Equine Asthma Diagnosis - WWYD

[GrassChop]

Had a pretty horrendous vet appointment today following my horse having a cough for 4 weeks.

Initially it was a dry cough which only appeared for short periods if she had been trotting/galloping around and then one night it ended up with an emergency call out as it sounded like choke and she was struggling to breath. It has been process of elimination since as per the vets advice like soaking the hay and then feeding it outside before moving forwards and it did ease off with anti inflammatory injections administered on that visit. Then a few days a go, it came back badly again and an endoscope was booked.

This year I've been feeding hay from a shelter with a gate on so the horses can just lean in and have as much as they need from the front. This is the only difference and the hay has been in there around 3 months, they have been eating it the whole time and it's pushed forwards daily.

The appointment was awful, they confirmed the larynx was fine and nothing was stuck but it went terribly trying to extract anything from the lungs as the coughing was so severe that they didn't manage to obtain any fluid to send off for testing.

The vet came to the conclusion that since the anti inflammatories worked the first time and there's no other signs of a virus, she diagnosed it as asthma.

I know this is really long so thank you for getting this far. I just need to get my thoughts written down to process everything. There has never been a problem with the hay or management, she lives out and no one else is coughing. The vet has given us a course of steroids to treat and wants me to get a nebuliser to do 20 minutes a day thereafter for the foreseeable but my thoughts are on the fact that she has always been fine until now and it was only where I was feeding hay from that changed so in my mind I'm wondering if after treatment, providing all is okay, do I need to change anything apart from eliminating the hay shelter? Do I need a nebuliser? Is it asthma or a one off chest infection type thing?

The vet says to change to haylage and put her on a balancer as well which isn't a problem but it's taken a good amount of time to get her diet right and I'm sort of reluctant to do this but I will if it is absolutely necessary.

Thoughts are very welcome. Thank you.

 

[Bonnie Allie]

Lying in bed reading this after having my own asthma attack yesterday can I suggest that you take the vets advice, use the steroid anti-inflammatories and nebuliser to get everything calm and settled.

Once you have that sorted and she is breathing comfortably, you can test for secondary infection, work out your triggers and go from there.

We had a pony with seasonal asthma and also having my own asthma challenges with proactive management you will be fine. BUT every so often there will be a severe attack that feels like it comes out of the blue - and best course of action is medicate, calm everything down, get better before you move forward again.

 

[SEL]

I have to feed hay from the floor with the microcob's asthma. If she's stabled I'll dampen it but no need in the field.

I would use the drugs to get on top of the reaction though. I now only have problems in early pollen season but I am careful with her management and have the nebuliser at the yard.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

My boy was diagnosed with asthma two years ago. He lives out, and none of the other horses had similar symptoms. In his case what seems to trigger it is sudden changes in temperature so I’m on the lookout for increased breathing when it’s either very hot or very cold. We got a nebuliser which was expensive but thoroughly worth it - he now only needs a short course of inhaled steroids to get his breathing back under control. Touch wood he’s only had one attack this year but I’m confident we can get on top of it quickly now we have the nebuliser

 

[ycbm]

The vet says to change to haylage and put her on a balancer as well

If the vet thinks she is lacking vitamins or minerals then I would have expected them to blood test for that and not just tell you to put her on a generic balancer. Did they give any idea of why they want her on a balancer?
.

 

[Goldenstar]

That’s bad news .
You do need to follow the vets treatment plan .
I would get the horse onto haylege and put it on a balancer I personally would not except the vet to the to impose the cost of blood screening on you but I would want to understand why they want the horse on a balancer .
It may be that they think it may improve the horses general health which will help .
I would stop feeding forage in the front of the shed and put it into the field on the ground .

Theres a supplement ( it’s not a balancer ) called Ventilate made by wynergy I feed to anything here that has wind issues I have never not had a good result with it so that worth thinking about giving a try .

