COPD - Advice Needed Please

Finn

Finn

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Hi

My mare has been diagnosed this morning with COPD and also has some kind of pollen allergy.

The vet has put her on Ventipulmin for 2 weeks and if this doesnt work she will then need to go on Steroids.

I have to monitor her very closley and figure out when she is worse. If its in the day time then I have to keep her in and vice versa if shes worse at night or box rest her 24/7.

Shes got to have a couple of weeks off to see if this medication works and the vet told me to put Vaseline around her nostrils as that will also help reduce the pollen spores going up her nose.

Im really hoping this Ventipulmin will work and it opens her airways and hopefully this will help stop her coughing, head shaking etc and give her some energy back.

The vet asked me to trot her up today and it was like she had been in hard work or over an hour as she was puffing and panting like mad, coughed a couple of times ( which she does during and after exercise) and had heave lines down both sides of her tummy and she was pulling her tummy in quiet hard when breathing and he said her resps were too high to say she had only been trotted up!

The vet checked her stable manangment and was pleased that she is on wood shavings and he said I would possibly need to change/ soak her hay etc to keep it all as dust free as possible so it doesnt irritate her lungs/chest.

Has anyone else ever dealt with a horse with COPD if so any help/ advice will be very greatfully recieved.

Thanks in advance
 
I used to have a mare with COPD, however she didn't have the cough but instead she had goo on her lungs so after exercise it was a lot of snot. My mare was on shavings, with an outside stable, soaked hay or in winter half soaked hay and half haylage, she was stabled next to horses that were on shavings too so no straw being near her, also as far away from hay and straw as i could get her. She wasn't as bad, she had to be on ventapulmin during high pollen count months, apart from that i used to add garlic powder to her feed this also seemes to help and add some water to dampen the feed, also for the months when she wasn't on vento i gave her Ventilate, worked well. Another thing which she loves and helped was the healthy licks, the respiratory one(http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Horslyx-R...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item23167d0673) After licking it for a bit she would again have snot coming out of her nose which was a good sign, whatever came out wasn't on her lungs, so that used to help too.
If i was competing or xc schooling etc i would give her vento in her feed for couple of days before hand, thats in the months she wasn't on it continuously (?), and in the months she was, i gave her ventilate as well as vento and garlic. Also had to do much less, so 1 class either sj or dressage, one day events and hunter trials were out of question. thats about all. It's managable, really isn't as bad as it seems. Vento is great and you would really see the difference.
 
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Poor you. How long have you had your horse? Has all this started fairly suddenly?

My old horse had terrible COPD, especially if I fed him hay, or he was allowed to graze when the ground was dry and dusty. I fed him haylage which made loads of difference, he never coughed on haylage, he'd only need to eat hay for 24 hours though and he'd be wheezing again.

My current horse has mild COPD and only coughs in the depth of winter on hay, so I make sure he has haylage when he is consuming large quantities, but at this time of year when he's only having 1 or 2 slices of hay a day he seems to be able to cope with normal hay and doesn't need haylage.

So in my experience hay has been the main problem for my 2, but we've got about 25 horses at our place that eat it without a problem so I know the hay is fine.

Good luck with yours, I know how distressing it is when they are so wheezy they can't even trot, but the ventipulmin will work wonders. I hope you can suss out whats causing it.

x
 
Many thanks for your replies.

I've only owned her for 2 yrs and looking back she has always had a slight cough when eating hay and especially in the winter and when being exercised but she has never been as bad as she was yesterday and last night. Shes got no energy and when ridden last night and Sun night she just planted herself in the school and would not move at all.Doesnt matter what I did she just wouldnt move and wouldnt touch her hay in the stable or anything and she looked really really miserable/ depressed. I was so worried I rang the vet for advice but he told me to keep her in her normal routine as much as possible so I turned her out and as soon as I did she was head down eating grass like nothing was wrong. Shes still not right today so dont know if they have bad attacks depending on weather etc but am hoping she wil lbe better in herslef once I start the Ventipulmin, hopefully that will help her.

I bought her one of those HorsLyx and she wont touch it for some reason but to be fair it does smell really strong and I can only imagine it must taste awful.

Where would I be able to get the Ventilin stuff from, is it a liquid or powder that I put in her feed and how does Garlic help?

Is this going to be a long term thing or is it a seasonal thing that they suffer from and Im wondering do they have bad attacks occasionally and can I carry on riding as normal once she is feeling better in herself?

The vet told me to soak her hay and keep her on the wood pellet bedding and all the stables around her are all on wood shavings or bedding but our stables are in an American Type barn but with open entrances both end so plenty of ventilation or would I need to move her to one of the other outdoor stables?

Im so gutted for her as she spent all of last summer on box rest 24/7 due to a tear in her Manica Flexor Tendon which resulted in surgery and she only started going back out to the field in Jan this year.
 
