ashtma and blood test stuff - help

[notpoodle]

had the vet out this moring because pony has been increasingl sluggish/not quite herself lately. i managed to miss the vet (just as i was ringing the practice to find when she is coming i got a call from the yard saying the vet was already there! argh), a friend helped and made notes etc.

the vet said that angels breathing rate was a bit too high and that she could possibly have asthma! it is a very hot day today, so i am hoping the breathing was due to the heat (i sent her out naked today, too hot for the sweet itch rug!), could that be the case?


vet also took a blood sample, i will get the results of that on friday (to rule out anaemia or find deficits etc). would athma show in a blood test?? what happens when i get the blood test results? do i have to ask the vet back? do they discuss it with me on the ohone? i havent got a clue :(

julia

[Esther.D]

If it is any consolation Polo has a high breathing rate in work and will pant when working hard regardless of fitness. Vets decided eventually it was just him and he didn't seem at all distressed and he carried on to compete successfully in driving trials and is fit as a fiddle at 19. So it is not always bad news :)
Hope you find out what it is.

[notpoodle]

she was breathing oddly without doing an work, all the vet did was bring her in from the field. i think she might have gotten too hot in the sun - would that cause her to breathe faster? and does asthma show in a blood test? is horse asthma like human asthma (we could share an inhaler!)? what causes it?? she has a slight dust allergy going, but that was fine once we switched to shavings and soaked hay in the stable ... on the plus side, vet said she looks in good nick overall, not too thin, not too fat, good coat, eyes etc. at least that!

julia

[Esther.D]

Don't know, but considering mine are dripping sweat just stood still I wouldn't discount it just being the heat :) Fingers crossed!

[nutkin]

I'm not sure if the asthma will show up in horses blood but in humans with asthma there is a deficiency in red blood cells due to oxygen starvation so I'm guessing this will be the case with horses too. If your horse was out in the sun and not had access to shade this could cause his breathing rate to increase.

[notpoodle]

she was and is out, but there are multiple shady areas in the field she can use. i cant physically make her go in the shade though, she seems to be happier with the rest of the herd bang in the middle of the field :rolleyes:

julia

[notpoodle]

got the results of the blood test today. the good news is that us is not anaemic and does not have any sort of poisoning :)

the not so good news is that the vet reckons theres a faur chance of angel having acquired tapeworm, which would explain the sluggishness and ferocious appetite. so it will be fun and games tomorrow with pon and a double dose of strongid-p followed by 2 days stabling to make sure she disposses of the remains in a suitable fashion. im not sure how she contracted the tapeworm, as both her and her pals ate on a strict worming schedule and she looks fine conditionwise ...

vet also reckons she suffers from asthma/copd and said if she doesnt pick up after worming to tr her on an inhaler. i am very confused about the latter and hope it wont come to that :( has anone experience in horse asthma inhalers?? i felt very stupid quizzing the vet aboutn them, but i had honestly nbever even heard of the concept before! i am already conjuring up horrible images of me and angel sharing a puff on the old Ventilin ...

julia

[Em 1]

I'm really glad the blood tests were okay. Hope she takes the Strongid-P alright ;) :)

As for the asthma, I wouldn't worry too much about it at the moment. We had an old horse on loan from the riding school. He would start wheezing at the beginning of the summer, they would up his Salbutamol and he would be fine. It never seemed to cause him distress and was easily controllable once you knew what to look for. By the way, you an Angel may well be sharing Ventolin (salbutamol) :D The drug is the same for human and horse - we gave it in liquid form to the horse but you can get a sort of 'Spacer' (Volumatic) device for horses that fits over their nostrils and then you give them a few puffs just like with human drugs!!

Anyway, good luck and I hope everything goes well tomorrow :)

[popdog]

Glad the blood tests came back ok...hope the worming went as well as could be expected!

My horse is asthmatic too, I only found this out about two months ago. He had been breathing heavily (I thought he couldn't handle the hot weather) and then he had a big asthma attack.

The vet came out and gave him a course of Ventapulim (sp?) which is a liquid bronchial dialator that was mixed in with his feed. The vet said if he had further problems then we'd have to consider an inhaler and also immuno therapy.

After the course of Ventapulmin finished I started giving him NAF Respirase in his feeds. So far we've not had any problems and not needed an inhaler :D

There is a pony on my yard who has an inhaler and yes, it is the same stuff that humans get. They put a a little mask over her nose and she breaths a few puffs from the inhaler quite happily. She is a very competitive little mare and is out every weekend at shows, so the asthma hasn't stopped her from leading a full and active life.

