Breathing problems

Advice needed please , my 17 year old mare is having problems breathing , she was iagnosed with COPD many years ago but since arriving in France (2006) she has only had, two episodes , one whilst in foal and the other 3months ago , the vet put it own to an allergic reaction to oil seed rape pollen ,( this problem has now gone ), her breathing got better after ventipulmen treatment and she has had no problems for the last 6 weeks , then this evening her breathing is bad again. She lives out 24/7 and at the moment has a small feed twice a day and soaked hay,would her breathing be down to the very dry weather we are having ? is there anything else i can do for her , she's in gentle exercise but i'm worried i might ruin her lungs, do i put her back on ventipulmen or is there a better alternative available?

Hi ponycatz, I think with your mares history and her age I would stick to what you know for this episode and then maybe research an alternative when she is improved. I would think it very likely that the extraordinary weather this year would contribute to her breathing difficulties.
Fingers crossed she improves, keep us posted.
pen

the dry weather can make any breathing problem worse, even my human asthma, also other plants or allergens could be kicking in.

i had a pony years ago also violently allergic to rape seed, sadly for him it was a few years before we found out just what it was that triggered his allergy.
i used to use a steam bag with friars balsam
(benzobenzoate? - spelling may be off here)
or a steam bucket to help his breathing,

on some bad days i found putting him in a stable which had been hosed out, walls & floor & was still wet with a wet sack hanging over the open top door helped, he was happy in there with some carrots, potatoes other veg and *onions to nibble on, sponging his eyes & nostrils helped too as did putting a wet towel over his face,he did have ventapulmin powder & i even once or twice used an old ventalin inhaler of mine to give him a shot up the nostrils he was so bad he would accept all this.

* an old gypsy told me about using onions as a feed, apparently it helps with the inflamation, if it did or not i can't proove but he liked them so what the heck!

there have been lots of improvements in this field, my poor old lad was over 20y ago when 'windy' ponies usually just got put down, some of the anti-histamines are good to stop the reaction starting which we did not have available for my pony back then, as an asthmatic myself i can say it is better if you can to prevent the start than to try to calm the reaction, good luck she is lucky to have a caring owner. bye [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]