 

[estela]

We have one with asthma. We manage it with well soaked hay (or haylage) always fed on the floor and dust free shavings when stabled. (It only takes a small amount of dry hay or dusty shavings to set him off). Occasionally he needs steroids to reduce the inflammation. Once on top of it you should be OK as long as you manage her carefully and act quickly if you do hear her coughing.

 

[Walrus]

I world go with the drugs and treatment from your vet to get on top of it. When my mare came down with asthma she had been on a straw bed and fed dry hay her entire life with no problem.

I found drugs were needed to get on top of it, my mare had steroids and ventipulmin. For a couple of years after diagnosis when she had a flare up I'd just call the vet and get them to drop some ventipulmin off.

After that I think its trial and error management wise. My vets wouldn't recommend a supplement because there are none with what they consider serious evidence but I feed the winergy ventilate and I can tell when she's not on it. I had good success with dust free bedding, soaked hay or haylage etc. Incidentally I got her a flexineb nebuliser and she hated it so I sold it!

If the only change is the hay I would investigate that, if you're topping it up it's not getting musty or anything underneath is it?

The only thing I would question your vet on is the balancer.....why does that make a difference for breathing? Very odd and I would question that bit more if I was you.

 

[TGM]

How did you feed your hay in the past? I wonder whether feeding hay in the shelter made it much easier to breathe in dust due to less ventilation than in an open field. I would second the vet's suggestion to feed haylage - we have one with asthma and we went through the options of steaming hay or soaking hay but it was cutting out hay totally and going onto haylage that cleared the problem up, allowing him to go back to eventing and hunting.

 

[meleeka]

How old is the horse? I too am a bit confused by the recommendation of a balancer.

It’s possible that you will treat this and then never have a problem again. Or you might get a seasonal problem. I’d certainly remove the hay from where it is and either wet it or feed haylage while the mare has a problem. I had one that developed a cough and stupidly I tried to treat myself (unaware that she still had access to the dusty hay under tarp that I thought she couldn’t reach). She ended up with very sensitive lungs from then on. Eventually I was able to feed dry hay again, but it had to be well shaken out first.

 

[GrassChop]

If the vet thinks she is lacking vitamins or minerals then I would have expected them to blood test for that and not just tell you to put her on a generic balancer. Did they give any idea of why they want her on a balancer?
.

The vet said she would need it for her immune system. No bloods were taken though!

 

[GrassChop]

How did you feed your hay in the past? I wonder whether feeding hay in the shelter made it much easier to breathe in dust due to less ventilation than in an open field. I would second the vet's suggestion to feed haylage - we have one with asthma and we went through the options of steaming hay or soaking hay but it was cutting out hay totally and going onto haylage that cleared the problem up, allowing him to go back to eventing and hunting.

Hay was always put out in the field before.

 

[GrassChop]

How old is the horse? I too am a bit confused by the recommendation of a balancer.

It’s possible that you will treat this and then never have a problem again. Or you might get a seasonal problem. I’d certainly remove the hay from where it is and either wet it or feed haylage while the mare has a problem. I had one that developed a cough and stupidly I tried to treat myself (unaware that she still had access to the dusty hay under tarp that I thought she couldn’t reach). She ended up with very sensitive lungs from then on. Eventually I was able to feed dry hay again, but it had to be well shaken out first.

She is 17. Yes, I don't really understand why I need to put her on a feed balancer. I don't particularly like the ingredients and I've always believed that you don't need one providing the forage is enough!

 

[Fruitcake]

I have a horse with asthma. He was diagnosed at around 10 years old. We tried various treatment routes (Ventipulmin, inhaled steroids) before going down the nebuliser route. I’d say getting a nebuliser was well worth it and wouldn’t hesitate to do the same again. My insurance paid for the nebuliser, but I’d already decided that if they hadn’t agree, I’d buy it anyway. For the first six months, he needed the nebuliser every day, but the steroid was gradually reduced and then further reduced to every other day until we were able to stop it eventually.