My girl was diagnosed with it nearly 10 years ago. Luckily it had always been mild and as long as we managed her carefuly she only rarely had a slight relapse (3 or 4 times in 10 years), normaly towards the very end of winter, she had never needed to be medicated for the condition and was able to continue active work.

We turn out 24/7 where possible, if she is in we bed all ours on cardboard or shavings, keep the stables very clean, use either haylage or soaked hay indoors and make sure hay is well shaken out and spread around the field when being fed outside.

This year however she is 25 and had an episode mid March. Very little snot but a rasping cough and wheezing, especialy on the exhale, 24/7 turn out and soaked hay has made little difference, vets have now put her on inhalers - which is challenging as she hates sprays and things on her face. It seems to be helping a bit but no where near normal yet. Not sure if it is pollen from nearby rape fields that is making it worse. Vet thinks her advancing years is not helping so may be a sign of things to come. But we count ourselves lucky that we had 10 years of good health prior to this. Hope your horse feels better soon.
 
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Poor thing, sounds like she is really suffering.

My old horse was ultra sensitive and I ended up having to keep him out actually as he just couldn't cope with being in, but seeing as you've had yours for some time and she's lived in ok for most of that then I doubt it's that causing it. Soaking hay made no difference to George, he coughed just as badly if I soaked it, or steamed it, I tried everything! Haylage was the only option and within a week of putting him onto haylage he was fine and we never looked back. He did have some coughing episodes and was always prone to a cough if the ground got really dusty or they were harvesting close by but usually it cleared up on its own after a few days and if it didn't I'd get him some ventipulmin. I got so used to dealing with it though over the years it stopped being a problem in the end. I sadly lost him last year when he was just 14 but I'd had him for 11 years and I'd say for the last 8 years the COPD never stopped us doing anything. I never actually fed him an respiratory supplements as they didn't seem to make any difference but with my current horse I have fed him Respirator which I think is made by NAF which has helped when I've transitioned him back onto hay.

George my old boy used to get so depressed when he had a really bad episode, he was usually a really sparky horse so it used to really worry me to see him standing looking miserable, head down, sides heaving. It was heart breaking. Haylage was the only way forward with him. He also did progressively get more and more dust sensitive as he got older, but I just got better at managing it. His favourite treat though was a mouthful of the dustiest mankiest hay he could grab a snatch of!! He was his own worst enemy!

Good luck, don't lose heart, the ventipumin will be working in no time and you should see a vast improvement. If you can it might be worth trying her on some haylage to see how she is on it.
 
My little oldie has had COPD all his life even when he was in a riding school before. Has noisy, laboured breathing and hes semi retired now and work is kept minimal. He lives out 24/7 but was brought in during the hot weather on shavings and soaked hay. Pollen and dust make it worse with runny eyes and running nose. His lungs are permenantly damaged so has supplement to help with the cough and ease tightness and vaseline under his eyes otherwise the skin gets sore.

Cob got diagnosed with 'allergy' 3 years ago (?!)Ventipulmin shifted the cough within 2 days but his respiration was and still is still faster than the norm. We went through ventipulmin, blood test, anti biotics, endoscopy and lung wash (trachea full of mucus and left lung inflamed and lung wash showed high level of inflammatory cells). Moved onto steroids and inhalers, plus another round of ventipulmin. Steroids (60 tablets a day) did nothing and the inhalers help him for a small amount of time.

He lives out 24/7, has soaked hay in winter and was brought in during hot weather but he now suffers badly with arthritis so has to stay out and keep moving. His lungs were not crackling at all during last vet check and despite my initial vet saying 'u MUST rest him' and him getting the entire summer off last year, the next vet said 'work him and he will say when he needs a break'..he did 4 sponsored rides after that and no we didnt speed round and yes he did need to stop a couple of times just to catch his breathe but he enjoyed it and i believe keeping him fitter helped him a lot. He now just has a supplement to clear the mucus so i appreciate a nose running of mucus as it means we have loosened it!

I use equi natural products...lovely, really helpful lady who advises you on your individual problems.
 
I'd get all the bedding out of the stable, and have rubber matts down. Put a sprinkle only of bedding down in the middle for her to wee on. I would also start soaking her hay.

Did the vet identify any possible sources of the pollen allergy?
 
The problem may be because she spent so long on box rest, a constant supply of dust in the hay with no exercise or time in the field to clear her airways.
I have had horses suffer from this and generally once you get it under control there is no reason they should not come back to full work.
Haylage is definitely better than soaked hay in my experience, I have a horse that is now clear when on haylage but always slightly thick in his wind on soaked hay. Nothing in my yard coughs now they are all on it, much less fuss than soaking too.
When they are well and in work the fitter the better, fast work will help keep the airways open but they must be fit enough before doing too much.
The more time out the better 24/7 if you can the pollen allergy may not be an issue once she settles on the ventipulmin, outside stables may be better if there is a dusty neighbour inside it can affect your horse in a shared space.
 
Finn said:
Many thanks for your replies.

