coughing pony

asbo

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little one has had a cough which started in the summer, vet said soak hay/dust free bedding etc which we did but she still has the cough, she coughs when grazing as well as when worked.

she has been on soaked hay/shavings & 4 piriton, thinking of upping the piriton to twice a day. is there anything else i can give her?
 
Ask your vet about using inhaled steroids (beclamethasone - same as asthmatics are given). This is a very effective and reasonably cheap way of contralling rao in horses. I would avoid ventipulmin as it is expensive and only works in a proportion of horses.
 
i used Ventipulmin and had major success, although in my case my horse rarely coughed in the field.

Is your pony coughing up mucus at all , or are the nasal passages clear?
 
totally clear, nothing coming up at all
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thinking of worming for lung worm as its really just a cough she has & no discharge, she does it when grazing, in her stable or being worked?
 
has the vet said it could be copd? is it just coughing or wheezing/heaving also? a mare on our yard is on 8 piriton a day when she's bad, ventipulmin works for her with short courses at a time but not as long term preventative.

how often is your horse ridden and turned out? this mare needs ridden every 2nd day to keep on top of her problems as it helps clear her lungs out.
 
just coughing, she gets 4 piriton a day, she is 11.1hh.

she is out daily for between 8 & 10 hours a day, only lunged or long reined during the week if the weather permits.

vet thought a dust/pollen allergy but she has no discharge at all
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Copd is now known as rao - recurrent airway obstruction, and is a form of allergic airway disease.

You could ask your vet to do a tracheal wash to investigate the nature of your pony's condition. This would also diagnose lungworm. To be honest unless your pony has had contact with donkeys then lungworm is unlikely. Avermectin wormers are highly effective against lungworm (eqvalan, furexel, equest etc) and benzimidazole wormers (Panacur, Telmin) are reasonably good, so quite unlikely that your pony would have lungworm.

Inhaled steroids are extremely effective and don't have systemic effects. That's the route I'd be going down. Have you tried turning him out 24/7?
 
will be talking to the vet again about this as i feel its gone on way to long.

she was out 24/7 in the summer & was still the same. she was grazed on fields that sheep have grazed.
 
Reading your post with interest, not for the coughing but regards Piriton, is this as bought over the counter for humans, reason for asking is that my beast suffers with his nose when the pollen is high in summer (hay fever) yes he has hay fever, seems to be the little white flowers in the hedgrows which irritate his nose the most, ride on the road and no problem, rest of the year no problem, was thinking when the summer comes what to do for him, maybe I could try Piriton, how safe is it for 14.2 ponies ?
 
i buy my piriton online, 500 for £8.99
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vet said i can safely give my 11.1hh welsh sec a upto 8 a day so i would guess 12-16 for your one?

pm me if you want the link to the place i buy from
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yer, my horse had a cough for many months and after a while we relized that is getting worse, and in the end she had cancer, and will hvae to be put down soon, so whatch out and ask your vet if she mite have cancer, and the oinly sings that cancer gives is coughing so whatch out
 
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