COPD - How do you cope? (Long sorry!)

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welshcobmad

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Absolutely gutted, after months of trying various treatments, being rested for weeks on end, my vet has come to the decision my boy has COPD, in my mind due to something that was completely preventable! Before all this came about he was a fit & healthy just turned 7 year old Welsh D!

COPD rings fear of being kept with a pet restricted to what he can do for the rest of his life, although I know of others thriving, its awful seeing him like this. I’ve looked at Global Herbs Dust-X for when he’s in over winter & also been recommended Winergy Ventilate & NAF Easy Breathe herbal supplements. Which of these are the best/any good?

He’s out 24/7 at the moment but come winter he has to come in at night, he’ll be on matting & dust free shavings, I’ll soak his hay when he has it but he’ll mostly be on haylage (I need to keep off weight though). I just want to know will he ever get back to jumping, XC etc or will he be restricted in what he can do?

All started in March, a pony on my old yard had a really nasty "cold" I mean persistent coughing, lost condition & green lumps of gunk coming out of his nose that could be found on the floor outside his stable door. This had been developing over winter getting worse & worse. At its worst with the gunk the owner was away & yard owner had responsibility for him (at this point the horses were all still stabled on "winter turnout") & made the decision NOT to get the vet & just turn the pony out daily instead despite other liveries voicing their opinion. Come the end of April, whatever he had, got so bad it spread to about 10+ more horses on the yard, some coughing, some with gunk, some with both. My boy had the cough & very slight cough but only under exercise, compared to some others mild.

A vet came out, quarantined the yard & tested for strangles. All clear & gave all horses with it course of broad spectrum Norodine for a week & advised 2 weeks rest before riding again. All horses bar mine fine - he still coughed under exercise & had another course & another 2 weeks off.

After this he started coughing in the field the odd few times & progressively worse until it was several deep coughs in a row & he got heave lines just standing. Whole time I didn’t ride him once he started again & was out 24/7. So at this point got a second vet out, bloods came back fine and put on specific antibiotics, cough mixture & bute for 2 weeks & was fine, finished that course & coughed again a few days later so had another week just on bute & cough mixture. Gave him 4 weeks after this just left out & not a peep. Fab!

Moved him to a new yard after those 4 weeks off & started riding him again, only walk, he was fine, forward, enjoying himself but at the time was tacking up outside the fist few days. Then I started tacking up in the barn & letting him have a mouthful of hay just for a few mins. After a few rides he sometimes seemed breathless, reluctant to go & heaving air out also had coughing on some rides from getting out of breath but only once or twice. After thinking yesterday with the vet he was always better the day after a day off - as hadn’t been in the barn to be tacked up etc so had no exposure to dust.

So, rode him Wednesday only in walk he was awful, couldn’t keep up & heaving air out to vet came yesterday. I felt cruel riding him! I brought him into the barn she listened to him all over & timed his breaths per min. Correct amount of breaths but laboured, you could see an obvious outward breath plus he sounded wheezy, then after only a few mins in the doorway of the barn, she noticed his muscles in his nose spasming so obviously that’s all it took to start him off – the barns very open & well ventilated too! Her educated guess – COPD brought on by him being weakened so much by the virus. She would take him straight in for tracheal wash & scoping but hes so awful for vets it’s a worse case scenario & trying all other routes first.

Now he’s on Ventipulmin & cough mixture for 2 weeks, total rest this week then ride in walk the 2nd then I have to ring to let her know. Not allowed inside at all. I don’t know the next move but if its doesn’t work the scoping etc will have to go ahead.

See how it goes I suppose, just so upset!
 
First of all is there anyway you can get him on to grass livery? I haven't dealt with copd this bad so can't really advise as to drugs, however a friend had a TB with it quite badly. Her mare was on ventipulmin and also had an asthma inhaler for when she was really bad. I think she was still in full work but not sure.
 
Goodness, what a rough time you have both had.

My mare develops COPD symptoms when given dry hay or when she is in over the winter. Ventopulmin helped an awful lot to get her over her initial hard to shift snotts, and she has been better since that gave her a chance to clear out.

