Reassurance needed....

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Mongoose11

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Long story short - horse had COPD attack 18 months ago - quite severe, meds, scoped, recovered - soak hay.

Tonight I have just been up to give supper hay and she started coughing. I removed her supper hay. She is bright in herself but coughed about five times in ten minutes.

Argh. So now I won't sleep. Going back up in an hour or so to check it hasn't compromised her airways.

Anything else you would do. Going to get some haylage in tomorrow!
Cue sleepless night!
 
De dust your stable and for my old lad I used to use a eucalyptus (sp) coated bedding and let him have the menthol licks...really did work if U use a net then tie it by the door more fresh air he's near the better
 
It could just have been a one off cough same as any horse can do for no apparent reason. One where I used to work we found ammonia made it far worse. Not saying I think your stable must be wet & smelly btw! Just that throwing the bed up & hosing the floor daily made a noticeable difference to her cough, & feeding from the floor. Plus if its an indoor barn, whatever bedding & forage is in neighbouring stables will have an effect. And keeping high rafters etc free of dust (the places that normally you wouldn't do weekly, just on a spring clean).
 
LL you may have hit the nail on the head there. I have attempted a deep litter and was getting fed up with it. Started to dig it out a couple of days ago then felt the lovely heat coming out of it and thought oohhh no, I'll leave it until the snow has gone.

What I really want someone to say is - stop being so stupid woman. The mare will still be there kicking her door when you walk onto the yard in the morning!

I think I jusyt worry because of how the last ruddy cough went downhill :(
 
She isn't going to die from it overnight, in fact I'd be more worried about leaving her with no hay. Did you put some in to soak for when you go back, or can you chuck her hay in a bin & pour some boiling water over it for tonight?
 
I'm pretty sure that it was the hay that I gave her but the deep litter might not bebhelping. She didn't cough at all while I saw to the other horses and then I threw in her hay, she munched for five mins or so and then the coughing started so I took most of it away (this hay was steamed earlier by the way, I just wonder of it didn't steam right through as the slices were quite well packed). I soaked her some quickly and left her with that but not a great deal. I figured it would be best to take away the most likely thing to be causing the cough......

If she hadn't have needed such intervention from the vet last time then I wouldn't be panicking. Nothing to say that this will develop like last time but you know how I worry!
 
Maybe it would be worth investing in a proper steamer. While I'm sure the homemade jobs help I doubt they do as good a job as the properly made ones - I've used the Haygain ones & they have spikes that mean the steam penetrates the hay better than steam from a wallpaper stripper shoved in a bin. They aren't cheap, but then neither are vet bills :(
 
And for what it's worth I'd probably worry too. One of mine has a long history of colics & a colic surgery, I nearly go into meltdown if he leaves his hay & haylage.
 
Nari said:
Maybe it would be worth investing in a proper steamer. While I'm sure the homemade jobs help I doubt they do as good a job as the properly made ones - I've used the Haygain ones & they have spikes that mean the steam penetrates the hay better than steam from a wallpaper stripper shoved in a bin. They aren't cheap, but then neither are vet bills :(
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^^^^^ this!

I desperately want one and keep hovering over the website with my credit card!

I even posted about it today saying I shut the website page and went to Wickes and bought myself a new wallpaper steamer for 23 quid. I thought it had worked a treat. Do I really need to spend almost a grand? Or would haylage be a cheaper in the long run alternative?
 
Nari said:
And for what it's worth I'd probably worry too. One of mine has a long history of colics & a colic surgery, I nearly go into meltdown if he leaves his hay & haylage.
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I think this is where my angst actually lies. Although her copd attack was awful it was calmed pretty quickly with a shot of atripine. Breathing eased immediately, very warned this med could cause colic so we watched her for an hour and vet stayed too. Was very happy with her and agreed we could all go home, I went again an hour later, fine and eating. Went back in the morning and she was half dead with colic her bed was all banked up and she was on bare concrete, vet came, buscopan and all the usual. Said in the end we will give her 30 minutes and if she doesn't respond we may have to call it a day......on minute 30 she literally woke up and sprayed the stable with poo. It was awful.
 
I don't know, it depends how much haylage you'd use I suppose, & how much you pay for your that compared to hay.

That sounds dreadful, no wonder you're so worried about her now! I completely understand, and for what it's worth I don't think you're being silly. I hope she's ok in the morning & that it was just something stuck in her throat rather than the start of a problem.

Try not to worry x
 
I second the haygain steamer. Although I have no other experience in any other steamer, DIY or not. Babysit a friends 17 yo ex eventer who has been a different horse since steamed hay and has gone from deaths door to carting her 15 yo daughter round pony club.
Deffo turn horse out as soon as youre able and clear/air out stable asap to minimise ammonia and dust exposure to help.
Hope it works out! Let us know how you get on!
 
FW - I just thought about that myself. Going to go in about half an hour and check to see it hasn't developed and make her a warm bucket of fast fibre :) am now googling haygains again as I am CONVINCED that I MUST buy one, right?
 
Ahhh I see. I have only really heard of people using it for those that can't chew... Can it really be used long term? I think she would just bolt it :(
 
I can't see the FF working as a long term substitute for long fibre, though obviously when teeth have worn away that's a bit different, because it doesn't meet the need to chew or keep them eating for long enough. It would also end up being very expensive, I think haylage or a Haygain would be a cheaper & better alternative.
 
i third the haygain
thought about it for ages and then went for it in december when I saw one, got fed up with rigging things up and spending money on things that didnt quite work. You can pay in 3 installments and get it straight away (or put it on credit card and swap it to another for 0% transfer - not that I'm encouraging overspending though!!) the other thing I told myself (to help me mentally when forking out for it) is that if I didnt want it at any point I'm sure it would be snapped up second hand should I sell it! been using it for a couple of weeks or so now and I love it! :D
 
Gloi said:
Can you not keep her out all the time. Our COPD pony is ten times worse if you put him in a stable.
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To be fair Gloi she has been stabled at night for the last 18 months and this is the only sign of a cough since her first issue which led to a scope etc she hasn't required any treatment since then.

I am going to clear her stable out tomorrow and go from there. I have just been to check on her and there was a slight muttering but nothing that was affecting her breathing, I gave her a big fast fibre feed and she was happy with that. When it turned nasty the original time she had the heaves and everything.

Haygain will be carefully considered and I will worry until I see her big stupid face again in a few hours. Thanks for the help and reassurance guys, helps to talk it through.
 
Hi, I work for Haygain and wanted to let you know about trials of the steamer (small non refundable deposit req). If you are unsure whether to invest, having the steamer for 1 week to try it may be an answer for you. We would be delighted to hear from you if you do decide to give us a call. Either way best of luck with your horse. X
 
Just a had a browse on ebay at the hay steamers as hadn't heard of them and was curious,and is a haygain one on there for £600 BIN.

Could always message them and make a cheeky offer of £500,might go for it to avoid the fees and guarantee a sale etc,never hurts to ask IME;)

Hope your girlie is ok,and was just a clearing her throat cough rather than another episode of anything serious.
 
I used to have a horse with COPD. Mine lived out 24/7 but one day I decided to make him a lovely straw bed in his field shelter, that's when we found out about the COPD!!!!! He did have one further attack when we had a particularly dusty bale of hay, I assumed as it was soaked it wouldn't matter it did. I called the vets and because it was fairly close to his first attack they prescribed ventapulmin (sp?) over the phone and I just went and picked it up and administered as before. I kept a bit back just in case it happened again but after that we managed it well with 24/7 turnout and well soaked hay.
 
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