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  Discussion on COPD on new horse
Author Message
New Member:
agnes

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 2010 - 10:16 am:

I got a 20 year old appaloosa the first week in May and did not notice anything abnormal with his breathing at the time. The lady that gave it to me later called me and told me that he have had heaves. I started noticing the heavy breathing when the dentist came to do his teeth and later when my vet examined him she confirmed that he had some moderate COPD. He coughs occasionally,usually at the beginning of the ride, there is no discharge, he eats well and has no fever. No weight loss, I had to muzzle him because he is getting too fat. I began soaking his hay, but he is really outside and has access to grass all the time so he was not interested in the soaked hay, I stopped giving it to him after I read some more articles in this website. He is in some light feed twice a day and grass. The vet started him on Ventipulmin, first once a day, then twice a day, that did not work. Neither did the prednisolone (20 pills a day), the latest has been the dexamethasone, he has been on that now for 5 days, 5 4mg. pills once a day. His breathing is still heavy in the mornings but in the evenings after dinner, he is not breathing hard, still not normal. I have a call into my vet to give her the latest update, but wanted to ask you, could this be permanent lung damage? I don't know how long this has been going on, or if it is seasonal. He does have access to the barn, because it is open to the paddocks and the horses go in and out of the stalls at will. If he seems better during the day, what does that mean? Any light you can shed will be greatly appreciated. He is a nice horse and I really would like to keep him. Thanks!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 29, 2010 - 1:30 pm:

Hello Agnes,,
I think the recent onset suggest these are reversible symptoms. Perhaps larger doses as outlined in the article and a bit more time should be considered, talk it over with your vet. It is important that you do not allow access to the barn air. We know that 20 minutes exposure causes 21 days of increase sensitivity of the bronchi. By following the management rules outlined in the article you should this horse should have a good useful life. Short cuts will always bring you back to where you are now.

One caveat is if you are having as hot and humid weather as we are now (mid 90's and 70%) it does seem to worsen a few of my COPD patients, possibly do to impaired cooling from the permanent changes or the environment causes increased sensitivity, I don't know which.
DrO
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