How long did or has your horse lived after receiving a diagnosis of COPD or heaves? How have you managed it? How successful are your efforts? Have you found any good bagged dust and mold free hays? Have you had success with a hay steamer? Do you treat episodes as they arrive or do you continually soak/steam hay?
Thanks!
I have a 26yo retired mare with COPD/Heaves. SHe was particularly bad this last summer. (Before that it was just a bit of coughing).
My vet put her on an aggressive course of Dex (she has no laminitis history)… enough that it made me sit up and pay attention! She also got Ventipulmin (expensive, but… she is worth it). She also gets Smartbreathe from martPak.
WIth the cooler weather she is now on much less dex only 2-3 times a week.
The Dex is not only an anti-inflamatory, but supresses the immune system to prevent a relapse. I wanted to cut it down more, but vet advised against it, as she is tolerating the dex very well.
I wish there was something else, but… I was told about spirulina by someone just today - I might try it. But frankly, I know what real COPD is (I have a good friend who suffers with it) and somehow I doubt some bluegreen algea will cure it.
I soak her hay (fill at AM feeding, feed at night; fill at night feeding feed in the AM…). I use a blue sterlite tub on a dolly that I can tip to spill out the water.
My first pony had COPD that we were able to manage while still showing competitively. He was never allowed hay, he always ate soaked hay cubes 3x a day with a complete grain and multi-vite. I also have him smartbreathe from smartpak as well as organic iodide powder. He lived outside 24/7 from late spring to early fall and then was stalled over night in the colder months. What was important though was that he had an end stall near a door way that had lots of ventilation.
As for meds I was always stocked with Dex, prednisolone, and ventipulmin. I also did an inhaler for a little bit after a really bad episode. I just treated as needed though.
For the last 3 years I had him he never had single bad episode. He would always cough a time or two when we first started working but that was all. I always made sure to give him lots of walk breaks and make sure not to ride when it was too hot or humid. But I still touch base with his current owners and he has still been healthy on that routine
Our guy was diagnosed with severe COPD 16 years ago. We had him on Dengie and soaked hay cubes, as well as occasional Ventipulmin, for years. Now, he eats good quality orchard grass hay without a problem. Summertime is hard on him. We usually end up giving him a dose of dexamethasone several times each summer. We recently started Smartpak’s Smartbreathe, and I think it helps.
Not me but a friend has had serious issues with her mare. She has done all of the above and I just wanted to note that she reports significant positive results by adding the algae in her treatment regimen. She states it will never be a stand alone form of treatment but both her and the vet we very pleased with results and think it helped get her over the hump and avoid euthanasia.
I have a mare who is “pre-copd,” and only symptomatic in the winter when she is in the barn all night. The only symptom she has is that she coughs once or twice when she first gets turned out, and occasionally when riding, although I ride rarely in the winter. So she goes on clenbuterol for the winter and is symptom free. In the better months of the year, they come in during the day, for just about the same amount of time, but she never coughs and is not medicated.
My mare was diagnosed at age 10 and lived to be 31 (she died of other causes). She was able to be ridden until she was about 19. I did all the usual things to limit her exposure to molds and such. Fall was always her worst time.
As the diseaase progressed she maintained well on Albuterol for many years, then went on Ventipulmin when that became available – eventually the aeromask with Flovent, Albuterol and another (forgot the name). She had Cushing’s so dex was not an option. In her late years she had two bouts of pneumonia, but she pulled through with aggressive treatment.
Thanks for your responses! I’m just trying to get an idea of what has worked for other people who are trying to care for a horse with COPD. My mare had a mild episode a few months ago and 3-4 days of hay soaking eliminated the cough. I kept her on Cough-Free and she remained… cough free without hay soaking. She didn’t like the supplement though so I switched her to another supplement and around that time her current episode began. She has now been coughing for 8 or 9 days. We’ve been soaking her hay for about 5 days. She’s been back on Cough-Free for 2 days and on Benadryl for 2 days. Her cough is slowly improving and today I got dex from the vet, I’m giving 8mg/day since she seems to be getting a little better on her own. It is just really frustrating and upsetting that her recovery is taking so much longer than the first episode. I would estimate that she is coughing about 20-40 times per 24 hour period and of course the coughing increases when she’s eating hay. In her current condition she is exercise intolerant. I was leading her and we trotted for about 40ft and she started coughing again. Before her first episode she would cough occasionally when being ridden.
