The gelding I am helping feed (the bay one) has had a lingering cough off and on for the past few months. It’s only been happening while he’s being ridden or running around the pasture. Today (it was 95 degrees plus humidity), he came in for grooming and he was coughing much worse - 5-10 coughs in a row every 1/2 hour or so. I was also able to hear him breathing (sounded kind of wheezy and snoring) and his breath was pretty labored - he was inside with shade and a fan on him and he was still breathing heavily. I can’t hear anything in his lungs with a stethoscope either. He has a vet appointment on Monday for vaccines and for cannon dermatitis and we’ll definitely ask about the breathing then. I’m just wondering if anyone as any input on what could be going on? He doesn’t sound like any horse with heaves that I’ve seen before.
It sounds like he has the beginnings of equine asthma/heaves/ copd. My mare started with just a little coughing around 10yrs and then just continued to get worse. My mare does better outside 24/7 than in front of a stall fan. Summers are always worse for her and the breathing problems used to go away in the winter. She is now 21yr and living the retired life. Spirulina and Msm seem to help some with the coughing. Check for dusty hay or is he on round bales? Also another consideration is pneumonia.
He is out 24/7 except for feedings and has an area with a little bit of grass and free choice access to a round bale. He will be turned out to the large paddock once hay cutting is done. He is being fed beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, flaxseed, oil, tri-amino, and Remission supplement.
He had developed a cough and nasal discharge in Novemeber (he was from the kill lot) and was treated with Uniprim. The discharge cleared up but the cough never really went away but decreased. Maybe 1 cough every week after being silly in the pasture.
Had a coughing episode with my 14 YO TWH. Traveled with a hay bag in trailer and fed hay from a wall feeder for a week. Coughing with physical exertion at beginning of ride. Reduced coughing as the day/ride went on. Back home in the pasture 24/7 cough cleared up. On another trip (two days of travel each way) no hay bags and feeding hay on the ground in paddock (open air) for two weeks. Did not have any coughing.
I suspect the round bale with his nose in the center is getting dust in his lungs.
You might wet or better yet steam his hay to see if anything improves.
So the owner has had him since November? I would take him off the round bale. They hold more dust and mold than squares. I feed my mare Timothy/Orchard in a hay chix small hole net because it keeps her nose out of the hay. It helps a lot. It’s a good chance he might actually have copd and it’s now showing up worse because of the weather change.
Perhaps he had an infection in November, the infection cleared, but he had/was left with Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD). Then it was not managed 100% correctly and has gotten worse and/or developed into COPD.
That’s just my theory.
I would eliminate the round bail and any dusty environment. 24/7 on grass would be preferable. Or if he must have hay, try soaking it and see if it helps. If his lungs sound fine, it’s in his airway I suspect and you’ll probably need to treat with an anti-inflammatory and bronchodilator.
I’d schedule a vet visit ASAP, so it’s good that the vet is already coming. The longer it goes on, the more damage can be done to the respiratory system which makes it harder to recover.
Vet visit went very well. Vet took one look at him and said he has very, very severe COPD (the difference between what I’ve heard before and him is the age and nature of the condition). Because of his weight and build and cost, vet opted to do dex for him rather than Prednisolone. He is on 20cc every other day for three days and then weaning down to a management dosage. He is also receiving uniprim although his infection markers were at 81.
I’m helping the owner work on changing his management. He will be in a small dry lot with a stall and fan and will receive 4 flakes of soaked costal/Timothy hay twice a day along with his beet pulp/alfalfa pellet mash. Vet says that Texas is the absolute worst place for these horses to live and ideally she’d have him moved to Colorado.
Does anyone have any other suggestions on management changes and/or supplements to try for him? I feel awful for this sweet guy - he has had such a hard life and yet he has a heart of gold.
MSM helped my 34 year gelding who was copd/heaves. Kept him on it all last summer, had only a few bad flare ups. Main thing was keeping him outside 24/7, only in barn if absolutely necessary. When in barn made sure all Windows doors were open. …not always possible if storming.
Stalls are rubber matted, shelter has concrete with no bedding. Found dust from bedding to be a trigger for him.
Have to figure out what works for him trial and error.
For the bad flare ups I used Dex.
Hot humid weather triggered his heaves also dusty conditions. He’s now crossed the rainbow bridge.
@warriorhorse the vet said that because of location, she wants him off of pasture due to allergens. She wants him in the dry lot and stall area instead. Obviously, the dust in the dry lot will be watched carefully but it’s pretty packed down and not dusty now. They will be putting rubber mats and pellet/other bedding down in his stall because it’s just sand which gets very dusty. She also wants him to have a box fan on him as much as possible.
