help with RAO please!

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budley95

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I really would appreciate some advice as I dont know what im doing wrong at the moment! Bud was diagnosed with Allergic airways disease/summer pasture related RAO in early june via a scope and tracheal wash. He's been on inhalers once we got it under control with ventipulmin and steroids and an injection to help. Everythings been fine since. He came in of a day and out of a night in the summer and has been coming in of a night since the end of september. Hes bedded on paper, his stable is disinfected every 4 weeks and cobwebs are kept out, I spray diluted jeyes fluid over urine patches and fully muck out daily and leave his bed up whilst hes out. Hes only groomed outside, his face gets sponged and never brushed and hes fed soaked hay. What am I doing wrong?! He had a nasty attack wednesday where his respiration went to 28 and he couldnt stop coughing. I called my vet who helped me get it under control with inhalers by phone. Then yesterday his resp was 22 and again I got it under control and rang my vets. Im about to go up to him and I left him out last night to try and help and vet wants me to call her again today as it may be ventipulmin and systemic medication again. Any ideas on what else I can do? Hes still on salbutamol and clenil modulate inhalers (10 puffs of each twice daily at the moment and ive not worked him, he'll have a week off at least to recouperate)
 
I feel for you and your boy, you must be worried. It sounds like you're already putting a lot of effort into preventative measures, the only thing I can think of is maybe trying him living out 24/7 ( if that's an option)
 
YM is allowing me to try it for a few days and then ill swap with a field livery if it works and swap back over the summer as its supposed to be pollen hes allergic to :-(
 
One of my horses couldn't cope with soaked hay, a change to hayage made so much difference, he now lives out 24/7 and can manage on hay when not getting much but as soon as he needs more to keep his weight on I will only give haylage, his breathing has been good for years now whereas at one time he required ventipulmin regularly.
 
oh yes, good point about the haylage. My mare has (very) mild RAO and only eats haylage. She suffers at harvest time and pollen time but not badly at all in comparison to your boy. This time of year it's a lot better even though she's stabled at night (on straw) though the cold mornings can leave her a bit out of breath on exertion (say if we canter up a big hill or something) so I avoid doing stuff like that with her when it's very cold.
 
budley95 said:
I really would appreciate some advice as I dont know what im doing wrong at the moment! Bud was diagnosed with Allergic airways disease/summer pasture related RAO in early june via a scope and tracheal wash. He's been on inhalers once we got it under control with ventipulmin and steroids and an injection to help. Everythings been fine since. He came in of a day and out of a night in the summer and has been coming in of a night since the end of september. Hes bedded on paper, his stable is disinfected every 4 weeks and cobwebs are kept out, I spray diluted jeyes fluid over urine patches and fully muck out daily and leave his bed up whilst hes out. Hes only groomed outside, his face gets sponged and never brushed and hes fed soaked hay. What am I doing wrong?! He had a nasty attack wednesday where his respiration went to 28 and he couldnt stop coughing. I called my vet who helped me get it under control with inhalers by phone. Then yesterday his resp was 22 and again I got it under control and rang my vets. Im about to go up to him and I left him out last night to try and help and vet wants me to call her again today as it may be ventipulmin and systemic medication again. Any ideas on what else I can do? Hes still on salbutamol and clenil modulate inhalers (10 puffs of each twice daily at the moment and ive not worked him, he'll have a week off at least to recouperate)
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I've got an oldie (out on loan) with RAO and EMS.....the only thing I will say 200% is turn him out 24/7. My boy went from being competition pony competing at unaffiliated eventing at 18 with no problems....I sold him to a friend, a year later I bought him back and he was a mess with RAO....

He could NOT tolerate steamed or soaked HAY, he had to have haylage and it was the ONLY thing that made a huge difference, I dont know why the hay soaked was well and truly soaked but something in the hay kicked his RAO off hugely.

We could not and still cannot keep him in during bad weather, dustless shavings or not, he suffers and begins heaving. He is still in work now in his early 20's. The lady who has him on loan does serious amount of hacking to keep his EMS weight at bay.

He has various potions for his breathing in his feed these days which seems to assist him.

We went through the ventapulim and various inhalers for ages....it is a nightmare and I really feel for you. The only way you will see drastic improvement is to turnout 24/7, haylage and avoid being indoors/dry/dusty schools etc. It is a fast transformation for some though and definitely worth moving yards for if you cannot have turnout.

My boy is much happier these days and rarely suffers from coughing fits.
 
He is out at the moment (well was last night and again tonight) but he wasnt masses better. Erm any other alternative to haylage as my old boy gets hives when he has it :-(
 
My boy's ROA was much milder than yours sounds, but it improved hugely after I put him on a ForagePlus supplement (because I took him barefoot). There have been other reports of this, possibly due to copper / zinc deficiency having an affect on the immune system function. Its obviously a long term thing (takes a few months for a difference) so won't help you with your immediate issues, but might be worth a try as well as other changes. I tried specific respiratory supplements when I first got him and they made no difference at all, but this definately seems to have helped.

I had a lot of success with the pre-wrapped high fibre haylage, first Horsehage High Fibre and then a Devon Haylage one. My horse also gets hives on normal haylage. Of course the problem with the pre-wrapped ones is price, I only use to use them as a temporary measure for a week or so if I noticed any ROA symptoms, and as a backup option as I had to soak his hay for at least an hour and sometimes there was a temptation to cut that short (e.g. if yard had to bring him in for some reason) so I would have a bag of Horsehage available to use in those circumstances.
 
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