| HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Respiratory System » Discussions on Respiratory System not covered by the above » |
| Discussion on Senior horse starting to cough | |
| Author | Message |
| Member: Sylvy |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: Angel77 |
|
| Member: Fripp |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: Angel77 |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: Angel77 |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: Angel77 |
Posted on Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005 - 7:26 am: Dear Dr.O,Yes, I think that was stated in my earlier post. The vet recommended I use some kind of breathing agent. I showed her what I had in my medicine chest. She chose the Wind Aid over the Air power. The only reason I had either one of these was bescause they were promotional items that were sent to me. The vet thoroughly examined the 28+ yr old mare. No fever, no signs of distress, no fluid exiting the nostrils. No signs of anything wrong with her at all with the exception of the cough. I do know she has Cushins disease. The owner will not pay for the suggested Peroglide as she says the horse is basically out to pasture in a(24x48)corral. Also because she is unrideable(for the owners weight 150bs). In the owners defense she has been battling lung cancer and cannot be around horses or dust. The owner thought that the mare was being cared for by someone who apparently just took her money every month and did nothing for this poor horse. I am the only one who has cared for this horse for the past two years. In an earlier post I listed all the problems this mare had when she came to me so here is her history once more. She had hock sores the size of small golf balls that were so deep they went down to the bone and were extremely painful to the touch. It took almost 3 months of braising and treating the wounds with Triple Antibiotic ointment and alternating with Neosporin to get her back to normal. No wonder she could barely trot. She has lots of hair but still one can feel the divots down to the bone. All four bare feet had deep holes where the frogs should be with the worst case of thrush imaginable. Carefully picking as not to crumble off more foot was a challenge. It took 2 or 3(I forget)trimmings to even out her crumbling feet before we could put front shoes on her. Maybe too much grain? There was no where to drive in a nail. I did this on my own(meaning my own money)because the mare was constantly tripping and very weak. So weak in fact, that sometimes when I would pick up her front foot to pick her feet she would fall or almost fall to her knees. Which to say the least was dangerous for both of us. Thank God, I always tied her a little lower and longer. Just long enough that in case she did fall, she would not break her neck. She has always tied well with me so I trust her to do this. Three to four months later she was doing so well with two shoes. I thought, why not shoe the hind end so we did(my farrier). Boy was I glad to see how much her overall strength improved. She has not had any falling or balance problem since. Her hind end gets stronger everyday. All four legs had fungus so badly that when I brushed her legs all the hair came off onto the brush. Regular bathing with Betadine surgical scrub and Aloedine shampoo cleared that up pretty quickly. Meanwhile, her legs were bare and had no hair from the fungus. She looked pretty funny even though I was not laughing. As every day I applied different ointments like Triple Antibiotic, Neosporin, Aloe heal, Corona, Bag balm, etc rotating as I went through my medicine chest. Later I used Fungisan topical solution(after some hair grew)for a couple of weeks. Yeah no more fungus! She also had a severe case of scratches on all four above her pasterns on two. Treating every day with the scratches medicine from the vet alleviated this problem in about a month to six weeks. I have recently found that Cowboy Magic's Krudbuster works even faster than the vet preparation. No more scratches. She has a large gap between her teeth off to the left that was infected. That only took a week of hyDrOgen peroxide flushing and brushing her tooth to clear up. Additionally the vet also gave her an antibiotic for a few days. Still every day I brush her teeth. Her teeth are fine and healthy to date. She also had conjunctivitis in both eyes. I think we treated as per the vet with Teramyacin eye ointment for a couple of weeks. Her eyes have been healthy ever since. Another chronic problem that seemed to miraculously clear up after years of haunting her. Her eyes even light up and twinkle when she sees me and nickers. Of course, I keep her as clean as possible. As we all strive to achieve with our horses. Yet dirt seems forever present.  She was so dirty the first time I bathed her. It took me four applications of shampooing, scrubbing and rinsing to get her reasonably clean. She lost about 2lbs of hair. The mare was 100lbs over weight and sway backed. They were previously giving her 4lbs of Senior Equine daily. That changed immediately. She now(for the past 2 yrs) gets 1 1/2lbs of Senior daily. I got the weight off of her in about 8 months. No more sway back. She now looks like a really healthy horse half her age. Wish I had photos. After Christmas I will load some digitals. She was lame on two legs. I am pretty sure because of these problems. As well as the Cushins disease. Which I will research after this post. I honestly never thought she would last this long. As her condition did not look good. I've now got her 98% sound. She is slightly off in front. I am actually not sure which one as she is a Missouri Fox Trotter. I have no clue as to how they move. Does anyone else know? I would(and still do)pony her while I ride my horse walking on flat soft ground. I did this for 5 or 6 months. Then, in the next 6 months we began to add trotting for 3-5 minutes at a time. She got her muscles back. It seemed to help her breathing immensely. We still do this as well. She is now able to carry young children. Even though the owner says she doesn't want anyone to ride her. Just because her owner is miserable does not mean the mare has to be miserable as well. At least this is my own opinion. I do not think the owner realizes how much having the children has improved the quality of this mare's life. Although the children mostly brush, pet and feed her treats, she has only been ridden maybe 7 or 8 times now over the last 9 or 10 months. We never over do it. Meaning I never allow the mare to do more than she wants to do. She is BOMBPROOF. Not crazy at all. She is easy for me to read. She tells me when she is ready to go home. Recently the mare and rider were in the small turn out arena about a 30m circle with the(so called)more experienced trainer when one of the girls who rides her fell off at the trot. Slowly the mare moved safely toward the child as if to say are you okay? Of course it was the riders fault but the mare treated the child like one of her own. Gently and sweetly. The child got back on for a few minutes to regain her confidence. Everyone was happy. This mare is now the happiest horse ever! I guess who wouldn't be after all she has overcome. However superficial her condition, it was an agonizing, painful and lonely existence for her. She is so happy, in fact she has learned from my horse to nicker to me upon my arrival every single day. It truly warms my heart. I can always tell if she wants to go out with us because she will stand at the gate and paw or stare at me until I get her out. Other days she will just stand opposite my horse(the other side of the fence)as I tack him up. She tries to stick her head through the corral just to make sure I do not forget to take her with us. As if she would let me! Rarely she will not want to go with us. It is then, I will instantly begin to examine her thoroughly by taking her temperature, blood pressure, check her legs for heat or swelling, cuts, and check to make sure she has proper belly sounds. I have come to learn usually this is when she is in heat. Maybe I am missing something about this cough. Although she has not coughed lately. I do not soak her hay any more. I never saw a difference even when the hay was soaked for over a month. That is why initially I had thought it could have been the Wind Aid that helped her. I only dosed her 4 or 5 times. So in retrospect it doesn't make much sense that the Wind Aid helped in any way. I have absolutely no idea. Am I crazy for trying everything I believe will help my horse. If I did nothing. Would my horse or this mare be the same? The vet who has seen this mare on average of 2-5 times a year for eleven years told the owner; the mares condition is the best he has ever seen her, in her lifetime. She has always had terrible hoof/foot and eye problems. Is it as Dr.O says, 80% of these problems do correct themselves on their own as in centuries past? I know in the wild they do or die. I am sure Dr.O is right. I am more than curious. This is why I ask. Of course both my horse and I have fallen in love with her. They both behave well in the turn out together. Which, with my horse this is a miracle. Sorry for the long post. Got home early today. Just thought her history might help. Happy Holidays! God Bless our Troops!!! WTG |
| Moderator: DrO |
|
