Injected Steroids and COPD

[Gorgeous George]

Poor George's COPD seems to have got worse this week, he was doing well on the steroid inhalers and they were controlling his symptoms well, although they weren't doing such a good job of controlling the mucus in his trachea or the number of inflammatory cells

Unfortunately this week for whatever reason he has started coughing again and producing large blobs of snot (sorry!). I had a long chat with my vet on the phone today and he his now concerned about him going backwards and ending back at square one or worse

Thankfully George is generally fine in himself, perky, but this is obviously not right. The problem is that the vet now wants to try him on injected steroids (dexamethasone?) and he will have to have an injection every 2 days for 2 weeks. I am really worried about the side effects and possible risk of laminitis, although when I was talking to the vet he said the dose would be as low as possible and he'd never encountered a horse getting laminitis and if it was his horse he wouldn't hesitate - so I was quite reassured. I should also say that I really trust my vet but...........

But reading people's experiences on here seem to paint a different picture, and I am rather worried to say the least.

I don't know if it makes George any less prone, but he is a 16.3 shire x, he isn't overweight, he has soaked hay at night and due to flooding he is currently out during the day in an old sand school with haylage to eat. His feed is just hi-fi lite and a lo-cal balancer.

I guess I would like to hear other people's experiences - but try not to scare me too much!

Thanks

 

[missmischief]

My 15hh welsh cob mare has to have steroids in her hocks due to Bone spavin. She needs them now and I too worry about lamanitis. However she had them this time last year and like your vet, mine said he would give her as little as poss and shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't!!! My mare is a little overweight as because of her hocks, I cannot work her enough, but I trust my vet and as last year was ok, am hopin this year will be the same. Don't worry too much, just keep an eye on things and everyting will be good. Good luck.

 

[whiteclover]

I had a horse that was on steroids and wasnt told about the risk of laminitis. She was on a lot of grass but it did make her spooky and it didnt work for her. She was on powdered steroids.