Aleira respiratory supplement— anyone used it?

[Sticky_Situation]

My horse has some respiratory allergies and the vet recommended putting him on Aleira. Has anyone here used it? If so, did it seem to help your horse?

It’s expensive and has an odd smell to it so my horse hasn’t been too keen on eating it so far …but if it really seems to be beneficial it may be worth the price and hassle of trying to get him to eat it! Thoughts?

[Sticky_Situation]

Nobody at all???

Ok, what about SmartBreathe … anyone tried that?

[AKB]

I would want to see some quality research with large numbers of horses in a blinded study before I would spend $169 on a container of Aleira.

[going_gray]

Sticky Situation, I am in the same boat as you, in regards to having a horse with respiratory problems. I was hoping to see some posts on your thread with comments from people who have used Aleira. I think that its cost has put people off from buying it. I know that I don’t want to spend $170 for a small supply.

I was just getting ready to send you the research information on this supplement used by Purdue University in their study of 35 horses with either IAD or RAO. There was an article published in Practical Horseman magazine written by Elaine Pascoe (Nov., 2015) which really gives a succinct view of what they did and the results which were impressive.

I have a mare who fits the RAO description and have used just about everything on the market for horses with respiratory problems. My mare has a cough from July through October; it piddles out in November. She has no coughing during the winter where she is enclosed from our horrible Michigan winters, fed hay not hosed down or soaked, and given no supplements for coughs. No coughing at all during this time period. My vet says she has allergies.

Two years ago I treated this mare with dex in the summer and it resolved the coughing; however, she ended up with laminitis a few months later. The vet says she can’t have it again.

I am an inveterate Google surfer and last year I came across the abstract for this study. I thought I had found a solution to my mare’s coughing challenges. DHA is found in algae so I bought Smartpak’s spirolina pellets which are easy to give and, with the help of a little applesauce, my mare ate it mixed with her oats. The comments section for this Smartpak product was really interesting, as many ​​​​​​people had found it very helpful in reducing their horses’ coughing as well as skin conditions such as hives.

I started my mare on the pellets in May, continuing through June. She started coughing in July but a lot less than the previous summer so I believe it gave some help. Spirolina has been shown to help horses (strengthen their autoimmune system) not only with respiratory problems but with reactions to insect bites too.

Last summer my mare had some pretty aggressive insect attacks on her belly (around her belly button area and forward on her sternum area). I used a lot of Swat and fly spray but she ended up with edema and swelling on the sternum area. I got some antibiotic powder from my vet which helped it get back to normal.

A month later we found a thumb sized protrusion near this area where the edema occurred. Had vet out to look at it and he said to treat it with cortisone cream from drugstore. We did that all winter and it was there this spring when he came out to give vaccinations. He told me it could be a reaction to the trauma to that area of skin where the edema occurred.

Well, that bump is gone now and my mare’s belly is absolutely beautiful this summer. She has not had any reactions to those horrible no see ums. The only thing changed from over the winter was the addition of the spirolina pellets back in May so I believe that the spirolina helped big time.

A month ago I decided to switch to Lung EQ which I bought from Stateline Tack. Lung Eq contains a Chinese herb called jiaogulan which is a bronchodilator. Lung Eq also contains spirolina, flax seeds (more Omega threes), MSM, and vitamin c. All good stuff!

I have added a cough syrup called Buckley’s Zev, ordered from Dominion Vet Supply (Canadian company) which smells and tastes like Robitussin for people. She gets that twice a day. It has helped too. This is the best she’s done coughing wise for many summers!

Please keep us (me, please) informed as to how the Aleira works for you. It’s so expensive that for now I will stick with the Lung Eq. For what it’s worth, Smartbreathe did nothing for my mare. Trihist did not help, Coughfree did not help, Zyrtec did not help, and Anihist did not help. (As well as a whole lot of other stuff!) So, after reading the abstract on the Purdue study, I went crazy for spirolina. It’s helped the most.

Good luck! I hope your results are positive and that it helps your horse a lot! Thanks for your thread too. I know how hard it is to find answers.

[bulldog]

This the preferred product my Vet has me order for my mare. over the last year she has been coughing and this summer heaving with the heat. Dexamethasone and ventapulmin quickly improve her breathing and coughing. We are also doing a course of antibiotics in case a bacterial infection has developed. Inside during heat of summer with a short turn out in early morning. It’s cooling off now so she’s out over night and in from 1000 to 1800. We used Smart Pak version and now they have an upgraded version not sure to what degree it helps but it seems to help. The way we get her to eat it is with apple sauce. she is used to it now. looks like here in Florida I may have to give it to her most of the year. Amazon has it for $295 + shipping. = $303. Hope this helped.