Since then, he’s had a couple of flare-ups which were sorted really quickly with a week or so of nebulised steroids, but otherwise, doesn’t need anything. He lives out and I soak all of their hay, which I really do think makes a huge difference. Looking back, I think the initial attack may have been triggered by a dusty batch of hay so it’s entirely possible that after steroid treatment from your vet (however she’s recommended that - oral / nebulised or both), and with some tweaks in management, your horse might be fine.

 

[Dexter]

She is 17. Yes, I don't really understand why I need to put her on a feed balancer. I don't particularly like the ingredients and I've always believed that you don't need one providing the forage is enough!

Forage in the UK is unbalanced with far too much iron, which stops the uptake of other minerals. I don't understand why people are confused. An older horse with an illness dragging it down is going to benefit from something like that. I've seen mudfever be eradicated by the addition of a good balancer.

 

[Yeomans]

My horse has asthma as well, diagnosed last year. It all started with coughing and then he breathing started to go up, sometimes to 42 a minute. He has had numerous scopes and was then diagnosed with a lung infection which only a course of steriods for a month would cure. I was advised that he should be out 24/7 and with wet hay all the time but unfortunately where I was at the time only had limited turnout in the winter so I have had to move yards and am now at a yard where he can be out 24/7 in the summer and in at night in the winter. He cannot go near straw at all. His hay must be soaked. I have never been advised to feed a balancer. I have a nebuliser which I use when he has a flare up, very much like Fruitcake does above and it has been a life saver. I think it is trial and error and you have to work out what is best for your horse.

 

[Goldenstar]

She is 17. Yes, I don't really understand why I need to put her on a feed balancer. I don't particularly like the ingredients and I've always believed that you don't need one providing the forage is enough!

I am not sure why you think just hay provides everything a horse needs because unless you have analysed your hay you are just taking a wild guess .
Protein is often lacking in hay as are many nutrients that horses can access more easily in grass and sunlight in the growing season .
Your horse is ill and when people or animals are sick or injured you have to feed them to give their bodies the best change of fighting back .
I would give the horse a basic balancer from your feed merchant , a pelleted one will be easiest as you can feed in a bowl or even by hand itself .
I use one called Opticare made by a company called Gain but all the feed companies will have a general balancer .
You have paid for a vets advice I would take it in your first post you question if you need to use the nebuliser now you don’t believe in feeding balancers .
I don’t think it’s likely this is a one off and you are going to have manage the horse for this condition in an ongoing way .
It’s my experience horse with asthma do best when they are really well ,exercised to comfort and kept as fit as possible and always have them the correct weight fat horses suffer much more.
Asthma has triggers it may be that the hay in the shed is the trigger so if you stop hay feed only haylege and put it outside you might get a radical reduction in symptoms.
One of mine the triggers was the pollen of certain trees his symptoms where always very mild luckily , it took several summers to work out it was hazel trees .

 

[SantaVera]

i'd feed soaked hay and a balancer.

 

[GrassChop]

I am not sure why you think just hay provides everything a horse needs because unless you have analysed your hay you are just taking a wild guess .
Protein is often lacking in hay as are many nutrients that horses can access more easily in grass and sunlight in the growing season .
Your horse is ill and when people or animals are sick or injured you have to feed them to give their bodies the best change of fighting back .
I would give the horse a basic balancer from your feed merchant , a pelleted one will be easiest as you can feed in a bowl or even by hand itself .
I use one called Opticare made by a company called Gain but all the feed companies will have a general balancer .
You have paid for a vets advice I would take it in your first post you question if you need to use the nebuliser now you don’t believe in feeding balancers .
I don’t think it’s likely this is a one off and you are going to have manage the horse for this condition in an ongoing way .
It’s my experience horse with asthma do best when they are really well ,exercised to comfort and kept as fit as possible and always have them the correct weight fat horses suffer much more.
Asthma has triggers it may be that the hay in the shed is the trigger so if you stop hay feed only haylege and put it outside you might get a radical reduction in symptoms.
One of mine the triggers was the pollen of certain trees his symptoms where always very mild luckily , it took several summers to work out it was hazel trees .

