergy clinic had an interesting piece of information. Apparently the bits that cause the mucous take 9 weeks to die. So even if you started today killing them off you won't see any full improvement for at least 2 months. this is why the allergy injections are for a minimum of 3 months.

 

[EmZak247]

My young cob had what appeared to be an asthma attack last year when a neigbouring farmer started cutting his grass for silage in the field next to ours. It was a very hot day and Zak became very distressed - coughing, could hardly breath, etc. etc. It was quite terrifying to see! The vet perscibed Ventapulin (sp?) but this didn't seem to have much affect. Have since been using Respiraze from NAF and its worked a treat- Zak has been fine this year, even with grass cutting, Rape seed pollen and dusty arenas! It is a very good product and far cheaper than the Ventapulimin.

 

[Melb]

When did you feel that you could confidently discontinue it's use?

 

[Melb]

I am still waiting for mine to arrive at the vets. What is Ventipulmin, how do you give this to the horse, is it better? I think Jim will let me give him the inhaler as he is quite good with most things, thankfully!

 

[Melb]

Do you know what allergy injections cost, can you inject the horse yourself or do you have to keep getting the vet out to do it, do you know if they work better than inhalers? I haven't had the inhalers yet, but have been told that he will need them 3 times a day which is quite difficult for me to organise.

 

[Melb]

I think I will have to try the inhalers I get off the vet first. But I am open to suggestions. Can you buy the NAF product from Countrywide stores?

 

[Melb]

Can I buy this product from a Countrywide store? or if on the net do you have an address? I think I need to use what the vet prescribes, but I am not sure what to do so am open to suggestions.

 

[EmZak247]

NAF products are available from Countrywide and they usually have the Respiraze in stock - that's where I buy mine from!

 

[Melb]

I have had loads of advice, as expected and I am considering everything. I think I will have to try the inhalers off the vet first. Is the vit c used instead of inhalers to treat the problem or just to help build the horse back up, could you not use the other NAF product in conjunction?

 

[Melb]

That's really interesting you saying that your horse got this condition when nothing had changed for him. I feel really guilty having moved Jim because I really think it is the field that has made him like this as he was on a clean grass paddock previously. He never coughed all winter and he was on straw so I can't believe this has happened. I suppose I am most scared of wanting to get him off the drugs when he is better, but not knowing when is going to be best to do this. He isn't having asthma attacks any more, but still coughing and I can't even trot with him as he coughs. Through this forum I have got lots of ideas for treatment, they all sound very promising. But now I have had the vet out and he said use inhalers I am inclined to go with this.

 

[Maddy33]

When my horse was 4 (now 11), she had a really bad spell of coughing, wheezing and had an asthma attack which was scary. She was on ventipulmin for ages and it didnt help her, then she went onto steroids, 12 per day for 6 months. She eventually came through it but her lungs were damaged. She has been fine ever since until this week, where the affects of hot, dry and humid conditions along with dusty school, a fair amount of travelling in the lorry which again was hot and dry. I noticed someone has used D-Tox and someone has used Respiraze both from NAF - which is the better?

 

[airedale]

Try the inhalers first. They could well work. I had to rent the mask and then mine had the inhaler twice a day with 18 puffs each time. As I said he did improve with the inhalers but only his respiratory rate in the stable.

My vet specialises in an allergy clinic. The procedure is that the horse goes there for the morning and is given a series of sub-cutaneous injections of 1ml of various things (e.g. hay, grass seed, housedust, trees, different foodstuffs, moulds, spores, etc.)

Each substance that he reacted to had a further injection of a lower dose of the same substance until he had no further reaction. The idea is that the respiratory distress (in my horses case) is caused because something triggered his immune system to overreact and go into 'defense' mode. The idea is that these are the substances that triggered that over reaction and by injecting small dose every day of the cocktail of the items he reacted to we retrain the immune system to not over-react.

(That is a very simplified explanation of a scientific paper).

At the clinic my boy had around 50 jabs in his neck. He actually reacted to 7 substances and a specific cocktail is made up just containing those allergens.

He is now have 2 injections per day of 1ml each injection. One injection is of histamine and the other is his specific 'cocktail'. The jabs can be given (within reason) anywhere on the body and it is a very very fine needle (think the sort of needle that diabetics use for their blood tests).

These jabs continue for between 3 and 6 months. The stuff itself is not that expensive. My insureres (NFU) are happy to pay for the morning at the clinic which was £500 as it was a veterinary treatment.

