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  Discussion on COPD and Laminitis
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New Member:
Italia

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 16, 2006 - 8:00 pm:

Hi All,
I have a 10 YO Arabian mare with light COPD and Laminitis. She is doing relatively good in Spring, Fall and Winter, but the hot Mediterrenian summer here in Italy/Tuscany gets to her. We have a lot of dust, almost no rain all summer long, and everything, hay, straw and even grain is dusty. I wash her hay, spray the straw in the stall thoroughly with water, keep her as far away as possible from any source of dust (sand race track), wet her grain. Depending on the hay, she doesn't show any symptoms at all or is actually wheezing and "pumping". Now I am putting her on another source of roughage, mountain hay pellets.also wet. I would also like to include beet pulp, but am worried about the sugar, since she has chronic laminitis also. And the hay pellets have an energy value of 10.5 MJ per kg. She is currently on Ventipulmin, I don't dare giving her steroids because of the laminitis. She gets 500g of rolled oats and a vit/min supplement per day. The next I will try is cold-pressed linseed oil. She also is on MSM. Last fall we tried High Altitude training, means breathing very "thin" air, and she improved for a while. But I found the environment is the most critical factor in keeping her symptom free.
My question is, what do I have to watch when feeding hay substitutes or beet pulp regarding her laminitis. Can she have wet, very good, straw as other source of roughage along with the hay pellets. How dangerous are the steroids for her specific problem, the laminitis?
Thank you so much
Robert
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Aug 17, 2006 - 8:04 am:

Hello Robert,
Over here the sugar has been extracted from livestock feed grade beet pulp. It is the byproduct of a sugar extraction process and as such it is often used as a roughage replacer for horses prone to laminitis. For specific recommendations on feeding chronic founder, you should consider your horses condition and the type of founder your horse has, for more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Diseases of the Hoof » Founder & Laminitis » Founder & Laminitis an Overview.

The main thing you have to watch when switching forages is that it be done slowly and consider the total nutritional profile of your substitute. The hay pellets are probably a balanced feed stuff, while the beet pulp, though a useful substitute for hay, will be deficient and unbalanced in some nutritional aspects. You will find more on these topics and specific recommendations at, Care for Horses » Nutrition » Forages for Horses, an Overview.

While we don't recommend dex for foundered horses the connection between its use and exacerbating founder is far from certain.
DrO
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