I've only owned her for 2 yrs and looking back she has always had a slight cough when eating hay and especially in the winter and when being exercised but she has never been as bad as she was yesterday and last night. Shes got no energy and when ridden last night and Sun night she just planted herself in the school and would not move at all.Doesnt matter what I did she just wouldnt move and wouldnt touch her hay in the stable or anything and she looked really really miserable/ depressed. I was so worried I rang the vet for advice but he told me to keep her in her normal routine as much as possible so I turned her out and as soon as I did she was head down eating grass like nothing was wrong. Shes still not right today so dont know if they have bad attacks depending on weather etc but am hoping she wil lbe better in herslef once I start the Ventipulmin, hopefully that will help her.

I bought her one of those HorsLyx and she wont touch it for some reason but to be fair it does smell really strong and I can only imagine it must taste awful. (it is very strong, but suprisingly it tastes quite nice :o when i tried it myself, it only took one lick for my airways to open up so much i could feel the air rushing in, it really makes it easier to breathe)

Where would I be able to get the Ventilin stuff from ( Ventil-ate ( http://www.winergy.com/Products/WINERGY-VENTIL-ATE/ ) it costs about £40 per tub, lasts aprox 3 weeks per 1 horse, should be able to get it from local feed store BUT before you do, please please print out info about it and show it to your vet and ask what they think, my vet recommeneded it to me but my didn't have a cough so ask your vet first), is it a liquid or powder that I put in her feed and how does Garlic help? ( i always put powder garlic in her feed, i think its again because its strong it opens up the airways, i don't know 100% how it helped tbh but i know that it did help, try it, it won't hurt her and if it doesn't help the breathing it'll make the coat shiny, its not very expensive eaither, you can buy a little tub and see if it helps, it also helped mark the taste of ventil-ate which my mare didn't like but my friends horse does like so it depends on your horse)

Is this going to be a long term thing or is it a seasonal thing that they suffer from and Im wondering do they have bad attacks occasionally and can I carry on riding as normal once she is feeling better in herself? (my friends horse has it as more of a seasonal thing but mine used to have it all year round, it got worse in spring/summer time)

The vet told me to soak her hay and keep her on the wood pellet bedding and all the stables around her are all on wood shavings or bedding but our stables are in an American Type barn but with open entrances both end so plenty of ventilation or would I need to move her to one of the other outdoor stables? (i would leave her as it is, i'm guessing you have bars istead of full height walls and if there are entrances both ends then that should be plenty of ventilation, if she has pollen allergy it will also protect her from it, being inside so i personally would keep her where she is)

Im so gutted for her as she spent all of last summer on box rest 24/7 due to a tear in her Manica Flexor Tendon which resulted in surgery and she only started going back out to the field in Jan this year.
Click to expand...

Please make sure to ask your vet about the Ventil-ate stuff, it worked very well for my mare but every horse is different and your mare has different symptoms to mine so please ask your vet. I hope this helps and let us know how you get on :)
 
My boy was diagnosed with COPD in January, after having an exercise induced cough that wouldn't go away, as well as increased breaths per min. His seems to be sparked during the winter when the horses are in more, he was also in a stable in a barn.

He had ventipulmin at first but when this was stopped he started coughing again, he was then scoped and his windpipe was full of thick mucus :( so the vet started him on inhaled steroids. He started first on a strong drug called flixotide and it is a normal human inhaler that you administer via an infant spacer device (he is an absolute saint with it :)). This had a great effect, and practically stopped the coughing and bought his breaths down to 12 a min. He has now been moved onto a weaker and cheaper drug called beclametasone and it is currently holding things at bay, although a further scoping still showed some mucus and inflammatory cells in his windpipe. Once these are clear we will start reducing the number of puffs he has a day (currently on 20). The vet is optimistic that in the long term he won't need the inhaler during the summer, and will hopefully only need a couple of puffs a day during the winter. The inhaler he is now on costs £40 from the vet (it is cheaper online with a prescription) and contains 200 puffs.

When my boy was diagnosed I changed his bedding to woodchips on rubber matting, continued with soaked hay, and moved him to an outdoor stable. His new stable doesn't have anyone bedded on straw near him and is nowhere near the hay/straw barn or muck heap. Also I give him as much turnout at possible.

I know the situation isn't quite the same, but I hope that some of this is of some help.
 
Thankyou so much everyone for all your advise and replies. I shall start with the Ventipulmin tonight and she has to have 2 and a half scoops a day twice a day so Im sure she will be happy at the fact she gets to have breakfast again, albeit a very tiny handful. I will monitor her very carefully aswell to see if I can see what it is thats effecting her, I think its just going to be a process of elimination really. Also might try putting some garlic in her feed to see if that helps.

I will try anything and everything as I hate seeing her like this after everything else she has been through.

Dobson and Horrell also have a new supplement out called Breathe Free, Im wondering it if might be worth trying her on that aswell once she has finished on the Ventipulmin.
 
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