As I said, my vet did define that the system 'bugs' that cause the mucous take 9 weeks to die so the treatment of ventipulmin and/or nebuliser for around that time needs to be tried first before you goto the route that I have.

My horse has been on the jabs for 4 weeks now. I do them adn they are easy (perhaps not so easy on a needle shy horse). We do at least one of 2 specific rides each weekend (same route, same pace in the same places). He was definitely 50% better on one of the rides last weekend.

The vet doesn't claim a complete cure but his scientific studies show typically a 70% improvement. At the moment my boys resp. rate is around 20 per minute when it should be around 12 but that is down from 28 per minute.

Interesting that when he had the sub-cutaneous jab of one of the substances he is allergic to his resp. rate at rest and relaxed immediately went up to around 35 per minute...!

 

[amage]

when i was grooming one of the other riders international horses had asthma. he had to use a special horse shaped nebuliser inhaler for half an hour each day. he worked like a normal horse in all weathers and won loads of big international classes. i think its a bit like with humans....if you manage it correctly it won't be a prob !

 

[Melb]

Thanks that has helped a lot. Last night I took Jim round the block and when he got back he coughed and when I turned him out he had yellow mucus so I felt really guilty doing anything with him. I am still waiting for the inhalers to come from the vet. I hope these work and I don't need to go down the route that you have had to. I take it this vet that does all the allergy tests is a specialist vet. Do you have a contact No just in case? I was allergic to a lot as a child and I remember having an allergy test where they put lots of things I was allergic to on my arm and waited to see what lumps came up and then they made me a special set of injections to sort it. I guess this is similar to what you are doing with your horse. I will print off your message and show it to my vet to get his feedback.

Thanks again for all that information, I really appreciate it.

 

[airedale]

PM me if your vet is interested in the future

Don't worry about the yellow gunk - better out than in - mine is on exercise but not stressed so we do what he feels comfortable with. Coughing is good too as it is clearing the airway

For every bit of mucous you see there is a huge amount more that you don't see that they will swallow....

 

[cyrilsmum]

I use both D-Tox and Resperator with my horse, D-tox for head shaking and Respirator for his pollen allergy. I have until recently been feeding respiraze, but found this not to be as effective as I would have liked. NAF also said Respirator is specifically for pollen allergies and repiraze is for COPD.

 

[Jen63]

Inhalers:

I think everyone has a different experience of what does and does not work for respiratory distress. For those giving inhalers a crack ,attach to a good sized poly bag and hold round the nose;presquirt the requisite amount and let him breath away for five breaths or so.

Works for me!

 

[kimmibean]

Zak had one attack, went on ventipulmin for a short while, and never suffered it again.

My pony had an asthma attack or allergic reaction yesterday, has been given a steroid injection and buscopan injection and prescribed ventipulmin for next 2 wks. The vet said we should do a scope on her lungs - what is everyones opinion on doing this?
Im new to ownership and would just like to know if it is appropriate to do it when this has been her first attack (with me as i dont know her medical history) and I dont want to distress her by putting her through it as she is an older lady at 15+ (age on passport is 15 but she has been a riding school pony and not necessarily treated with a lot of love after that) she is an absolute gem of a pony and I want to do whats best for her once I have a better idea of what other options are available for a proper diagnosis and therefore a better route of treatment for her .
Thanks in advance

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I have a thoroughbred gelding, I recently moved him to a new yard and turned him out in a large field with two other horses. The field was dry and there were lots of wild plants and trees, but I thought nothing of it because the other two horses were fine. Since the dry hot weather began he developed a cough and I was quite proud of the fact that he never got coughs. However his breathing got bad so I called the vet out and he said he was having an asthma attack! He gave him injections and said to get back if it recurred. I turned him out in another paddock that didn't seem so dusty. It hasn't recurred but the cough has returned not as bad as before but worrying all the same as I can only walk him, trotting causes him to cough. Anyway, the vet has said he needs asthma inhalers 3 times a day. Do you think this is going to be a long term thing, anyone else gone through anything similar?

My late mare had asthma, she had an inhaler called era mask which I still have. I managed it with a nose net - soaked hay/haylage, gold label vapour mist for her stable. #

She had one asthma attack which was caused by a stupid ex friend's husband who were doing the yard while we were away, and it caused colic too.


Ask did she have wet hay, the answer was * well I chucked a bucket of water on it* GRRRR the hay was bone dry, we had only just driven onto the yard after landing at the airport. We were not happy with them at all.