Ventipulmin

[Fionafaye]

Went out to the stables yesterday morning to find Lady wheezing badly. My stables can be quite dusty and she is prone to COPD so I thought turning her out into the fresh air would help her(usually she clears up and is fine within an hour or 2) , however there was no improvement. I called the vet out at about 11 and in typical vet style, she didnt turn up until 12.20. She took her temperature and listened to her heart and breathing and said it was an allergic reaction to the mould spores in the hay. She said I now have to soak all of the horses hay and prescribed Ventipulmin Granuals and Duphatrim granuals. When out this morning and there was no change at all and even now there is only a slight improvement. Has anyone used Ventipulmin? Does it take a few days to work?

 

[Cazza525]

It can take a little while to work. What bedding are you using? Are you stabled in a barn or outside stable,ie.well ventilated. To be perfectly honest COPD,or the old fashioned term of 'broken winded' ponies/horses thrive much better out. Is this available to you? Perhaps with a field shelter and if no grass then put dampened hay out. It really is the best thing for the ones that suffer badly. In fact they only need to be brought in during the heat.....as this affects their breathing too and need to keep cool where possible.

I have had a couple of old ponies over the years with chronic COPD and found that the outdoors life suited well....and allowed me to take them off meds altogether.

 

[Minxie]

Yeah I've used it for years for the same reasons your horse has been prescribed. I've always find it pretty effective although hasn't broken the back of Tubs cough at all this year but I think its cause they have been getting ssssooo much hay and its particularly dusty (both mum and I have been coughing when handling it).

If you soak your hay and give Ventipulmin for a while you'll probably find it will clear up no probs. The vent will be to help speed up the process and help support the lungs until the benefits of soaking the hay kicks in.

 

[Chunkie]

As with Cazza525, I had a gelding who I tried on Ventipulmin, but the only thing that really worked was following the vets advice and turning him out for the rest of his life.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

The problem with horses that have RAO/COPD is that most drugs only ever treat the symptoms, rather than addressing the underlying issue which is (in your case) allergy to the spores in hay. Ventipulmin works by relaxing the airways in the chest, so if your horse is having a bad attack, it may either take a while to have an effect or the lungs may be struggling do much that it may have very little effect.

Be aware that RAO/COPD damages the horse's lungs and the more attacks the hrose has, the more damage is caused. Your aim should be to never let your ned have an attack by managing her environment as much as you can. Letting her have an attack and then doing something about it isn't a good idea for this reason. If your horse is allergic to the spores in hay, you can either soak the hay for at least an hour or you could switch to haylage and see how she goes on that. Haylage doesn't have the spores in it. But if other horse's near your horse are being fed hay, your horse will still be breathing in some spores that float about in the air. In addition, if you've observed reactions from your horse when the stable is dusty, it's highly likely that your horse is ALSO allergic to dust. If so, you need to manage that carefully as well. The best treatment for hay and dust allergic horses is to remove them permanently from hay and dust by 24/7 turnout. This isn't always possible so solutions tend to be a compromise. But I would honestly urge you not to wait until your horse has an attack before doing something about it. You could end up with a very ill horse, unable to breathe properly because a significant % of the lungs will be permanently damaged.