I didn't say just hay.
I'd prefer to feed a powdered balancer without the rubbish added so I will do that.

 

[Fruitcake]

I think the balancer recommendation is probably just from the point of view of making sure a "low" horse has all it needs - not necessarily from a treatment angle. If you're not keen on balancers, Science Supplements do a good vitamin and mineral supplement in powdered form. I don't suppose it can hurt.

I don't like haylege for a number of reasons, so don't feed it. I find soaked (well dunked until the bubbles stop) hay works fine. I also think large bale feeding isn't always great for asthmatics as they end up eating their way into the bale with their heads stuck inside, which can't be great in terms of what they're inhaling. A neighbour's horse seemed quite badly affected every time they used big bales (even of haylege). You could hear her coughing across the fields. They'd get her a course of steroids and it would clear up only for it to start when they started on big bales again.

My advice would be to complete the steroids from the vet, stop feeding dry hay, get a vit supplement and look into nebulised steroids incase they're needed after the oral course. Try not to worry too much. As others have said, asthma tends to have a trigger. If you can manage things so that trigger doesn't occur, any symptoms are usually easily enough avoided (or at least minimised). Basically, treat to get rid of the inflammation and then manage to avoid reoccurrence. It seems like you've probably identified the trigger so you're halfway there!

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

My little mare (profile pic) started coughing around this time last year and hadn't really stopped by the summer (June). Vet had prescribed ventilpulmin but hadn't made any difference.

We scoped her in the summer (managed it despite her fighting the sedation tooth & nail - as she does - and her coughing horribly during the procedure. I felt awful, but we had to get a firm diagnosis).

I'd like to know exactly WHY your vet has prescribed a "balancer". Personally I'd be asking questions about what balancer, and what this might (or might not) achieve. Some vets do throw out generic advice such as "feed a balancer" which is why I'd ask the question. I'd be more inclined to research a viable supplement which might help the specific condition rather than chuck a "balancer" at the problem and see what happens.

I decided NOT to go the inhaler route for mine. Yes had discussed the laminitis risk (yes it IS slight, but having lost one to lammi I don't ever want to increase any chance of the condition developing again, however "slight" the risk). I researched Salt Therapy and now she has her monthly treatment of that. Coupled with a viable exercise regime; I have a friend who has been a high-level endurance rider and she had one with asthma; her experience and counsel has been invaluable, and she advises that it is vital to keep the horse at the correct weight - obesity being really unhelpful for asthmatic horses (as it is in humans with the condition). I have kept my girly in exercise and that has been a noticeable helpful thing in managing her condition. Coughing is actually a positive sign as this is demonstrating the horse is getting rid of the gunk; a lot of people worry and stop or reduce the exercise when the horse is coughing - but nope, this isn't the right thing to do (this was vets advice as well - they need to be kept moving). Mare is also out as much as possible, on a Track system, and is fed damped/soaked hay.

I am not an expert on managing the condition, but wanted to try the natural remedies first. Hopefully we are on top of things. Hope my experience helps.

 

[SEL]

Like @MiJodsR2BlinkinTite mentions fitness once you're over the acute stage is really key. My vet said to try and get the microcob as fit as possible before she starts to struggle with the pollen in the spring so her lungs are working well as they can be. Summer with the hard ground was a PITA because walking everywhere isn't great for lung capacity and they need to canter and have a good blow and cough.

I don't push her on if she doesn't want to, but she knows our canter tracks and if she's feeling well then she's more than happy for zoomies

 

[Dexter]

I didn't say just hay.
I'd prefer to feed a powdered balancer without the rubbish added so I will do that.

yes you did

She is 17. Yes, I don't really understand why I need to put her on a feed balancer. I don't particularly like the ingredients and I've always believed that you don't need one providing the forage is enough!

 

[GrassChop]

yes you did

I didn't say forage as in solely hay.