Do you have to stable him or can you find somewhere he could live out? If he must come in then is there a standard outside stable he could have? Mine can't tollerate a barn, or if neighbouring horses are on straw or not immaculatly mucked out. I also find that steaming hay helps alot more than soaking it (even if it is totally soaked for a couple of hours - goodness knows why?!). If he must come in if you can get a standard outside stable, then I would only have him in there when absolutly necessary - any potential dust causing jobs like rug change, mucking out, sweeping, grooming done outside the stable helps alot. Mine was on winergy ventilate last winter and I def noticed an improvement. The naf one didn't do anything though.

With the scoping what are the hoping to find out? Is it to investigate if there is a bug causing this? What difference to the treatment would the knowledge give? I prefer to know the answer to those questions before ours get tests as often the answers from the test don't change the treatment given - worth knowing before putting your horse through unplesant and expensive treatment.

Best of luck, keep your head up, you'll get there. At least when it is wet through the winter the dust will be dampened down - helps alot!
 
I'm so sorry your horse has COPD (now seems to be called RAO) but it is NOT the end of the world!! Truly......

As I'm not a vet I'm not going into the whys and wherefores of how your horse developed - lets call it - COPD.

Very briedfly, my cob mare (Section D type) developed COPD 3-4 years ago, when she was inadvertently fed dusty hay while I was away. (She was already living out 24/7 but it was winter so she was getting hay ad lib).

She was treated with Ventipulmin and the COPD seemed to go away. But then it flared up twice more. I had been soaking her hay religiously, her hard feed, such as it was, was always moist, but she had a really terrifying episode, which ended with the emergency vet having to race back 18 miles to his surgery in the middle of the night to get an inhaler mask. She was in great distress, but the inhalant, which I'm told is the same as used for human asthmatics, worked a treat. I ordered a mask of my own the next day (not cheap at c.£284 but I knew that if this happened again I must have the equipment to deal with it quickly). My mare was off work for a few weeks and then I gently brought her back into use. NB Nowadays I'm simply a happy hacker, so things might be different for a competition horse. Anyway, this is what I do, and for two years it has worked well.

1. She is still, and always will be, out 24/7, though she has access to two barns - both bedded with Bedmax shavings. It's really important that you find somewhere for yours that does grass livery. Stables were designed for humans' convenience, not for horses' health, and honestly the sooner you have yours on a grass regime the better. Re the barns, we deep-litter them, mucking out only once at the end of winter. We keep a good layer of dried Bedmax on top, and she has suffered no symptoms from the deep littering. They're open barns, and very airy, so there's no ammoniac respiratory problem

2. We realised that our mare is allergic to hay, soaked or not. She now has haylage (unsoaked) and there's absolutely no problem with that. So you could try mixing haylage and oatstraw ( see 4.) - it'll give her the bulk but not the bulge!

3. It's my little livery business, so the two other horses have to have haylage as well - I won't have hay on the place, just to be sure - or straw bedding.

4. Oddly, she's fine EATING straw. Last winter our friendly farmer made his first ever haylage - of dairy quality richness and dampness - and she went down with laminitis. Haylage was unobtainable as it was the end of the winter, stockists were running out of Horsehage etc. My usual vet suggested oat straw, and she lived on it (unsoaked) for 2 months with no adverse affects at all.

5. My (unveterinary) opinion is that while Ventipulmin is obviously the standard treatment, the symptomatic action of the inhalants is terribly important because it relieves the distress of the laboured breathing so well and quickly. My vet advises both together, and on the last occasion it has worked really well.

I hope this helps a little, and if you want to ask anything more PM me. I can't remember offhand the name of the mask supplier, should you decide to go down that road, but I'll Google it and either PM you or post on here.

And a happy tale to end on. An ex-livery of mine, a very good Long Distance Rider, was distraught when her wonderful Welsh/Arab competition pony went down with COPD aged 20+. She was told he would never compete again, keep him as a pet, etc. etc. She turned him away for a year, but treated him with inhaling techniques everyday for months. At the end of the year she brought him out of retirement - and won the Veteran's Cup for her area. The pony was then at livery with me for 6+ years, did pleasures rides and 4 day a week hacking, and died at the ripe old age of 30 of an unrelated disease. So don't give up. Best wishes.
 
