Coughing when exercising.

Black_Horse_White

Black_Horse_White

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My horses is 15yrs old, he is getting over laminitis. He has been back in light work for 6 weeks now. He is on a shavings bed and is turned out for about 4 hours a day. For the last few weeks he has been coughing and his breathing is heavy when exercising. He is normal at rest. His hay is soaked, the vet said his chest is clear and he has a virus. After a while there has been no improvement so the vet has given me ventipulmin. He has been on it for a week now, still the same. He is OK in himself no nasal discharge. Is there anything else i should be doing? I need to keep him in work to keep his weight down due to the lami. Keeping him out for longer is not an option either. At the end of my tether at what to do for the best.
 
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Black_Horse_White said:
My horses is 15yrs old, he is getting over laminitis. He has been back in light work for 6 weeks now. He is on a shavings bed and is turned out for about 4 hours a day. For the last few weeks he has been coughing and his breathing is heavy when exercising. He is normal at rest. His hay is soaked, the vet said his chest is clear and he has a virus. After a while there has been no improvement so the vet has given me ventipulmin. He has been on it for a week now, still the same. He is OK in himself no nasal discharge. Is there anything else i should be doing? I need to keep him in work to keep his weight down due to the lami. Keeping him out for longer is not an option either. At the end of my tether at what to do for the best.
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You might like to try a different kind of bedding material as there are some new ones of the market that are made of flax and other materials that are completely dust free. My shavings get very dry in my horses bed at this time of the year which causes them to be quite dusty when first laid. I never lay clean shavings on top of a bed, I always mix the shavings in with the older (but clean) shavings and leave my horse out of the stable where possible for at least ten mins to allow the dust to settle. He is also on haylage instead of hay. Maybe you could try steaming your hay, I think it is just as effective and less nutrients are lost. Occasionally my horse will cough when first trotting but this isn't every time.
 
I will have a look at bedding. He has always been on haylage until he had laminitis, i've spoken to the vet who is against me putting him back on it now. Is breathing is so loud and he sounds like his throat is sore. He tried to neigh tonight but nothing came out.
 
I know your vet is against it, but I would try him back on haylage before you go down the ventapulmin route. Certainly I have one who coughs if he has hay, but is cough free on haylage (and I don't think he's conning me, I do think its genuine)
 
I'm very confused, i thought haylage was a big no no for a laminitic. I'm just struggling to know what to do for the best. Do i risk laminitis flaring up again and try haylage. Or do i carry on with soaked hay and hope his breathing improves? The shaving i use are practically dust free, and i always take out the old and put in new. I've just had so many health issues this year my head is spinning. Thanks for your replies i think i will give haylage a go. I'm trying to call the laminitis trust for advice too, but they are always busy.
 
I've been reading up about that. I've been up today and there was a lump of clear snot in his water bucket. So i'm now feeding him his hay from the floor, he's not a greedy horse so fingers crossed it lasts him a while. I have an haybar but they are new stables and YO won't let me drill holes in it, understandably. Hopefully he will be better in a few days. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply
 
I've spoken to the laminitis trust in the past and I think they will tell you haylage is a real no-no. How long are you soaking you hay for? If its soaked it shouldn't cause any problems. How about trying steaming as suggested, this is proven to get rid of more of the spores than soaking. If you are on a budget there are threads on here that suggest different methods for steaming.
 
Hi I have a laminitic who is also sensitive to the dust...so I now use easibed as shavings are just too dusty.....also my horse has his hay soaked and always fed from the floor....i try to soak for a minimum of 30 minutes but as your horse is coughing more maybe try and soak for longer? I used to soak overnight for the next morning when mine was on box rest but as he is now out all day I have been able to reduce the soaking time.

Yes I would agree steaming hay is prob better than soaking as it doesnt leach out the vits & mins like soaking can but as I have investigated they arent cheap....if I won the lottery I would consider this myself!

Haylage is a no no for laminitics and I would def not put your on it without discussing with your vet...also the licks are full of sugar as well so I would also avoid particularly if you are trying to get or keep weight off.....its a difficult situation to be in because of the issues with the laminitis - I know as I have been in the exact same situation.....a combination of soaking, having it on the floor and changing his bedding from shavings to easibed really helped to reduce my boy's coughing....hope you can get it sorted soon....
 
Thanks everyone but he took a turn for the worst and his breathing was very noisy, even at rest. He is on antibiotics but after a couple of days no improvement. So i had the vet out yesterday he gave him a strong anti inflammatory, and took blood for testing. The good news was his chest is clear, the problem seems to be in his throat. Only a sight improvement today so he is being scoped tonight. He is bright in himself eating and drinking normal, no coughing at rest and no nasel discharge. So i'm keeping everything crossed its just a virus.
 
