horses on inhalers

Ok it is Sat eveing and I was at the doctors last night with my daughter she has a chest and ear infection!!! I am now waiting to go to on call for a 8 30pm appointment as I have it too. I just know it is a chest infection and I am not leaving without a course of antibiotics or I will end up on preds again!

Anyway, back to the topic. I have just left the stables creasing myself. I have a pony with asthma (well it is actually COPD) It is common in stables horses. We have bad times when she ends up on ventapulmin (a bit like ventalin in a powder you put in feed), However, another girl on the yard has had a vet out today as ventapulmin was not even stopping hers from coughing. Poor little man is now on an inhaler!!!!!! I have heard this mentioned by vets before, if mine had not responded to steroids last time she was bad and ventapulmin, this would have been our next step. I have finally found out today what they are like! They are just like ours. She has had to go to the chemist for a spacer, when asked what size, she had to exp[lain it was for her horse and then had to habd in a prescription from the vet for a salbutomol inhaler and she has to spray it up ponyios nostril;s twice a day!!!!

Well now I know, that I hopw it does not come to that with our pony, she would go mental if I did that to her!

This post is a load of nonsense really but I just thoght it may make you chuckle!!!!

[KateMoss]

I have heard of spacers & horses.

Also nebulised hedgehogs when they have been caught up in bonfires and also an owl being nebulised because it has aspergillosis!

Kate

XXX

[yaf_user681_30003]

Now I have this vision of one of the squirrels that inhabit my garden sitting on the fence holding its Accuhaler and breathing in hard.

Sorry. Silly thought.

Alan

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There are times when this board is bad for my health. This is one of them. Alan, you nearly made me wet myself - what a glorious mental image.

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Why spraying an inhaler up a horses nostril!! Think I would loose my pony if i did that!!! Would never get near its nose again LOL!!!!!

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I accidentally sprayed my inhaler stood next to my pony once and he tried to run a mile. I dont think he'd be a very cooperative asthmatic!

x

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LOL

Well I saw the inhaler in action today and they did just as described. 2 squirts up the nostril. Pony not fussed but how I would describe as ok! My cob would certainly not be! She rears and runs if the vet approaches her with a needle, she trots around her stable if I try and give her wormer. Can you imagine if we end up on an inhaler too!!!!

This whole business has set me off paranoid. She is not coughing bad at the min and ok ridden (except I cant ride as I fell off last week and am now on crutches but I wont go into that one heee hee) So.... Rosie is now on herbal breathing supplement, hay so wet that it is dripping down the wall from her hay net and I have rubbed vics vapour rub under her neck!

I can honestly say that if I paid this much attention to my own asthma, I would not be on antibiotics and shakin on salbutomol now as we speak lol!!!! (nb have got chest infection like I thought whne I first posted, not nice so strong pain killers for foot and antibiotics for chest! ) Can hand on my heart say another week off work as teaching PE like this (cant run or breathe) would be a bit of a dead loss dont you say!!!!!!

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Oh I just remembered when on the phone to my mum- there was a pony at a stables where I used to be who had a nebuliser! And horses with their equivalent of COPD on pred!

and Kat i dont know if it would help your pony but my pony had a bit of a cough last summer despite the fact that his hay is soaked etc. Because of competing I was restricted in which products I could use- I used a product called *Kof-eze' made by Naf (not that I am endorsing it but it was good for my pony's cough.) Just given by syringe before working etc.

I hope that you feel better soon and that the chest infection clears up quickly for you.

Em

xxxx

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Hope your little pony improves! We used to have a little pony at on a yard i worked at with breathing probs and he was on seritide and ventolin through spacer and on pred! My girl decides she wants to copy her mum from time to time and has had to have ventolin after she managed to get respiritory tract infection...

They do get used to the inhalers after a while and if you can disguise the noise (get someone to shake a feed bucket uesd to work well with the first little pony i worked with!!) My pony will now quite happily stand with me using inhalers or nebs whilst Im on her, or sitting by her on the ground, shes even quite protective over her mum when Im not well and won't get out the way or be led away from me!! Will try and remeber anyother tactics we used to use with Sammy, the little pony I first worked with, as i remeber he used to plaster me against the wall when we first started haveing to use inhalers...

hope the leg improves soon and you can get back to riding.

mouse xxx

p.s If pollens or dust set them off coughing (yes we do sound a helathy pair when out competing!) then vasaline around their noses can help catch the pollen, i has found that has worked well before.