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Author Message
New Member:
khemraj

Posted on Monday, Jun 27, 2011 - 3:23 pm:

Should furosemide be administered to horses with Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage on exercise day as well as on race day or only on race day?
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Jun 27, 2011 - 8:19 pm:

Hello Abel,

If your horse is a very bad bleeder treating on training day is a prudent thing to do, but you should talk to your vet. You have to be doubly careful though and make sure your horse is supported nutritionally and electrolyte wise as the furosemide plays havoc with the potassium levels. You should also make sure there is nothing else going on with your horses respiratory system that's causing the severe bleeding.

Good luck
Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jun 27, 2011 - 10:12 pm:

Welcome Abel,
As rtrotter alludes to above, bleeding is never a good thing so minimizing it at all times seems reasonable. However there is no science on this so we are just doing what seems logical.
DrO
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011 - 7:59 pm:

Dr. O and Abel,

I'd like to elaborate a bit on what I said above. I've been racing horses for 30+ years. 30 + years ago, there was no lasix (furosemide) list and trainers had to deal with their horses bleeding problems in other ways because Lasix was not allowed on race day.

The treatment protocol back then was to turnout the horse for 7-10 days and once the horse was back to work, treat with Lasix everyday, either IM or IV, give multi-vitamins, along with Vitamin K, C, and E with electrolyte and nutritional support.

The thought process behind this was that 1) the turnout process allowed the horse to begin to heal his own lungs 2)by not allowing the horse to bleed at all when back at work the healing would continue and by using the vitamins including K, C and E that also continued to heal what was started. The combination of the K( for thickening the blood and having it clot faster), the C for its healing properties and the E to help make the capillaries in the lungs more elastic thus giving them a bit of protection to keep them from bursting and causing the horse to bleed.

Basically it was an all around treatment program for bleeders that did not require treatment on race day and while I wouldn't say it completely cured the problem, it came really darn close. The horses this protocol was used on started racing better, they looked happier and healthier, they got a shine back in their coats and they lost the look of a bleeder. To me it made a lot of sense since they were no longer bleeding, their lungs were doing the work they were supposed to do.

I looked at this as an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure, and if the bleeding was prevented a whole lot of other problems went away when the bleeding left.

Of course, I am not sure if the above is very scientific, but I do know that it did work.

These days with the uproar about American horses being treated on race day with Lasix and other adjunct medications,and the RMTC trying to get new regulations in place, perhaps we need to relook at the bleeding problem and find other ways to treat it other than on race day.

Rachelle
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