COPD despair

[Mrs Trotter]

I moved my pony to a wind tunnel of a stable, paper bedding, haylage, wet short feed , 24 hour turnout whenever poss but certainly out for 18 hours ish every day etc after COPD diagnosis ( respiratoruy rate twice what it should be) . This was two months ago, she had been prescribed ventapulim and steroids previously with no success. She showed some improvement, then for no apparent reason. showed a heave line and accelerated breathing, this then disappeared ( in the course of four days) and I had her scoped which showed clear lungs and a clean bill of health.
All good, started some gentle hacking, until this week when we have snot ( watery not green) accelerated breathing again and audible breathing when lunged/ Oh I have also bought Winergy Ventilate.
I am going to speak my vet again, but I wonder if anyone else has had this experience? is this how COPD is? Am I being unrealistic in assuming she will ever come back into work? She is a much loved 15 year old cob who loves her work.
Experiences welcome.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Mrs T, so much depends on the reason for the COPD. Is it pollen allergy or dust/hay allergy? If it's a pollen allergy, you might well be wondering why it's still going on when all the pollen has stopped now. It's because the histamines released by the body when it thinks it's under attack (ie the pollen) kicks the special cells lining the airways into life. Once "activated" these cells keep on producing the thick sticky mucus that clogs the lungs for 3 months. Clogged and fibrosed lungs cannot relax into an exhale so the horse has to use its abdominal muscles to push the air out and a heaves line develops. The best treatment possible for hay/dust allergy is 24/7 turnout and soaked hay or haylage. But if the allergy is triggered by pollen then it's a nightmare. You can't keep a horse in a hermetically sealed cube for 7 months so you just have to find a workable compromise. As you know, there are various drugs out there that relax the airways and break up the sticky strands of mucus. They can be oral or inhaled. When all else fails, steroids, oral or inhaled, can be given. My veteran cob Sunny (he has SPACOPD = Summer Pasture Associated COPD = pollen allergy) has been through the whole lot but the only thing that gave him temporary respite was the onset of December. He was so very ill by last autumn that I expected to have to pts in the summer due to quality of life issues. However, my vets put him on a trial of a drug called Cavalesse. It's markerted 100% as a sweetitch relief but the rep said works for pollen allergy COPD too. You have to start it 3 weeks before the expected environmental trigger and it has to be given at approx the same time every day. I just dribble 3mls onto a slice of bread and feed it to Sunny. It was a last hope for Sunny but I wasn't expecting that much from it. I didn't dare report on it until the summer was very well advanced. I'm delighted to say it has given Sunny at least a 60% or 70% improvement on last year - not perfect but it's given him his quality of life back. He's even being very quietly ridden occasionally again! It obviously can't undo the fibrosed lung damage but he's back to being a happy boy, allowed free range at the yard where at our annual gymkhana and BBQ last Saturday he came 2nd in the egg and spoon race, broke into the feed room while no-one was watching and tore open 2 sacks of feed, then waited til we were all cheering on the races and snuck into the BBQ area where he was nabbed with a whole new loaf of bread hanging from his teeth, trying to shake it open like a terrier with a rat lol.

Don't despair. If it's a pollen allergy your horse hopefully won't get any worse and by December should have recovered a lot. Look into Cavalesse (£68 off on line vet and that gives you 3 months supply) for next year. I started Sunny on it late March. PM me if I can give you any more info x

 

[Mrs Trotter]

Thanks for your detailed reply! spoke to vet today, vet says monitor what;s going on and try and identify trigger - no pattern to it. Off to Boots tomorrow to get a baby asthma mask and try an inhaler - good for a laugh as she HATES anything round her face.
Will mention cavalesse to vet .

 

[RosieeT]

Hiya, my pony had similar issues to this, he was diagnosed in May and was improving and then regressing etc. It took me a while to find the trigger and for him it is the pollen and dust which are both worsened by the humidity. I limited turn out and used the inhalers as well as a small dose of ventipulmin as well. He is really improving now, and is almost back into full work. My vet also said with cobby types that they typically have a collapsed pharynx which can be improved with fitness and increased muscle tone. How did you get on with the inhalers? x

 

[Sophstar]

My cob started with a cough in december couple of years ago and his breathing was 32 breathes a minute We went through the usual course of ventipulmin (cleared the cough in 2 days) but breathing was still waaay too fast. Next onto blood tests which showed nothing abnormal, slightly higher range of normal for white cell count so put on antibiotics just incase he was battling a virus that he couldn't shift through the winter. Next taken into hospital and had an endoscopy and lung wash done, which showed his airway was lined in excessive mucus and the opening to his left lung was 'spongy' and not as open as it should be. Lung wash analysis came back as a high rate of inflammatory cells so he was diagnosed with 'an allergy.' He was put on oral steroids (60 tablets a day) which did nothing and then we moved onto the inhalers with mask and can safely say they did nothing for him. Gave him 10 minutes of relief and then panting again. Plus at £100 an inhaler that had very little effect I wasn't sold.

I decided to move yards so I could change his management and through the winter he was out and only ever had soaked hay. I put him on EquiExpectorant and this helps to break up the mucus so he does have a cough when worked but when he clears his nose eventually its like someone has poured a bottle of milk of magnesia down his nose. Attractive. His breathing returned to almost normal and was fine all through the winter and was worked quite hard. I gave him longer to warm up and cough to clear the mucus out but he got back into shape relatively quickly. All was going swimmingly till 2 weeks into April and we went back to square one. Vet called and lungs were crackling again and he was struggling. He seems to be very sensitive to pollen and the heat makes it really hard for him. From April he has been in everyday to keep him in the shade and keep him from some pollen! He got ridden once or twice a week very lightly as I didnt want to stress him out. However I got another vet to check him out start of August and though he agreed he was evidently working harder to breathe, his lungs were clear and he told me to work him as normal and he would tell me when he couldn't do anymore and then to just let him have a breather. I have brought him back into work and are doing our first sponsored ride on Sunday I just have to take into consideration that until the pollen is nearly vanished he will dictate how fast or hard he can work according to his chest on the day.

Believe me I know your despair!

 

[popularfurball]

Sorry if it's sucking eggs, but I always always have to feed hay from the floor too - haynets set it off for us.

 

[DougalJ]

My friends cob was diagnosed with COPD two years ago, first year was bad, last year was better and this year has been very up and down. He was worse this year in the dry spell we had in spring. All the other posts are doing what we are doing and also interested to hear if there is some miracle cure out there. I will say that he was put on Winergy Ventilate and we did notice an improvement unlike other supplements.

 

[SizzlerB]

My mare is a COPD sufferer and after a terrible time a couple of years ago where inhalers were suggested, my fab vet suggested we tried a relatively new supplement called Respimin. She has to have it daily (a powder added to her feed) and I never feed dry hay. She stays in in the winter overnight and has recently completed a stint of box rest due to laminitis - I was terrified about her COPD during the box rest but I just upped the doseage of the Respimin. I have scoured the net and it is readily available on some sites at a cheaper rate than the vets - however obviously useage of it would be on vet's recommendation. I always keep a tub of ventipulmin in stock all year round and if she has a snotty/cough period, I stop the Respimin and give her 2-3 days of Ventipuilmin. This works for us!