pollen allergy/ testing

kethief

kethief

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my mare has breathing problems that my vet is currently treating with ventapulmin, unfortunatley this is her third week on it and i dont feel as its helping, she is ok one day then when i get my hopes up she is really bad the next, she seems worse if its hot and sunny. she is currently insured so im hoping at some point i can see if she can have an allergy test but unsure if the insurance will cover this, does anyone know how much this would cost if i had to pay for it myself?

Thanks
 
Thanks

Did you feel it was worth having the tests? Iv read pretty positive things from horse owners but find the vets reluctant to persue having allergy tests done.
Im not sure what other way i can go with my mare and dont want to try steroids as she is a section d type and i think the risks ov lami are to great and at 17 i dont want to take the risk.
 
I've had similar problems with my girl lately- for about a month she'd have a couple of days of coughing and/or being very lethargic, and then she'd seem fine for a couple of days... then worse again.

Vet prescribed ventipulmin and sputolosin for a week which made no difference at all, and then said they wanted her in for test for Recurrent Airway Obstruction (or COPD to oldies like me!!) and to see if she was showing signs of allergy.

She went in last Tuesday and had an endoscopy, bronchial lavage, tracheal lavage and all the associated lab tests, which showed she had a persistent and deep bacterial chest infection, and no evidence of allergy reaction. She's now on her second week of antibiotics, but no real improvement yet. :-( Vet wants her back in next week if no better.

The tests at the Vet hospital cost around £375, although the total bill so far for the initial visit, initial medication, tests at the horsepital and two lots of anti biotics is £527.

I'm still waiting on the insurance decision- they SHOULD pay, but are quibbling because she had a viral infection last year- vet says it's not related, so I have my fingers crossed that they'll cough up!

Has your mare had a blood test for a virus and/or lavage to test for bacterial infection? Last year's viral infection took Dolly weeks to get over, and this time both the vet and myself were convinced it was COPD and it turns out to be a bacterial infection, so it's definitely worth ruling infections out first.

Good luck!
 
cheers, i have got to phone the vet on friday so il see what he thinks we can do next. She has not had any tests done yet so i think its time to take things further as im also worried because she has never coughed but since being on ventapulmin she has!
 
Take care with the skin testing for allergies hun. My vets advise there can be false positives and false negatives. The next stage of the skin testing is further skin testing to determine the lowest level of the identified allergens that provoke a response in the horse's body. The final step is to produce a "personal serum" that is then injected into the horse in massive doses initially, dropping over time to only when necessary. But, again, my vets tell me the whole treatment costs just shy of £1,000 and there are NO guarantees that it will work.

Some horses need very high doses of Ventipulmin and can develop a resistance to it. The problem is that Ventipulmin and Sputolosin only address the symptoms of eg hay or pollen allergies, not the underlying cause. The more you can do to manage the underlying cause, the better. Easier said than done, believe me, I know! Good luck x
 
I think half of me thinks its possibly kinder to retire her ( she is seventeen ) she doesnt suffer too badly in the feild as she is a quiet mare and not the sort who gallops about. Its my own selfish reasons ov wanting to ride her throughout the summer and knowing she loves to hack about. Its early days but the heat is not helping and she lives out so not able to stable her in the day, but i am gonna try some herbal suppliments. I think gold label do a pollen supp that has been tested near rape seed feilds.
I will see what my vet thinks about the allergy testing as at the moment im willing to try anything.

Thank you x
 
I had a 'headshaker' pony allergy tested (blood testing) - via my vet but the results came back from York laboratories. He had allergies to grass and tree pollen, and also soya. We started on the monthly jabs but I did this for 2 years and didn't see any improvement. He was insured with NFU and they didn't quibble paying (the test was about £200 and the year's jabs came to around £400) and I worked it so that I reordered more serum before the first 12 months were up, but they wouldn't pay for another year' treatment. I don't think they did anything to help my pony at all. (I also had another pony done at the same time and she had different allergies, and again didn't respond to jabs over a 2 yr period).

One thing to note is that although it is 'allergy' testing, real full blown allergies are very rare - the results bring up 'sensitivities' too - and ours were listed from very minor to considerable importance, so when we say 'my pony is allergic to...' it could just be a sensitivity and not necessarily something that needs jabs, for example one pony was 'allergic to hazel' but in fact it was low level sensitivity, and she just got small pimples on her muzzle if it ate the hazel in the hedge, so we fenced off the hedge and that was solved. Sometimes just a practical change can be as effective as meds.

As for the headshaker, his allergies are controlled with antihistamines now.


With regard to breathing issues - I have no experience of these, sorry.
 
Id be more inclined toput her on preds and get her over it. It can be quite miserable for them to deal with the inflammation in their airways - and inflamed airways are very susceptible to infection. Preds have a very low risk of laminitis - the injections are much more likely to cause laminitis. You kind of have to way up cost/benefit - but IMO a 10day-2wk course (in straight forward cases) is worth doing. Any luck and pony wont need to be maintained on them.
 
Mine were blood tests and showed strong allergies to most food stuffs (wheat,maize,rye,barley etc) now all withdrawn from diet all his lumps and bumps have gone.
I think it won't work for all but if they show up high reactions to things there is a strong chance if they can be withdrawn.

I also agree about preds (prednisilone tablets) we used these initially to control the lumps and bumps which were very bad while we withdrew the feed stuffs.
 
thanks for all the advice,

I spoke to the vet on friday and he said he could refer her to liverpool, but in the meantime he would see about taking bloods and see if we could get anything from them, iv always hoped we could try the allergy testing but liverpool is a long way from me and the thought of her going scares the life out ov me lol.
Im a paronoid mom! and id be a wreck without her. it bugs me cus she looks so fit and healthy and you wouldnt realise she had a prob with her breathing unless you rode her.
 
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