A welsh D should be perfectly capable of wintering out 24/7, and its something I would want to get sorted asap. If you can avoid having to bring him into what is potentially a very dusty environment (if his nearest neighbour has dusty bedding, its going to affect him), then you are helping no end.
The only other thing I would say is come summer check the fields for anything that may be high in pollen....another trigger for COPD.
You could also try and PM Box_Of_Frogs. She has a veteran COPD sufferer and what she doesn't know aint worth knowing!
 
Totally feel for you as have been through a similar situation with my mare. My vet believes hers was brought on from some mouldy straw bedding!

Mine is on a supplement called Respimin which I get from my vet and feed daily (have recently found it cheaper on the net and it is not prescription either). I alter her doesage according to time of the year as she is stabled at night in the winter.

As others have said, rubber matting and dust free small amount of shavings for a bed and soaked hay is a must.

I always keep ventipulmin in stock at my yard and if over the winter she gets a little snotty I give her the ventipulmin for 3-4 days to clear her.

My mare had a couple of terrible bouts when she was first diagnosed - one episode resulted in a £1300 bill! But she never got as far as scoping or inhalers - although that would have been the next step.

It's not the end of the road, it just requires careful management...mine would stay out all year if she would, but come November time she asks to be in!
 
don't panic.

I have 2 with COPD both wintered in.

1 developed it after an allergic reaction to something sprayed on the crops near us, left her collapsed in stable with her airways closed and a vet rushing in middle of the night to save her.

She has vento for a couple of weeks in the spring and winergy ventilate when the pollon count is high and when stabled.

the other has a very fluidy set of lungs and runny nose, made worse by pollon and dust. She has vento and sputilosin for up to a month in the spring and winergy ventilate all year round. Her stable, while in an indoor barn, is opposite the door and she has the feed room next to her so no straw beds nearby and plenty of air, if she is bad this winter she will move to a stable outside the barn.

Both are on rubber and bedmax/shredded paper and both have soaked hay/hayledge.

Both horses compete up to BS and BE sucessfully though they are carefully worked to keep them fit and have a month to 6 weeks off competing/hacking in spring due to the pollon.

Once your vento is finished get your horse onto something like the winergy ventilate (recommended by my vet and has worked well for us) and wait for a couple of weeks for it to work (maybe speak to your vet about getting them alongside each other so the ventilate starts to work b4 you run out of vento). You may be able to do more than you think. Echo what others have said and keep out as much as possible, our worse one will only come in start of november as she can't stay out alone and will go out b4 6am and come in around 7pm. She'll be back out start of april.

Because my little one has random attacks in the early spring, when the vet comes to jab around december, he usually drops me a vento off then so I can catch her as soon as she starts in spring as it comes on without warning. I always keep enough vento to relieve her symptoms in my 1st aid kit. When she had her attack, a younger vet told me to retire her and breed from her or just potter round my menage as her jumping career was over. It is not, by a long way!!
 
My old TB mare suffered from copd and whilst it was a long time ago and treatments have radically improved , I can't stress enough how much better things would be if your boy could live out 24/7 . I know there are always issues of weight gain etc but with some careful management planning you could really turn his - and your - life around . See if you could find somewhere that offers decent grass livery, as in, not just a postage stamp that you have to suffer when things get muddy , but some really good , naturally sheltered grass land that would offer the scope for him to ' range ' a bit - you wouldn't believe how much walking they'll do each day if they've got some space , all this making his lungs and wind stronger. There are ways in which you can build places for shelter in the fields without spending a fortune . If you invest in two rugs of each weight you'll soon recoup the cost of all that expensive bedding and to top it all you'll never have that ingrained stench of ammonia that hardly even comes out in the shower!! Our boys have never looked back and they are horses that have spent their whole lives inside winter nights. Yes they may stand at the gate asking to come in but they are really only asking for their tea and soon wander of again once fed! I know all this ramble is'nt really what your asking for but i really do think it could be your boys first step on the road to recovery....good luck
 
Thankyou so so much for the time you've all taken to reply, its given me alot to think about & also alot of hope!

We moved from a yard which had alternate day turnout in winter between mares & geldings & it was hellish plus all the stables backed onto the indoor school so the dust from there (rubbish surface) all used to come over the top & into the stables onto rugs, horses, in the drinkers everywhere. Plus he was always been on straw & never had a problem (partly why Im so baffled as the whole situation has come about whilst hes been out 24/7 & he only gets bad when hes in but there we go). He had been there 6 years since I bought him & took him there at 7 months old.

