Horse asthma - do they need inhaler treatment?

[MagicMelon]

Vet came out to horse last Friday - horse was badly tied up but horse had also had a cough for the past couple weeks prior (coughed when first started exercise then not again - generally I find many horses do that at this time of year). Vet dealt with the tying up, but he also diagnosed asthma by listening to her lungs. He said she had heave lines too (although to be honest, she was so tied up I feel all her muscles were sore so could have been that!). He gave her steroid injection and recommended 20 day course of Aservo EquiHaler (not cheap). Ive been getting her used to accepting the equihaler then was going to order medication today, however Ive noticed she hasnt been coughing basically since he left. Obviously I will treat her if it she genuinely needs it but its a lot of money if she would get better naturally on her own? The vet can be a bit dramatic and quick to suggest pricey things. I'm looking at giving her a supplement to help like Ventilate which someone on here suggested.

She lives out 24/7 already so only change I can make is soaking hay which Im now doing and will do so moving forward. She was sticking her head in a big round bale of hay frequently so although good quality hay, I imagine this is what triggered the asthma. This is not happening anymore. Im waiting for the vet to call me back later on today to discuss this but opinions/experiences please?

 

[Gloi]

The steroid injection will have settled the reaction. If you now always soak the hay and make sure she has a dust free environment she may not need drugs but it depends on her and how bad she is. Discuss it with the vet.

 

[NinjaPony]

Honestly? You don’t want to mess around with asthma. If the lungs are inflamed and not treated, it will result in scarring which is permanent. A one off steroid injection will stop the immediate cough but you want to get the inflammation down as much as possible, hence the inhaler. The equihaler is much more effective than just the human ones, as it gets the steroid into the lungs rather than puffing it into the air.

I lost my horse because his lungs were badly scarred and essentially stopped functioning properly, so that probably explains why I take this view, but I would continue to follow your vets advice. Hopefully this treatment means you can halt any further damage and then prevent a flare up in future with careful management.

 

[fidleyspromise]

My horse was scoped to diagnose the asthma/COPD. (I believe they're the same thing called different names).
I was given a course of steroids and ventipulmin for her when she was first poorly. She's not needed anything since but her hay is soaked (except when she breaks the fence all proud of herself standing at another horses bale).

If my vet recommended an inhaler I'd have gone for it. As said we've no idea what the insides look like.

 

[HorseyTee]

My welshie has copd, but doesn't need any medication for it currently.
He lives out, when stabled he will cough more, and I had to soak his hay. The cold and high pollen also sets him off a bit, but the vet hasn't advised an inhaler yet.

 

[Dexter]

Coughing the way you describe can be a symptom of type 2 PSSM as can tying up, so that's another avenue to investigate if you haven't already.

 

[My equine life]

Did your vet suggest ventapulmin that’s what my horse with asthmas gets but only when she’s wheezy, hers is quite related to pollen so only feed as she needs it. Then just make sure hats soaked etc and dust free shavings if she comes in. Don’t keep her too close to muck heap etc.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

Ventipulmin did absolutely nothing for my asthmatic - however nebulised steroids through the flexineb worked almost immediately

 

[Esmae]

My horse was highly allergic to ventipulmin. I had inhaler for him instead which I did with a human nebuliser thingy and held my hand over his other nostril. It worked fine and he was good afterwards.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I have currently one with Equine airways disease and one with asthma.

My big mare currently is breathing hard and just started ventapulmin again, her energy goes and breathing hard.