[RC] animals and smoke inhalation - Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVM
Since the topic has arisen about the So Cal wildfires, for
those that were in the affected fire areas, and/or those that were subjected to
the extremely smoky air quality conditions, may I suggest that owners be really
generous about giving these horses time off to recover before asking them for
vigorous exercise again. Performance horses REALLY depend on a healthy
respiratory system, and the effects of smoke can take 4-6 weeks to heal,
depending on the exposure. If stressed (and my personal opinion of ‘stressed’
would be exercise that would make them break a sweat) while the respiratory tissues
are still irritated, the results can be permanent injury and decrease in
performance and health. Same goes for humans, dogs, etc. Animals
with respiratory irritation are also more prone to secondary bacterial
infections, so something else to consider.
Just a thought that for those that got a good dose of the
smoke (and if you live in So Cal, then didn’t we all), don’t be in
a hurry to get back to conditioning and hard exercise. A thousand or so
extra units of vitamin E for a 1000 lb horse, or any good blend of antioxidants
for a few weeks wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. If any animal seems
to be having difficulty breathing, coughing, is running a fever or otherwise
seems sick, get some veterinary help. My hospital is just now unloading
its share of animals recovering from varying degrees of smoke inhalation this
past week (God bless steroids and oxygen).
