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  Discussion on Quanitity of Flax Oil to help with COPD
Author Message
Member:
lccsi

Posted on Monday, Nov 5, 2007 - 10:10 am:

Hi Dr. O
My 16 yo gelding has developed COPD. We have changed his management so he is out 24x7 of that he is out on grass about 8 hrs a day and then in a run-in and dry paddock - fed soaked hay for the other 16 hrs. He is on Ventipulmin which we are reducing in dosage with the hope of taking him off completely. He has responded well to being out and with a reduced dosage of ventipulmin.. (we are down to 2ml 2x a day) I have read that Flax Oil might be helpful in these cases. After reading the articles it's not clear to me how much Flax oil would be effective.. he is 16.2 about 1200lbs he gets 2qts fibergized 2x a day, also I believe it's the oil that is greatest benefit not the ground seed.. can you confirm and give me an idea of how much oil would be useful to supplement with..
thx
Lori
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 6, 2007 - 6:42 am:

Hello Lori,
The idea that flax treats COPD is wholly hypothetical and no one really knows what a useful dose might be, for more on this see the article associated with this discussion area, "Fats and Oils in the Horses Diet". On the other hand continuing to feed soaked hay is a mistake. If you view the COPD as a fire in your horses lungs the soaked hay represents a gallon of gasoline thrown in on the fire while the flax is a bit like a teaspoon of water.

Please review our article and take all our management recommendations to heart or you will continue to have to intermittently use expensive medications that don't really treat the disease but just the symptoms all the while your horse looses some amount of permanent lung function during the recurrent episodes. For more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Respiratory System » Heaves & Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
DrO
Member:
lccsi

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 - 10:25 am:

The soaked hay and his management is as per our vet, although once the grass dies down a little more he will go out on pasture 24x7. His case might be a little different in that last winter he had no breathing problems at all and the issues started in the spring. He was treated with Steroids followed by ventiplumin for 10 days and he was fine from may - aug. In August the problems came back.. we put him on the ventipulmin but this time when we took him off he continued coughing so we changed his management by keeping him out 24x7, soaked hay etc.. started back on ventipulmin 4ml 2x a day.. now we are down to 2ml 2x a day.. hope to get him off in the next couple of weeks.. and we will take it from there.. The Flax oil was something I read on this site as something to try.. just was not clear about how much.. We are looking at possibly changing to cubes but we are only changing one thing at a time so we know what works and what does not work.
Member:
rebeccab

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 - 1:15 pm:

I have the same situation with my 15 year old mare. My vet mentioned that the symptoms of COPD would be less in the winter months in the Northeast, because once we have had a few frosts, many of the natural allergins/spores have died/frozen.
I too asked the question about Flax Seed oil. I understand it will not cure COPD, nothing will. but if it helps manage it, I am curious about the amount to give my 1000 lb mare, daily. To buy it in our local grocery market, it is very expensive. $9.99 for about 10oz. Does anyone know where to buy it in larger quantities, and for less? Do any farm/livestock stores carry it?
Member:
lccsi

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 - 2:37 pm:

Hi Rebecca
I found 1 gallon of flax seed oil at our local tack store for $24.00 you may want to call around and see if your local tack/feed stores carry it.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Nov 8, 2007 - 6:50 am:

Rebecca the large majority of horses are allergic to hay mold spores and since horses are stabled more and require more hay in the winter most horses will worsen if not managed appropriately. I have noticed people tend to notice it less when not riding regularly and that hot weather will exacerbate the heaves as the horse attempts to thermoregulate. There are very few other allergens that seem to cause Heaves and the mold spores have already formed during the hay making, though they certainly can worsen if the hay is stored wet. Let's be clear on the flax also: its antiinflammatory action has no scientific proof in horses this is a conjectured action from species that have a much higher requirement for omega fatty acids than horse do and for other inflammatory disease conditions not allergic pneumonia.

Lori the idea of switching off field cured and baled hay as a "trial" is a bit like considering a "trial" of antibiotics for a serious bacterial pneumonia. The body of scientific evidence that this has a very good chance of helping your horse iin both the short and long run is huge.
DrO
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