My horse likely has allergies and will be completing allergy testing soon. I realize it’s treated with allergy shots, but is there anything else I can do to help the inflammation in his airways and cough? Also, any general anti inflammatories to help with performance?
Why does it need to be holistic? Mine gets Zyrtec every day and it’s made a huge difference
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Vitamin E helped mine, lessened his symptoms quite a bit. Zyrtec for the flare ups.
Well I did the ultimate holistic approach - I moved the pony to a different environment. There was some sort of allergen ( I expect it was mold because it was a wooded damp environment). There were 5 horses living in that surrounding area and 3 of them had pasture heaves every summer. After I got him to a drier location he got better in a matter of weeks. And I took him off drugs. I realize this can be hard to do, especially if your horses live at home.
What dosage do you give? I’ve touched on this with my vet, but can’t remember why we didn’t try it.
I’d agree with dealing with environmental triggers first. Think of all the humans who give up down pillows, cats, moldy basement suites, perfume, etc to reduce the triggers. That’s the start of a rational approach, and it’s certainly holistic.
I had a horse once that became susceptible to wood shaving bedding over time, was fine in a field.
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Omega 3 in the form of fish oil or algal oil is good for inflammation overall, but specifically good for respiratory and skin issues.
With my allergic horse I am also using an antihistamine (Hydroxyzine).
I have also moved him out of the barn entirely and that has caused a great improvement in his symptoms.
My vets and I have discussed allergy shots. They generally use those as a last resort, as they can be hit or miss as far as effectiveness.
For my horse the biggest improvement came from changing his environment. I live in the south, so pollen and mold and high humidity are always going to be an issue. My horses are at home and I keep my barn very clean, but clearly something in that barn was exacerbating my horse’s respiratory problems. He now has access to a well ventilated run in shed with rubber mats. No bedding. He has lots of airflow and the shed also has a fan.
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I did intradermal testing with my horse in the spring. Last fall he had several asthma attacks that required dex, along with new coughing at the beginning of exercise. The last few years I had also struggled with rain rot and scratches.
He already lived outside so we suspected environmental triggers that I would likely have little control over. He also shows so was trying to avoid medication.
He’s been getting allergy shots since May. Allergic to some pollens, some weeds, staph bacteria, some molds, some flies, cats, wool, yeast, and a few other things. Knock on wood he hasn’t had any asthma attacks this fall, no skin issues for the first time in a few years, just the odd cough during exercise if it gets dusty.
The only supplement that I’ve added is Omega 3 in the form of fish oil (DHA and EPA). It’s really one of the only supplements for respiratory health with some science behind it. And it was the only thing other than medication that I had to take my horse off of prior to intradermal testing.
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Between .1mg/lb and .2 mg/lb so my 1000 lb mare gets between 10 and 20 pills per day depending on how bad she is. I buy the generic stuff from Amazon or Costco though.
This summer was dry (lack of rain), but very hot/humid. Several horses at my large barn developed a cough, runny nose, no fever, etc. that the vet attributed to allergies and the weirder than normal weather. I started my 15.3hh horse on 10 tablets of 10mg generic Zyrtec per day. I’m told they are somewhat sweet tasting and had no problem getting horsie to eat them with a handful of alfalfa pellets. Within 4 days cough had substantially subsided. After 10 days I discontinued since all coughing/nasal discharge was gone. Other folks who did nothing dealt with the symptoms for about 3 weeks or so…
The most holistic things I do for mine are DHA (in the algae or seaweed derived form, which is gross so it gets mixed with flax, chia and ground fenugreek) and nebulizing with saline. I’m hoping I can take him off Zyrtec soon. Dry air, fine particulate pollution and ozone seem to be his biggest triggers but there’s also been something else environmental this fall.
The biggest help for mine was a hay steamer. She is also on Zyrtec. She was on the SmartBreathe supplement but I stopped it this spring and haven’t had any issues. However, it probably depends on what exactly your horse is allergic to.
The studied dose is .2-.4mg/kg every 12-24 hours. Generally, people seem to start at the high end until they find results, then work down to the lowest possible effective dose. Sometimes this is even less than the .2mg/kg.
