My 17yr. old quarter horse was diagnosed aug.16,2022 with copd. Had developed a cough but no temp. My regular vet saw him and after exam diagnosed copd.Live in hot humid area which doesn’t help. Started on an antibiotic he had been on before with no problem but also started on dexamethasone which he had never taken. He was not running a temp prior to start and vet did inquire if he had ever had any laminitis issues which he hadn’t, have had him for last 13 years. So over last few days, coughing stopped, I noticed his behavior wasn’t as peppy as usual, seemed fatigued, this was a very gradual change, but by today aug.24 I noticed he was started to lay down in the pasture, not in acute distress but as if he was tired. And when he would get up his coordination was clumsy, also seemed to have very mild limp in left front foot. Notified my prescribing vet but he his in the hospital but gave me other vets to call so I did and 2 vets returned calls, I updated them on the sypmtoms,They did not seem to think it was the dex, recommended i stop it which I was going to anyway and keep and check on him. I did some searching about dexamethasone side effects on horses and did find that lethary, fatigue was one of the side effects but not often seen. All 3 vets told me they didn’t think it was the dexamethasone. However , because it isn’t a usually seen on they might not have encountered this and my horse may just be really sensitive to this med. Also read some articles that unfortunately some horses being shown were being large doses of dex for a "calming " effect. Has anyone had experience with this side effect of dexamethasone? Would appreciate any info about dealing with this. thanks.
In your situation it might be worth having the vet back out to see if there is something else going on, instead of assuming that the lethargy and lameness are just a Dex side affect.
There are just so many things that can cause those symptoms that it seems like it is worth a second look.
I live under a rock so I have never heard of the high dose of dex to show a more quiet horse. That seems awfully risky to me.
So I saw the same thing somewhere … I was looking at steroid side effects since my horse is on mega-doses of prednisolone and has been a little exhausted looking.
I would be curious about heat/pulse in his left front. Just saw a new study that did not link steroids to laminitis (good news), but wonder if he might be dealing with multiple issues, including an abscess which might make him want to lay down more, and make it harder to get up.
My horse was on Dex for only 2 days, as an emergency type of relief during the real humid weather we had a couple of weeks ago. I never heard of keeping the horse on it for an extended period of time. The Dex cured her gasping for air, when there wasn’t any. She was relaxed because she wasn’t struggling for air, but no other side effects.
I agree re: feeling for a pulse and having another vet take a look at your horse. Is there any chance he could have PPID? It’s my understanding one has to be very, very careful w steroids in those horses. Hope this helps.