Not all haylage is a no no for laminitics. Horsehage High Fibre is acually approved by the laminitic trust. Also soaking hay doesn't really help much. As soon as the hay dries the dust and spores come back, so if you are feeding soaked hay don't let it dry before you feed it (a friend of mine did her degree dissertation on soaked hay).
 
I agree with the posts regarding haylage.

If the vet says he has a virus and your title is 'coughing whilst exercising' wouldnt it be best to rest him. Sorry if I misunderstood your post and he's only coughing running up for the vet to check.

I hope he improves quickly for you x
 
He was scoped tonight and has a lump on his Larynx. The vet has done a biopsy the results should be back in a week. He has not been ridden as his breathing got worse and very noisy. He is much better tonight and responding to the antibiotics, so im hoping and praying it is an infection and not a tumour. Its giong to be a long week. I would not continue riding my horse if he was coughing badly it was only once or twice.
 
I am very interested to hear more about this lump!!

TBH it does sound like you have some conflicting advice here. There is a horsehage recommended by the Laminitic Trust, but you can soak haylage to leach it of nutrients anyway if you are concerned about overfeeding in calories.

Turning out more is an option in a box sized area to minimise too much movement and using a muzzle to minimise food intake. It is worth considering if things don't improve indoors.

I'm not convinced by the "he's got a virus" story unless there is a temperature and bloods and a swab to suggest/confirm this. RAO from the environment is prob more common with this history.

Don't be afraid of using Ventipulmin, but do understand what it is doing. It just widens the airways, allowing more airflow to the lungs. It only last for about 3 hours after absorption anyway and is far from perfect. It often doesn't have a great success on its own but is good as combination with other drugs if required.

I was going to suggest as scope - but you've already done that :p which is a great start....finding the lump is odd...I'd love to know what that is!!

Oh and as far as exercise goes, I recommend exercise within the limits of the cough - i.e. if he coughs a couple of times ok, continue; if it's more than that then reduce the level of work!!!

Best of luck
Imogen
 
I'm awaiting the results now. the lump was above the hole in the Laryx( sorry for the explaination) It is about the size of a 5pence piece and looks like a lump of puss. He is on antibiotics for 10 days and Metacam. The paddock he is in is very small and i'm putting out soaked hay as there is not alot of grass. He has been in for 2 nights as he was sedated for the scoping. He doesn't seem to get any better by being out so he will be in at night. It started off as a few coughs when first ridden, then after a week or so his breathing started to get heavy, it sounds like he has a sore throat and couldn't neigh. He is also Anemic. I'm thinking the worst now that its cancer and i'm a nervous wreck. He also had mucus behind the opening which the vet said should not be there, so took a sample to send off.
 
I've been having a look at steamers, they are expensive and with all the vet bills a just can't afford one. I'm going to wait for the test results to come back, as the lump that he has maybe what is causing the problems. If it turns out that it is COPD, then i will have to get the money together somehow. The vet did say that his lungs are clear, the problem does seem to be in his throat. The vet is talking about removing it then doing some kind of lazer treatment. I'm just so stressed at the moment, he's had laminitis recently diagnosed with Uveitis now this.
 
I did a lot of thinking about the haylage thing eariler this year - my mare had postoperative laminitis. The vet and the laminitis trust both recommend hay, no haylage. Another very well respected horse nutrition person (who's name irritatingly escapes me at the moment) recommends haylage over hay. The thinking behind the haylage is that it's a fermented grass product, so any sugars in it have actually been processed by bacteria and turned into fatty acids, which are compounds that horses cope well with. In hay, the sugars are straight sugars. My mare hated the hay I got, and I put her back onto haylage quite quickly. She was fine, but she also didn't have a dietary-induced laminitis in the first place.
I know a lot of people soak their hay for a long time before feeding, which both damps down the dust and soaks out the sugars, so maybe that would be a compromise?
 
It takes a bit of time but if you get a dustbin, preferably a metal one and fill it with a few kettles of boiling water, then put the haynet in and put the lid on topping up the water with more boiling water every 5 mins that's a good way of cheap steaming :D
 
Just got the results back from the vet, my horse has a bacterial infection that is not responding to the antibiotics. He now trying to find one that will kill it. They didn't have enough of the lump to get anything from, but he thinks it is all to do with the infection. It is not life threatening, he is going to be ok. Thats another hurdle nearly over. What next, thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
 
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