Inhalers for horse advice

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AngelaP

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13 June 2011
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Well today’s the day, my vet is coming to put my mare on an inhaler. We are still having pollen allergy like systems, coughing and occasional runny nose. She should of come on Monday to scope her then realised I didn’t have an electricity supply on the yard! So they have decided to opt for an inhaler instead. Can’t say I am best pleased if I’m honest but I’m willing to try anything to make her better can’t stand by and watch her suffering any longer, even though I think I suffering from over anxious mum syndrome as the vet doesn’t seem to be too concerned. I was going to pick some pollenex or human anti-histamines up at the weekend but friends are all saying oh just wait to see what the vet thinks etc etc, even my local feed merchant thinks I should hang fire.
Have any of you horse owners ever had any experiences with their own four legged friends and inhalers?
 
Hi, my 16hh horse has an undiagnosed allergy that lasts from May-Sept. He has been scoped but nothing was daignosed. This allergy also makes him bloated and very windy. The wheezing is hideous to listen to. He is now on steroid inhalers and ventolin. I use a volumizer and also have a nebuliser. As horses dont mouth breathe, whatever you cover their nose with they have to inhale luckily! The volumiser requires you cover one nostril with the inhaler and time the doses to his breathing. My vet asked me to cover the other nostril as well, all bit difficult when I am only 5ft 1" and he raises his head. The nebuliser is a scary looking bit of kit, but I think delivers the medication more effectively. It will take you several goes to get him used to it as it covers mouth and nose and of course they panic like mad to begin with. You can tie it round their head, but we never do, so that if he does have a panic, we can get it off easily. The inhalers have helped, but he still has underlying wheezing and can be very excercise intolerant some days. My insurance will not cover the cost of inhalers anymore and I am paying £40 for steroid inhalers. Good luck, Ribby
 
Hi Ribby. If you do a search on my posts, I've put tons of info on here because my veteran has a severe pollen allergy. Sort of been there, done it with various options for helping breathing. It's relatively easy to use a baby inhaler for horses - horse inhaler which covers the whole muzzle area is about £250, baby inhaler £15 from Boots. Put the headcollar on, boing neds head until it's at the sort of level you would ask him to be polite about for headcollar putting-on, then stand on the end of the lead rope to stop his head shooting up. Practice practice practice if he's not impressed with this. Once he's ok about it, load the relevent puffer into the inhaler, press inhaler firmly over 1 nostril. Put your free hand firmly over the other nostril and puff the puffer however many times you need to. You should see a fine mist fill the inhaler. DO NOT move your other hand OR the inhaler until the horse has taken a big breath and all the mist has vanished up his nose. Good luck.
 
Hey the yard I used to work in had a sj with bad dust allergies. And he is a loveable beast but a severely spooky horse. We got a nebuliser with ventolin to use on him. He was a little unsure of the actual machine rather then the rubbery 'nose bucket' but after afew days it actualy started to relax him and he quite enjoyed it and went all the better for it!
 
Hi all thank you for your replies; well my vet arrived with a baby unit and inhaler. I looked at it and thought oh she’s going love this! She only turned four in March so she’s still only a baby really (yep and very wrapped up in cotton wool lol).
Well I don’t know why I worried she pulled me over to the vet to have a good nose at this new thing - food? And stood beautifully while she had her quota of puffs, never batted an eyelid, bless her. Thought I would be up for fun and games at 6am this morning though when I was on my own, nope my little princess was a total gem, she never ceases to amaze me. Hopefully now we will start to see some improvement, I have to say her nostrils where clearer this morning than they have been in a couple of weeks.
 
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