I’m in FL so in the same situation. Summers are really rough for advance COPD horses. My mare was doing so good I thought maybe I would start riding again. Then the next day she had a very bad day with constant coughing and it’s hard for her to even eat her food. I’m treating for ulcers also so I’m trying to avoid giving the Dex unless I have to. I’m giving once a day scoop spirulina and overdosing on Msm and she’s better with it then without.
For those that have gone through this at what point should you say enough? I know with giving Dex there’s a decent chance of losing them to laminitis and it scares me to even use it unless I absolutely have to.
The odds are far less if you give Dex via nebulizer. I used Dex and Atrovent in my inhaler/nebulizer for my horse’s last treatment. The dosage can be lower and is directly inhaled into the airway and lungs. I would try it that way. Worth a shot, IMO.
I also use MSM.
Had a small flair up and treated with ventipulmin, and now giving a syrup once a day. Some kind of herbal mixture from vet, I cannot recall the name. My horsw doesn’t have full blown COPD, but has IAD that we think is linked to an allergy.
I live in Central Florida and for years my stallion struggled breathing in the hot and humid Florida weather. I would have to cut my workouts short just so he wouldn’t overheat. He does not have COPD, just general difficulty getting enough oxygen in his system when it’s super hot.
I decided to stop feeding the traditional bagged feeds for all my horses and went to a whole food diet that I make myself. (Just read the feed labels and your head will start to spin.) All I can say is wow, what a difference. He has no trouble breathing anymore. Evidently the inflammation in his system was from the fillers and sugars in the feed. Even my trainer noticed it and remarked that he’s not overheating anymore. I’m so relieved. He doesn’t lose stamina, and recuperates after a workout just fine now.
I’m not saying that COPD horses should go off their meds, I’m just saying it might be worth a try to change the diet completely to whole foods with a good chelated trace mineral supplement which may help the horse’s immune system and reduce inflammation in general.
Central Florida, my 30 yo gal has COPD. She gets 5-7CC Dex EOD when it’s bad… I try to start before it gets bad . She also gets Histall-H (heavy turmuric content), smartbreathe, quality fish oil (helps with turmuric absorption), and I just started Heave-Ho this summer… we will see how it goes (if it ever stops raining…) Oh, she is out 24-7 on nice pasture - she walks a stall.
Lots of good suggestions. Try them all and see what works. Strip the diet down to hay. Wet the hay, change the hay. Add things back to the diet one by one. Change the environment. Even move them off property as a test. Do be extra careful of dex.
I see you are in Texas. Did your vet scope him to come up with COPD?
Cicatryx is another disease of unknown origin that is prevalent in south Texas. It can be diagnosed via scope of the trachea.
@amm2cd We are in North Texas but when he goes in for his recheck, we’ll make sure to ask about that.
I wanted to ask y’all if you have any suggestions on helping him stay cool? He is now in a dry lot with a matted and bedded (pelleted bedding) stall that is open for him to come and go in. He gets the 3 flakes of hay soaked twice a day along with his steroids (every other day), uniprim twice a day, and his feed (2lbs of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets each, 1 cup Omega Horseshine, Multivitamin, 2 oz electrolytes) twice daily.
There is a regular fan in the aisle-way of the barn but it’s not super strong. He has plenty of shade in the stall and will stand in there but is still sweating a lot. He has sweat patches under his mane, chest, heartgirth, and flank. Should we try a box fan for him? It’s been over 100 degrees the past few days.
Have the owner of the horse buy a box fan and hang it just outside his stall door.
Will the owner consider moving him instead of buying mats and stuff? Dust is impossible to minimize for a single horse unless the barn is set up to keep it at a minimum for all horses on the property.
Also, COPD is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in humans. There are related conditions in horses but never heard a definite diagnosis of COPD from a vet, heard them say " similar to…". What, exactly, was done diagnostically to determine what he does have?
Are you sure it’s actual chronic obstructive lung disease and not the more common dust and allergy aggravated conditions lumped in under the " heaves" diagnosis which present symptoms similar to COPD in humans like shortness of breath and coughing, especially when exposed to dust or allergens?
Have had several that suffered seasonally respond very well to antihistamines and Clenbutyrol (sp?) as well as clean surroundings as dust free as possible.
A fan helps my pony with respiratory issues. I position it so he can either stand in the breeze or move to an area without it. He usuaIly chooses to stand in the breeze. I also sponge or hose his neck and chest to cool him down on the worst of days whenever I can.
I worried at first that the fan would blow around whatever it is he is allergic to and make things worse, but that didn’t happen.
