RAO/COPD Breathing Issues - Flu Jab?

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thezulu

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Some inspirations please. My six year old mare suddenly started coughing about 6 weeks ago whilst being ridden. Two weeks later I called the vet and he said she had a very increased respiratory rate and put on Ventapulmin. To no effect... she has no mucus (that can be seen) we then scoped and found no bacteria or virus. Only increased white blood cells in the lungs which indicate inflammation. She has been on Prednisolone for 2 weeks now and Sputolosin for a week and she seemed to be getting better. But I have returned from Badminton and she seems worse again and very slow and low in herself (which is very unusual) and looks to be really struggling to breath. We have maybe a week left of the steroids.

The reason I am asking for inspiration, is that every thing they say do in these situations is how she has lived for the last 3 years. She lives out 23 hours a day and has steamed hay fed from the ground. It came on so suddenly and the only change in routine was she had the flu jab 5 days before. This could be pure coincidence?? and it could obviously be an allergy to something as it came on at start of spring??

I feel very helpless and am aware the longer this goes on... potentially the more damage to her lungs is done. She is hopefully to event and we have been through so much with a navicular diagnosis a couple of years ago (now completely cured with barefoot rehab). As a preference I always aim for a more holistic approach trying to find the cause and not just treat the symptoms.

Ideas please?
 
It could well be a reaction to having the flu jab, it certainly fits in the time frame, the only suggestion I can make is that in my experience some horses with compromised airways are helped by having haylage rather than hay, one of mine could not tolerate hay in any form during an episode and improved immediately he went onto haylage, it would be worth trying as her management should be ideal in every other way.
 
I would say it's probably a coincidence (but obviously not ruling out), I am watching this thread with interest as I have a 5.5yr old wee one who has had the same issues, he started with a cough a few weeks ago and no mucus and is having difficulties breathing, we are currently on antibiotics as vet thinks may be bacterial infection but he's not really improving. We've had him since 5 months old and absolutely no change in his environment and his stable companions (two wee ones) and none of the other horses have any issues.

I'm really hoping you see some improvement with your mare as you seem further down treatment than us at this stage but it is worrying.

I'm wondering if anyone else has a horse with similar current issues? (Sorry for semi-hijacking your thread). x
 
Hijack away :-)
I have considered haylage, but tricky time of the year to get it especially low sugar for barefoot horse type. I also have 3 other horses (all retired). They are all good doers as is she and as they are fed as a herd outside, a little loth to put all on haylage. But will try as a last resort.
 
thezulu said:
Some inspirations please. My six year old mare suddenly started coughing about 6 weeks ago whilst being ridden. Two weeks later I called the vet and he said she had a very increased respiratory rate and put on Ventapulmin. To no effect... she has no mucus (that can be seen) we then scoped and found no bacteria or virus. Only increased white blood cells in the lungs which indicate inflammation. She has been on Prednisolone for 2 weeks now and Sputolosin for a week and she seemed to be getting better. But I have returned from Badminton and she seems worse again and very slow and low in herself (which is very unusual) and looks to be really struggling to breath. We have maybe a week left of the steroids.

The reason I am asking for inspiration, is that every thing they say do in these situations is how she has lived for the last 3 years. She lives out 23 hours a day and has steamed hay fed from the ground. It came on so suddenly and the only change in routine was she had the flu jab 5 days before. This could be pure coincidence?? and it could obviously be an allergy to something as it came on at start of spring??

I feel very helpless and am aware the longer this goes on... potentially the more damage to her lungs is done. She is hopefully to event and we have been through so much with a navicular diagnosis a couple of years ago (now completely cured with barefoot rehab). As a preference I always aim for a more holistic approach trying to find the cause and not just treat the symptoms.

Ideas please?
Click to expand...

Hi, I do feel for you - we have been managing respiratory issues for 2 years now - ours started in Spring 2014 with cough & we went on steroids, vent, & sput, which cleared up. We have been doing dust management since as she is at livery with access to outdoor yard when stabled. However, I find it so frustrating to gage how she is as other than the cough 2 years ago, the only symptoms now are increased respiratory rate which is very difficult to gage when taking into account all the other factors of fitness, heat, pollen, etc. Our pony had been fine up until end of March, then had her flu jab & we could tell was struggling as its like having to push her all the time. However, this also coincided with some warmer weather & the flowering of the rape crop in the field next door. So again it was hard to definitely say if it was the flu jab or other factors. That said I have had enough of second guessing what was going on & we hadn't had her scoped since the original episode 2 years ago - insurance long gone! So I took her to be scoped - they now do a deeper lung test which in her case came back normal & the tracheal wash was 12% white blood cells compared to 65% 2 years ago. So for now the vet hasn't prescribed any medication but we are going to monitor her as like with human asthma it worsens with hot weather & strenuous exertions, & possibly use an inhaler this time which we can use as & when required. For the past 18 months we have been using Science Supplement Respiraid together with Protoxin to aid its digestion. I am sceptical about supplements but you have to try & keep them off the meds & this was recommended by our highly thought of instructor. We are going to put her on haylage instead of soaked hay just to try everything possible which is really all you can do as well as keeping them as fit as possible.
 
It's a difficult issue to get to the bottom of, problem we have is that our wee man is only 30 inches tall so we can't swop him onto haylage as just too rich for him and as he shares his stable with two other wee ones (one who has had lami a few years back) we couldn't risk it. One worrying thing is that his inhalation and exhalation is in two stages and you can clearly see the movement, I worry how much damage has been done to his lungs. Thankfully he is just a pet and isn't ridden so I feel for anyone who has a ridden horse with these issues. We've had no crops of oil seed rape this year and our wee man has just had his annual booster a few days ago so his particular issue hasn't been caused by his vaccine.
 
Watching this one with interest. My mare started coughing three weeks ago after flu jab but we also have a lot of rape crops on our hacking route . Kept her out and started soaking hay etc but yoday vet Started her on Ventapulin.
 
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