I happen to have spirulina powder so I will try adding that to her growing list of supplements to see if it helps any.
How long do your horses’ episodes normally last? How many times would you estimate they cough in a day/24 hours? When are you able to start riding again after an episode?
Thanks!
Does this horse live in a barn that stores hay overhead?
[QUOTE=Dressagelvr;8002148]
Does this horse live in a barn that stores hay overhead?[/QUOTE]
She did but since she started coughing she has been out 24/7.
It IS progressive disease, so the best we can do it keep good management for them and re-assess for meds that will help along the way. I do recall using DMG with her WAY back and MSM (both Vita Flex products) which helped her alot until she reached to point of needing daily meds (per the progression of meds I described above over 21 years).
There is no cure. Management is everything. I’m so lucky that with a diagnosis at age 10, she could still enjoy our outings under saddle until almost 20-- and even after that, lived comfortably and happily being a nanny to newly weaned foals until she died at age 31. With all the meds for COPD that became available as it progressed and her aeromask we were able to prevent acute bouts of the problem.
Good luck.
If dexamethasone isn’t working after 1-2 days, I would worry about pneumonia or heart problems. Have you checked the horse’s temp? Talk with the vet.
[QUOTE=AKB;8002572]
If dexamethasone isn’t working after 1-2 days, I would worry about pneumonia or heart problems. Have you checked the horse’s temp? Talk with the vet.[/QUOTE]
Ditto.
[QUOTE=AKB;8002572]
If dexamethasone isn’t working after 1-2 days, I would worry about pneumonia or heart problems. Have you checked the horse’s temp? Talk with the vet.[/QUOTE]
She has improved dramatically on dex (4mg twice daily). Yesterday (day 2 on dex) she coughed maybe 5 times, today (day 3) only once so far. I did talk with my vet, he prescribed the dex, but he didn’t come out and look at her.
COPD
In veterinary school, the recommended treatment for COPD consisted of 5 steps:
Now, the name has changed - it’s now referred to as ELAD (equine lower airway disease) or RAO (recurrent airway obstruction), but the importance of environmental management remains. Affected horses should remain outside AT ALL TIMES, if possible. Antihistamines are occasionally helpful (though not the simple ones, like benadryl), but steroids work far better. A lot of good work has recently been done on desensitization therapy and it might be a good idea to have allergy testing done to see if 1) removing the cause or 2) developing a series of desensitizing shots, is possible.
my gelding is good and happy on 6 tablets of prednisalone daily, and we’re hoping to drop it to 5 or less. He lives out. They do have a round bale, but it has a cinch chix net over it.
A friend of mine has an 18 y/o horse with COPD and has managed it well with a double daily dose of MSM and the management dose of Dex. I think it’s a gram or two a day. It has worked like a charm and he hasn’t had an episode in the spring or fall in 2.5 years. She couldn’t control it well with just the Dex… MSM has really made all the difference!!!
going into year 3 after dx. After some trial-and-error, we are using fluticasone (Flovent 225mcg per puff) in a metered dose inhaler with an Aerohippus spacer device. Since he usually presents in October, in Fall 2014 I decided to start the Flovent in September to beat it to the punch. I dosed 4-6 days per week through the end of December, give or take, and had no coughs or snotty noses, even after the grass died off and he went on hay for the winter. He also gets MSM almost daily (10,000 mg). If he seems like he’s having an episode, I will add Cough-Free and/or Freeway Gold to his feed until it passes. He is outside about 90-95% of the time and is eating from a round bale, but between breaking the round bales down and our bouts of rain every 3-4 days, he’s had very few issues. When we show at rated competitions, he comes off of everything but the MSM and EVERYTHING gets moistened or soaked to keep particulates down. As long as this management routine continues to work, I think we will be in good shape for a while yet. He turns 17 this year.
[QUOTE=sid;8002402]
It IS progressive disease, so the best we can do it keep good management for them and re-assess for meds that will help along the way. I do recall using DMG with her WAY back and MSM (both Vita Flex products) which helped her alot until she reached to point of needing daily meds (per the progression of meds I described above over 21 years).
There is no cure. Management is everything. I’m so lucky that with a diagnosis at age 10, she could still enjoy our outings under saddle until almost 20-- and even after that, lived comfortably and happily being a nanny to newly weaned foals until she died at age 31. With all the meds for COPD that became available as it progressed and her aeromask we were able to prevent acute bouts of the problem.
Good luck.[/QUOTE]
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