Copd - any ideas?

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Mrs Trotter

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My pony has the beginnings of a heave line and clear watery discharge from nose - apart from that she is v perky and eating well etc but poor tolerance to any excercise - she is not being ridden. Vet has seen her and confirmed raised respiratory rate. She was out all day but in at night in not brilliant stable but only place i could get turn out at all.

Steroids/ventapulin did nothing, she has been moved and is out all night and standing in airy stable in day with soaked hay, rubber mats but I have caught her eating rape seed bedding- she is a porky cob. I have seen some recovery but tonight she had the dreaded runny nose and I could hear her snotty nose if that makes sense.

Could the bedding be exacerbating this? gonna put her on paper tomorrw. Starting to lose will to live- any comments welcome.
 
thanks for your replies - this is the frustrating part - I have stable on its own with no neighbours with hay/straw to pollute it, also the bedding is dustr extracted rape stalk (bedsoft pink one) - not flowering rape fields ( they leave me wheezing too) and she had been on this bedding before with no ill effects.

Am about to leave her out 24/7 was only bringing her in due to her weight and steroids - no longer now on them.

Worried that she may have irrersible lung damage - any info please before I resort to vet to have her scoped - tho not sure what good that will do really.
 
Yes rape seed is a big allergy problem for us too :(

Surprised centipulmun and steroids made no difference though. That would indicate bacterial-viral cause?
 
I really do feel for you, my mare has the heave line and got to the stage where it was unkind to even think about riding her in the summer. I always soak her hay, we dont have the option to turn out 24/7 but her stable is big and airy and she has shavings for bedding.
I can't be 100% sure (who can when it comes to supplements) but 2 years ago I tried Winergy Ventilate, I had her on it all summer and was able to start riding her again. She no longer has runny nose and to be honest I took her off it in the winter as she is always better then thinking I would go back to it in the summer but I havn't had to give it to her since!
I would find it hard to believe that this would work where centipulmun and steroids have failed and every horse is different but thought I would share my experience.
Really hope you find the key for her to improve, its a horrid condition.
 
We have a gelding here with copd. He has lost 50% of his lung capacity. He is now out 24/7, not even close to the yard. He arrived 12 months ago. Within 2 months he was breathing normally and put on weight. We watch him for any signs of respiration problem and immediately give him anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and ventapulmin as soon as a problem occurs - rather than than risk full blown pneumonia. Having said that, we've only had to treat him once. Even his owner tearfully admits that he is better with us than at home with her. Environmental factors are critical.
 
Is his hay soaked?
You could try other bedding material - cardboard is meant to be the best but not everyone gets on with it.
It could be pollen - I know the equilibrium nose nets are not turnout hardy, but you could try one to see if it helps.
Have you tried a supplement like Ventilate? It got mine through the rape flowering season ok & we were surrounded by the stuff this year.
 
thanks for your replies - invested £36 in Ventilate today! Gonna give it a trial then get her scoped if no progress. She is perky in herself and was having a strop due to not getting fed on time - having a good old trot round with a face on!
But can still see a heave - and slight watery discharge - yep also now wondering whether there is bacteria causing this. leaving her out 24/7 even though stable has through draft etc.
So depressing cos we battled with tendon injury that came good and now this...:mad:
 
I know how you feel. My big horse recently deteriorated significantly to the point that the vet suggested we may lose him. He has went through 4 tubs of ventopulmin with no real improvement and has been on a steroid inhaler and out 24/7. He was at 40 breaths a minute and looked miserable. My vet said no point in scoping him as he was an obvious copd sufferer so it was money for nothing. I then spoke to a friend who suggested a nebuliser and within a week his resp rate has halved and he is so much happier. I have my fingers and toes crossed that he keeps improving but first signs are good. If you have tried everything else with no result this could be another option for you. I don't know how widely used they are as my vet had never used one on a horse but i know that some of the equine hospitals do have them. Good luck with whatever you try and i hope you see some improvement soon.
 