New place hes in a big airy 12x12 compared to the stable that was too small at the old place & I've got matting being ordered next week, dust free shavings are on site plus this morning I've looked into buying a haybar for the corner of the stable to help his nose drain instead of nets & possibly a steamer as someone suggested above. The top doors of the barn are huge & will be left open now as the vet suggested to the yard owner yesterday. I know they wont be 'coming in' until November & will go out April/May but as the place is brand new & the rest of the land doesnt get signed over until beginning of next year (long story) so for this year only they wont be out everyday, they'll be alternating 2 groups. But Im sure if I asked the yard owner who is also a good friend she could make an exception seeing as hes now picked this up he would be out 6/7am & in about 6/7 at night probably after I've ridden him. Hes been there less than a month & still settling at the moment, although the worst bit is both him & I have friends there so people to keep an eye on him & that I trust, moving again to me would be awful but if needs must I will.

I've searched high & low for grass livery locally over the years & are either extortionately priced for a small patch or the yards that offer it have no facilities at all even as far as storage goes let alone a school, plus no field shelter provided. Now hes got this though I'll be having another look to see if any new places around since I last looked, at the end of the day his health is most important even if it means moving again. As you've all said thats the best option for him by miles.

I'll ring the vet later & ask if I can feed the Winergy alongside the Ventipulmin so that its in the system before the one stops. I'll have a look at respiratory licks for his stable, along with that Dust X if I hear any good about it. At least Im armed then if he does stay where he is & has to come in at night. Hoping the vet will be pleased with him after the 2 weeks & can give me some mroe advice, she may also know somewhere he can go.

As for the scoping & wash, it would be as a confirmation of the COPD she said & will take samples of mucus? For testing of whats irratating him I suspect. I really dont want it done so hoping she can make a pretty certain diagnosis when she sees him in a few weeks for his jabs & to do his teeth - which hes sedated for hence why she also wants to avoid scoping lol.
 
Not had time to read all the replies, but just wanted to mention, my vet told me that the inhaler option isn't good for horses who have a weight issue as it can trigger lami.

I'll be watching with interest, as my 16 year old TB x CB has had similar (although nowhere near as severe) problems this summer and just been given the all clear yesterday. I've been warned it may come back seasonally though. My feeling is that for her it was triggered by some dusty/rubbish hay inadvertently given to her.

Good luck OP and I hope it works out OK for you.
 
My lad developed it after a bad batch of hay and being kept next to dusty other stables. I managed to get him over it but then when he was box rested for laminitis he became so bad with it that I had to turn him out one night regardless of laminitis, as he looked like he could not breath.
I have been able to control it since then by having hardly any bedding in his stable at all, at least 12 hours turnout every single day (he has to come in at night every day to control his diet), cardboard or paper bedding, soaked hay, regular sweeping away of cobwebs, regular hoovering of the walls and shelves in his stable and not doing any brushing at all in his stable. He is on Feedmarks respiratory supplement to help him and he is ridden all year up and down hefty Derbyshire hills at walk and trot. There is hope but you have to be pretty anal when it comes to daily management and preventative measures.
 
Our old pony (bout 8yrs ago) had copd & also was very prone to laminitis. We tried to get a balance with her turnout & stabling, but even on shavings & soaked hay she struggled to breathe. She was on ventapulmin for quite a while but then needed regular steroid injections. Her chest got so bad that riding her regularly wasnt possible. I eventually decided to pts. I couldn't bare to see her in a state - she wasn't her happy self anymore. She had been a fab 1st pony for my 6yr old daughter - taught her to jump & loved pc. She had battled through losing an eye due to a tumour too.

I truly hope yours can be managed & wish you all the luck in the world xxx
 
This sounds worse than my gelding tbh. He is severe COPD if in on straw and also a bit summer pasture COPD if out with certain pollens. I just try and minimise things. He is out 24/7 (this is important), fed haylage etc. When he gets a bit 'thick in his wind', I tend to do canter work to clear him.

I also keep him fit as a flea and this really helps - weight is your enemy here also.

good luck.
 