[notpoodle]

enden up giving her the wormer over the stable door, ahem. tried directly, she wnt mad, but got it all in eventually :) is it normal for horses to be allzonked after a double dose of wormer? angel has barely touched her hay since she got the wormer! she does take eg carrots by hand quite happily though! she had one poo all afternoon only and i walked her round quite a bit for that. i hope she wont colic or anything on thre wormer! she has been fine with worming before, but today was the first time ther was acdtually anything to DO for the wormer. she is just stanhding around in the stable with a big floppy lip and not moving. mind you, she was in a field with grass last night, so she has probabl stuffed her face and might not be hungry. what do you think?

julia

[nutkin]

if she is normally out then she may be feeling a bit depressed however if there is a large burden of worms then yes they do sometimes colic after being wormed. It happened to my friends youngster. He seemed very depressed and kept laying down. I knew something wasn't quite right with him and called my friend who called the vet. He had to have his system flushed through but made a rapid recovery afterwards.

[notpoodle]

she hasnt layed down or tried to lie down. she is just not reall moving at all, just standing there quite lethargically. mind you that started the second i had out the second wormer syringe in. wormers dont act THAT fast do they? itr might be the heat maybe. i will chewck her again later on my way into town and see if she made any more poos. she has been farting though, i guess that is a good sign?

julia

[nutkin]

im sure its probably not colic. Like I say its more likely cos she wants to go out or else because she is cross at having to have a double dose. Yes the farting is a good sign.

[Mehitabel]

i've used inhalers on horses before, yes. you wil get given a mask that straps onto her head like a gas mask, and you puff the inhaler into that. nebuliser? is that the word?

i wouldn't be too worried though - there are a bunch of things you can do before that - the inhalers are for fairly severe copd. if the vet wants to do that straight off, ask why you're not being given ventipulmin or sputolosin first - they're the most common first course of action.

the old git wheezes quite badly in the heat though, has done for a few years now, and we have several who hyperventilate when they get too hot. we normally have them in during the day in a cool stable, soaked hay to make sure they get enough water into them, and out at night when it's cool. i'd go down those routes first before assuming it's copd. she's a stocky girl and may well get uncomfy being too hot.

[notpoodle]

i posted a reply a while back but cant see it on this computer (am at someone elses house with a laptop cos my adsl in new flat still isnt working, grr).

i went back again to check her .... she made another poo (thank god!) and was perky enough to try and nibble my hair! so hopefully she is on the mend!!


julia

*edit* now that i can actually see the new replies :)

the vet just said it was copd from what i gather (my friend's notes, as i couldnr be there myself). she has soaked hay anways, but there arent any really cool stables at the yard unfortunately ... checked her breathing today, it seemed within the normal the vet told me. im not sure i have done it right though, as i dont have a stopwatch :rolleyes:

i guess if she was going to colic on the wormer, she would have done so by now ...

about the copd again ... when i spoke to the vet on the phone for the blood results etc she started talking about inhalers right away :rolleyes: but she also said her respitory rate was only 'a little high' .... im very confused now!!! spoke to someone at the yard who is a vet in training (in her 3rd year or something), she also said that ventopulmin normally comes first and that maybe m vets practice just wanted to shift some of their gas masks .... not sure what to make of that!

i dont think she likes the heat much (most of them dont at the yard), and it also makes the field a little dusty. she hasnt actually been coughing though

[Mehitabel]

well, obviously i wasn't there, but it seems a bit of a hasty diagnosis, especially given the weather today. honestly, a lot of horses suffer in the heat, they do heave or breathe faster and deeper. i'm puffing and sweating from a lot less exertion than i would if it were 5 degrees cooler.
i'm not saying ignore it it's perfectly normal, just a bit surprised that given the temperature, angel's build, the fact she wears a fly rug, the vet would immediately assume copd rather than suffering in the heat.

perhaps call the vet to discuss it?

[notpoodle]

it wasnt the usual vet, but a 'supply vet' lady, because the normal one that comes is on holiday :rolleyes: this vet had never seen angel before and i was thinking the diagnosis might have been a little hasty maybe ...

she did cough a bit in the winter and the normal vet said it was a mild dust allergy, we then switched to shavings and soaked hay and she hasnt been coughing since.

ill see how it goes once the wormer has done its deed, maybe she was also breathing oddly because i am sure tapeworms are quite a strain on a little pony body.

julia