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  Discussion on COPD?, Clenbuteral?
Author Message
New Member:
Annemari

Posted on Thursday, Nov 4, 2004 - 8:23 pm:

Dear Dr. Oglesby;
My horse has a mild COPD, as diagnosed by my vet. I have read many of your articles about the topic. My vet has prescribed clenbuterol (I have also read your article about this drug). I have found that I can give him 8cc only once a day and this keeps him from coughing entirely. I also have the staff wet his hay, and this seems to help- whether this is actually beneficial I can only guess. The reason that my horse is on the drug is because he sometimes coughs and farts at the same time. My vet said that he was building up alot of pressure internally to cough, resulting in the fart. Presumably, this is not a good thing. My horse did this when I rode him in the summer (once a ride). He also cleared his lungs everytime I exercised him. He would not cough for the entire ride, just at the beginning. His breathing and performance was otherwise normal.
My vet came out to do a check up today. I lunged my horse for 10 min, he listened to his lungs, found nothing to suggest any damage. I spoke with him about a corticoid steroid injection, he prefered after inspection to keep with the clenbuterol as I am giving it. As of today my horse seems to suffer no effects of COPD, and yet I have many unanswered questions, or rather, the answers my vet gave me didn't do the job for me.
Here are my questions: My vet feels that my horse can take 8cc of clenbuterol everyday for the rest of his life. My horse is 8. Also, he competing in dressage- is it legal, even with a small dose? I know that it is not for racehorses. Is this a realistic plan of action? My horse has none of the immediate side effects from clenbuterol, but are there longterm issues to consider? I tried to slog through the articles on the contraindications and got too bogged down to make heads or tails.
Is my description of what is happening with my horse COPD? He does not have a virus- he has coughed ever since I bought him almost a year ago. I had a thorough vet check at the time and there were no evident problems. To note: his sire died of heaves at the age of 18- very poor environment management killed him. Is heaves hereditary?
I would like your opinion about this.
many thanks. Anne-Marie
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