I don't think you've said what you do with your horse? Why I ask is because you say it is very hard to find yards with 24/7 turnout. This I can understand, but I think you would have more success if you looked at people who do small liveries at their home, like I do.

I don't have a school, but someone else nearby does and lets it out, and there can be benefits like someone being on hand day and night to 'be there' for your horse.

It might be worth your while looking father afield than just standards 'yards'.
 
My 18 yr old cob started with a dry cough at the start of Dec 09 when the majority of horses at the yard all had it and was treated with ventipulmin. He had laboured breathing (32 breaths a min) and to cut through the story of blood tests, antibiotics he then went in to hospital to have an endoscopy and lung wash like you say your vet has suggested. It really was the end of our options because we had no idea what was causing his awful breathing especially after a summer when he had been at his fittest, working for 2 hours a day and at his lightest (mine lives on fresh air as hes out 24/7:rolleyes:)I helped in the procedure by being the pillar of holding his head up for over an hour and it really did show me the extent he was affected and gave me a new appreciation for how much he was struggling. The camera will show you the inside of the trachea and and the opening to the lungs and the wash gets put into the lungs and then sucked back out. My boy had to have it done 3 times as he kept trying to cough the tube out and they couldn't get the wash as far into his lungs as they wanted. His trachea was coated in a thick layer of mucus and the opening to his left lung was inflamed and appeared spongy (meant his left lung wasn't allowing a clear flow of air.) The lung wash will tell you the type and amount of cells in his lungs. The phone call to tell me the lab results from his lung wash was a real heart in stomach moment but it revealed he had a high level of inflammatory cells in his lungs which was diagnosed as 'an allergy.' Though this didn't prove very helpful they way I have managed him has highlighted what has triggered the allergic reaction.

He was put on steroids (60 tablets a day:eek:) and they did NOTHING. He was then administered an inhaler and aeromask and this has very little effect on him because he takes such shallow, rapid breathes he doesn't fully inhale the drugs into his lungs. He has always lived out but I decided to move yards so he didn't have his head stuck in the trailer of hay left out for them and he lived on 1 slice of hay a day all winter, got put on Equiexpectorant and he came back 100% and went back into work. The supplement works by loosening the mucus and encouraging them to cough it up to clear the airways.

All went well till April when he went back to struggling and it was pretty clear the pollen was to account for and he massively struggles in the heat. As he has to wear a muzzle he is kept in during the hot days. To date I have still not found anything that has helped him through the pollen season (tried Naf respirator,Global airways) so suggestions please:) I thought I was being cruel working him with his breathing but the vet checked his lungs and said ride him as usual and he will let you know if he's struggling. Last weekend we did a 12 mile fun ride and he loved it so stay positive. Like myself, it may just take a bit of time and patience to find the best way of managing them and the extra support they need.
 
Our old pony was diagnosed with COPD around 10 years ago. We had an inhaler, and used a steroid inhaler once a week. He is also laminitic. He was on shavings and haylage and hi fi lite. Around 5 years ago we bought him good rugs and let him have access to the stable from the field all winter, spring and summer. We did away with the inhalers as his breathing had improved and he is now just fed hi-fi lite and pony nuts, damped, and we are back on good quality hay. He is better now than for years. We think the ammonia in the stable overnight was contributing to his breathing problems which is now not an issue as he only goes into the stable to have a kip on his shavings and does all his wees outside.

Forgot to say, he went on to get second at a local county show, so COPD is certainly not the end of a working life
 
My pony has had it twice once in November and once in Sept and I think it is aggravated by overheating he gets very furry and clipping has helped a lot. I also have noticed if it is a really hot day his breathing increases as well.

The first time he had it he was not clipped and got in early November I think is an allergy perhaps to autumn fungus. He was just on ventipulim, clipped a bit and it cleared up in a month. He lives out.

The next year he got it in September and it was a hot dry year. This time he also had a temperature so was on antibiotics as well as ventipulmin again it cleared up quickly within a month and I also decided from then on that any hay he was getting would be soaked if possible, though he does get dry hay in the field if it snows but then I guess the snow dampens the hay somewhat!