Have you tried chlorphenamine anti histamines? my pony is allergic to everything and i thought i was going to lose her last year because despite using steroids and ventolin, her pulse and respiration rate were sky high and we really seemed to be fighting a losing battle. my vet suggested trying the anti histamines and thank god they've worked. shes gone from having 10 puffs of steroid inhaler, 40 puffs of ventolin and 30 anti histamines per day, bearing in mind shes a tiny 10.3 ponio, to having only 10 anti histamines per day and breathing so well that my vet has insisted that she would pass a vetting! she's back in full work and her breathing is a million times better. The tablets dont work for all horses....but could be worth a try on your horse. hope this helps :D
 
My pony had COPD and i found the best way to keep her right was to feed her haylage and have her bedded on dust free shavings! In the summer she would always get a little noisey in her breathing but ventipulmin always helped! We kept her away from dust as much as possible!
 
We gave my daughter's pony a course of Ellen Collinson's respiratory herbs and she was fine after these.They do not just address the symptoms like the veterinary drugs do. The pony was really bad and couldn't be ridden - she would gasp with her mouth open after 10 metres of trot work, the vet injected her and we bought a couple of very expensive inhalers for her.
Then we used the herbs.
We always feed her haylage now and touch wood no recurrence of the respiratory problems.
 
Maybe you could consider trying your horse on haylage and bedded on paper- mine are on paper because one of my horses has mild copd and i have very severe allergies to dust and woodshavings!.

The herbs/liquids that you can get to support breathing are also very good, as is garlic.
 
My friend's horse was retired because of her copd. As a last resort she used the Global Herbs Airway Plus and it was almost like a miracle! After quite a short time she was breathing so much more easily. We also discovered that if she had too much grass her full belly would press on her lungs and hinder her breathing. After keeping her on very short grass so she couldn't pig out and bringing her in at night to soaked hay with Airway plus in her feed she was able to be ridden again.

After this experience I recommended the supplement to another friend who retired her hunter because of breathing problems and a constant snotty nose and she was hunting her again the following season for a couple of hours once a week.

I hasten to add that both horses had been seen by vets who had recommended the usual treatment, ventipulmin etc without much success.
 
Thanks for your replies, day one of ventilate - also 48 hours turnout - I had been getting her in during the day cos she's a fatty. Hope not speaking too soon but she looks slightly better todayl, breathing still pronounced but looking more regular.
Will keep you up dated on the winnergy, also throwing out rape stalk bedding even though this has been fine for her before but now she has started eating it..groan..paper bedding here we come.

Does anyone know if bringing home shredded paper from work is ok - cos got mountains of the stuff!
 
My lad has COPD but cannot live out 24/7 as he has also had laminitis in the past. So I stable him every night and have managed to keep his copd symptoms to near none existance by soaking his hay and feeding it from the floor, sweeping out all cobwebs from his stable on a regualr basis and bedding him on rubber mats and cardboard or paper bedding. I never brush him in the stable and never muck out when he is in the stable and ensure his stable doors are always open when he is not in the stable. I also ensure all wet is removed from the stable daily and he is on mimimal bedding. Other than feeding him Feedmarks supplment for airways, he has nothing else and is worked 6 days a week up steep derbyshire hills.
He does occasionally get a bit of a cough in the dry dusty weather but nothing else and it does not affect his work or play.
 
Ref the paper - I get shredded paper from work and it is fine, just does not make a deep bed unless you use tons of it but it does its job very well...just make sure there are no staples in it!
 
Thanks for your replies - She is on rubber mats and dust free bedding with soaked hay but decided to get paper and haylage. At the mo she is out - only just been out 24/7for 3 days ( was coming in at night) - does anyone know how soon I would expect to see some signs of recovery - and can I also cheekily ask has anyone had their horse scoped and was it worth it?
Huge thanks! and def try anti histamines.
 
Have you tried Ventipulmin and Sputilosin together? The former opens the airways and the latter helps loosen the mucous. It works a treat for my donkey.
 
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