 

[ycbm]

Forage in the UK is unbalanced with far too much iron, which stops the uptake of other minerals. I don't understand why people are confused. An older horse with an illness dragging it down is going to benefit from something like that. I've seen mudfever be eradicated by the addition of a good balancer.

Not all forage has too much iron, though it is pretty normal in the UK. To counter that you need copper, and then zinc in a 3 to 1 ratio to balance the copper. You do not need a full spectrum balancer. Mud fever can generally be resolved with copper and zinc, which strengthens the skin, ime.

In addition, most full spectrum balancers contain added iron, too little copper and zinc, and often other fillers that horses don't need.

If the OP needs to balance out iron and not buy copper and zinc alone, then she should buy one of the very, very few balancers that have enough copper and zinc.

IMO if she doesn't have foot/coat quality issues then it is difficult to see why the vet wants her to use any kind of balancer, especially without knowing what is supposed to be being "balanced".
.

 

[Gloi]

The best way my friend found to manage her pony with asthma and a couple of his friends was to keep a field to graze as foggage añd strip graze it. They got through most of the winter without extra and then got haylage if needed.

 

[Fruitcake]

The best way my friend found to manage her pony with asthma and a couple of his friends was to keep a field to graze as foggage añd strip graze it. They got through most of the winter without extra and then got haylage if needed.

Yes, I did that until the ergot issue last autumn. I now top the spare field before it seeds and still strip graze it as shorter grass which means I don’t have to soak loads of hay. It does help.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Had a pretty horrendous vet appointment today following my horse having a cough for 4 weeks.

Initially it was a dry cough which only appeared for short periods if she had been trotting/galloping around and then one night it ended up with an emergency call out as it sounded like choke and she was struggling to breath. It has been process of elimination since as per the vets advice like soaking the hay and then feeding it outside before moving forwards and it did ease off with anti inflammatory injections administered on that visit. Then a few days a go, it came back badly again and an endoscope was booked.

This year I've been feeding hay from a shelter with a gate on so the horses can just lean in and have as much as they need from the front. This is the only difference and the hay has been in there around 3 months, they have been eating it the whole time and it's pushed forwards daily.

The appointment was awful, they confirmed the larynx was fine and nothing was stuck but it went terribly trying to extract anything from the lungs as the coughing was so severe that they didn't manage to obtain any fluid to send off for testing.

The vet came to the conclusion that since the anti inflammatories worked the first time and there's no other signs of a virus, she diagnosed it as asthma.

I know this is really long so thank you for getting this far. I just need to get my thoughts written down to process everything. There has never been a problem with the hay or management, she lives out and no one else is coughing. The vet has given us a course of steroids to treat and wants me to get a nebuliser to do 20 minutes a day thereafter for the foreseeable but my thoughts are on the fact that she has always been fine until now and it was only where I was feeding hay from that changed so in my mind I'm wondering if after treatment, providing all is okay, do I need to change anything apart from eliminating the hay shelter? Do I need a nebuliser? Is it asthma or a one off chest infection type thing?

The vet says to change to haylage and put her on a balancer as well which isn't a problem but it's taken a good amount of time to get her diet right and I'm sort of reluctant to do this but I will if it is absolutely necessary.

Thoughts are very welcome. Thank you.

I have 1 with Asthma now and one with EAD.

I gave up on steaming hay and soaking hay.

I use haylage
Vapor stable spray
airways plus powderf from gloabal herbs
liquid airways from Equine American before I ride her when its bad.


Hacking she wears a nose net.

also have a nebuliser left over from my first ID mare https://eramask.com/

but bought this too https://www.amazon.co.uk/AeroChambe...B07Q4WSNSC&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_16_i

 

[eahotson]

Very quickly, cardboard can be one of the best beddings for horses like this if they have to come in to a stable.

 

[Goldenstar]

The stickiness of haylege means the spores are stick to the stalks and are ingested and spores are not dehydrated as in hay it’s much the best choice for asthmatic horses .
Soaking dampens dust but it’s not so good on the spores .