I had tried all sort of supplement including wynergy ventilate, global herbs and the naf one and none made any difference. However what does seem to work is Think Clear and last year he did not get any COPD at all and he was clipped early and took more fur off as well to prevent getting too hot. Occasionally I give him some ventipulmin for a couple of days as a preventative if he is really doing hard work in the autumn.

He jumps, does sponsored rides, dressage, showing so it I think it can be managed if you can try and find out what triggers it and when and find a supplement that works and feed it before the COPD starts if it is seasonal.

I also think the fitter they are the better as well.
 
Forgot to say also I am careful when he is changing his coat as he rolls a lot then and when I groom him there are clouds of fur and dust which might get into his lungs.

I also clean inside his nostrils with a baby wipe to get any dust/pollen out during the risky season!

I found if he is tied up outside on a hot day as well to be groomed and tacked up that is worse than when I get him ready inside his cool stable.

If your welsh cob has a thick coat and gets warm easily then it might be worth clipping him to see if not being so hot helps too.

I too have a cough at the moment that I have had for 4 weeks and dry air and being indoor aggravates it as does eating dry food.
 
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Thankyou for all your advice & encouraging stories! It's given me a lot of hope that its not the end of the world & hopefully can keep it under full control. He does a bit of everything & I usually ride him 5 maybe even 6 days a week hacking & jumping. We've done dressage, cross country, showjumping, fun rides, hunting the lots so bits of everything, mostly riding club level. Hoping over the next few years to try jump cross, trec & get into trailblazers. He's not exactly an eventer but does quite a bit when we can get a lift.

Also now looked at getting a haybar for his stable instead of nets & a big bin for soaking hay or a steamer.

Poor boy is so miffed at being out in the field he loves coming in for a snooze & fuss, likes having his tea in his stable not out on the grass lol.

Considering asking for the end stable because its obviously got better circulation or perhaps one of the temp outside stables outside the barn for winter when they go up. Going to keep an ear out for grass livery too if I can find somewhere suitable local.

He's clipped every winter fully usually so that may help too then. Was only going to do a chaser until Christmas but we'll see.

My worry now is his fitness, everyone stresses how important fitness is & after all these months off he's as unfit as they come so will probably be a huge struggle now over winter building him up.
 
I haven't read all the replies but my horse has COPD... hes 17, he team chases at intermediate, he hunts every saturday for a full season, he is ridden daily, he lives in in the winter, out in the day during the summer...
This summer he was much worse and the usual ventipulmin didn't stop him coughing, but did stop the weezing, tract wash was taken and 76000 cell count was found, 2 weeks later it was back to 500... we had to give him 2 sachets am and pm of steroids so a very high dose to knock it because he needed to cough but that was inflaming his trachea which made him cough more, so we had to break the cycle and by some miracle we did!
It does seem like an awfuly long process, but there is something that will work! My vet gave my horse 2 weeks off and then anohter tract wash with the view of him having 2 months or so off... he only needed the 2 weeks off and he feels 200% now! Seeing him go from a dozey, switched off horse a month ago to him galloping about the field bucking and rearing just shows that COPD isn't the end of what you want to do! We still compete and hes still loving it so don't give up just yet! :)

I do soak his hay and he has it off the floor, much better to do this then have a haynet or similar!
 
Have you considered getting your horse allergy tested to see exactly what is triggering the allergic reaction (i.e. asthma, copd). My mare developed a cough last March, was put on ventipulmen for 2 months then a course of steroids. I moved her from an american barn with a indoor school (i.e. dusty) to a different yard with twice as long daily turnout, very well ventilated outdoor stable (she is in at night), switched from hay to hayledge...well cough came back. I got her allergy tested and it turned out she was allergic to the dust mites found in hard feed. The allergy test tested for everything under the sun, all pollens etc. and this was the only result that was positive. So, off hard feed she went and hasn't coughed since. Now her symptoms were mildish, a cough but not really having difficulty breathing. I don't know why you don't want yours scoped I saw it done there was no struggling from my mare, she was quiet as a mouse. During her lung scope (wash) she was sedated, but the normal scope wasn't sedated at all and it was done in minutes. The vet needs to see how much mucous there is down there. The allergy test was expensive, about €450 euros but definitely worth it as my mare is on no medication now and is in top form. Good luck, I know it is very worrying.
 
