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Are you sure your horse has emphysema and not asthma? Classic "heaves" in
horses is in reality asthma and can be handled in much the same manner as
asthma in humans. Case in point, several olympian athletes suffer from
asthma, but their accomplishments are commendable.
I personally have a miniature horse with severe asthma. This poor baby is
16 and his breathing was so labored we were seriously considering
euthanasia. We purchased an equine aerosol mask that allows us to
administer inhaled bronchodilators and steroids the same way humans are
treated. We started with 3 times a day, and as he improved gradually
decreased the treatments to once every three days, and now only as needed
which can be once a month. We always pretreat him before exercise,
trailering, or any other stressful situation (like clipping). Many people
have seen him at rides with us and have heard his severe attacks. Within
5 minutes of treatment he is perfectly normal.
I do not know how the endurance community views the inhaled medications.
They are permissible in the olympics at certain levels. This little horse
has gone from living death to a happy active life. His name has been
changed from simply "Prancer" to "Canter Prancer" because my son flies
down the trail yelling "Canter Prancer" all day. We took him to the Old
Dominion with us and this little miniature climbed the mountains and
crossed rivers carrying my 7 year old who weighs in at a whopping 55 lbs.
Somebody forgot to tell him he is small and has asthma.
Other accomodations we have made for him which help tremendously
1. NO BEDDING! All shavings, chips, etc, have fumes and he
cannot breathe with them. We use only white sand.
2. Hay is put on the ground. Not in overhead hay racks where it
can fall into his face while eating.
3. Periodically cleaning the walls of his stall with bleach to
kill all mold, which is rampant here in Florida.
4. Pay close attention to conditions which trigger labored
breathing and anticipate the situations. If you treat the
horse early you will use less medication in the long run as
asthma is a cascading disease, which once triggered will
continue to worsen.
All of these are the same principles that govern the management of asthma
in humans, and the same ones I use in handling my son who is also
asthmatic. If you saw either of them in action, you would never know they
are asthmatic, they are happy, ACTIVE! (emphasize ACTIVE) beings.
I am at the office so I do not have the manufacturer's name and address
with me for the mask. You can e-mail me privately, or I will try to
remember to post it tomorrow. Our veterinarian writes the prescriptions
which can be filled anywhere.
Good luck with your horse. Even if she cannot compete, trust me she can
continue to live a normal life with just some extra care!
As a side note, I think the use of inhaled bronchodilators for asthmatic
horses is an issue the veterinary community needs to address. If olympic
athletes can compete with asthma, why not horses?
Lynn
L. M. Crespo
lynn@hpd.acast.nova.edu
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