I'd actually like to have it done just to get right to the bottom of it, but the reason I'm apprehensive is because of how dangerous he is with vets.

He has to be twitched (which is enough in itself trying to grab a rearing horse) for his jabs, knocked out for his teeth - has also got to be twitch for the vet to sedate, he's knocked a breezeblock wall down in his old stable slamming the dentist around resulting in metal reinforcement being put in & I've been eye level with his front feet a number of times. He had an unfortunate first introduction to vets with his first ever jabs - young vet jumped back when he twitched & left him running around with a syringe in his neck. So I don't blame him plus 2 freak accidents one involving ripping his nostril - only way to stitch & staple was to jab him in the bum whilst boxed over the back door & keep him twitched at the same time. So I see scoping as more than unpleasant for all involved! lol The rest of the time he's a total darling, but proper split personality where vets involved!

I will ask when I ring after the 2 weeks though to see if its worth doing, would be interesting as I was unaware that they could pinpoint the allergen. It's just going to be hellish with him so that's why the vet put it as last resort - having spent 15mins scratching him with a stethoscope to persuade him she was going to kill him & lay it flat to listen! lol
 
ah, ok that explains why you are reluctant to scope. I must say I was sceptical about the allergy test, and so was the vet at first. When my mares cough came back the vet had been treating another horse (racehorse) with cough and the allergy test came back with a lime allergy. Guess what was outside this horse's stable only a lime tree. Horse moved stable - cough went.
 
BTW the allergy test is done on blood, so its a matter of taking some blood and sending them off. Mine were sent to a lab in spain. I can get the details for you no problem.
 
Oh brilliant! That would be fab thankyou. I can twitch him for bloods so not as bad lol. He's a monster with things like that, people can't believe how much at the other end of the scale he is usually though, he's not a full time thug!
 
Hay or haylage soaked for at least an hour.

Don't use hay if you can avoid it.

Get the horse off molassed feed, and any cereals at all.

A high fibre diet is recommended, but only if the fibre is forage based.

This is about the only way to get any real improvement for COPD, and to be able to do away with the ventopulmin.
 
Everybody on here have posted all the ways to improve a horses with COPD which we have done with my friends cob who developed it about 2 years ago now. With maintenance and stabling him to the minimum he has improved so much. She also found the Winergy Ventilate supplement did help the best out of all of the ones that are on the market out there.
 
Hi there, we had a little pony 5 yr old diagnosed with COPD
he was loosing weight, coughing, and very miserable in general!!
took him to best vet in the area he diagnosed COPD and agreed to treat him monthly with a VERY EXPENSIVE cocktail of drugs and inhalers.
Months later and totally raped of my savings i decided to get a second opinion as he really wasnt alot better...................

SHOCK...........

second vet explained that COPD was extremely rare in such a young pony, it can only be properly diagnosed when scoped,yes the 1st vet drew bloods (which came back normal) second vet said if COPD was the issue the bloods would not be normal due to an OXYGEN IMBALANCE?? this is not how he put it but he did say that with it being a respiratory disease the oxygen levels in the blood are always affected with this disease, he was then scoped, surprise surprise he was clean as a whistle.

second diagnosis............ a lingering virus he found difficult to recover from, gave him a few mths on collovet pony returned to his wee self very quickly

i know everyone makes mistakes and a misdiagnosis can happen, but i put my all into sorting out the pony, i kept him out, paper bedded him, wet his hay, sprayed the box with water prior to travelling him u name it it did it but in the end he wasnt gettin better with all the new fangled drugs so i was left with no option but to second opinion one of the most respected vets in northern ireland!!!!! ( and i was right in my decision to do so)

Really hope this helps, i was devasted when our boy "had it) xx
 
Chin up it's not necessarily the end of a 'normal' working life :)

My boy has rao (or whatever they're calling it these days!) and has done for about 8 years; he's 20 now.

I control it using beclametisone (spelling?!) inhaler at 4 puffs a day, naf respirator boost and max turnout (usually in at night over winter) plus feeding haylage from haybar and dust extracted shavings in bed.

We compete at BE (planning pre novice next season) jumpcross, hunter trials etc and have no issues. In fact he's been placed almost every time out this season. I just make sure I work that little bit harder on his fitness programme.
 
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