Breathing too fast / heaving

notpoodle

notpoodle

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Jul 16, 2003
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Angel has a dust allergy and can be a bit weezy at the best of times. When she comes in in the winter she's on mats with shavings and gets soaked hay as advised by the vet. She's also on Global Herb's Airways Plus. She's been doing fine over the winter.

Summerfields are now open and she is out 24/7 (am keeping an eye on the waistline, of course). Bizzarely, her weeziness seems to be getting worse. She's been breathing hard-ish for a couple of days (gave her the benefit of the doubt as it was quite hot on some of those days!).

Yesterday she was breathing harder than usual (no coughing, no snottiness, no audible 'weezing' sounds) at a standstill :rolleyes: it wasn't particularly hot yesterday either :rolleyes:

I will get the vet out, but was wondering what on earth could be causing this? pollen? an infection?

Julia
(worried!)
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I know a horse who is allergic to everything and he only goes out at night in the summer as the pollen is to high during the day. Could be that. I think the vet puts a tube into their lungs and then put some liquid in and takes that away to be tested. It's something like that and it has a proper name. My vet costs around £150 for that! Mnd you if she's not coughing then that could be something different.
 
no, she isnt coughing at all, eyes are bright and clear, nostrils aren't snotty either. she's 14 now, so surely if it was an allergy someone somewhere would have picked that up by now? or can these things just appear?

Julia
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I understood that allergies are often to more than one thing; it can be difficult to identify all triggers though. But to start in her "middle years" sounds odd. Is she fine in every other way eg appetite, mood?
 
yep, shes eating and seems fine in herself. just worried as her breathing has never been as bad as it was last night, she was standing there, nostrils flaring and almost rocking back and forth because she was breathing so hard :(

she seems better this morning (just checked with someonme whos at the yard) but ill get the vet out anyway i think!

Julia
 
just booked the vet for tomorrow. i hope they will find something and not 'do an NHS' (oh, just wait and see, thats 50 quid please ...). what would a vet be looking for for breathing issues? just out of interest.

Julia
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my only experience is when a horse is vetted they lung and then listen with a stethescope, and when my sisters pony got pnewmonia (how do you spell that??)
he was wheezing and rattleing when he breathed, we could hear it ourselves. the vet listened with a stethescope, took his temperature and said he had pneumonia (that looks better)
i guess they look for breathing rate, and how much noise they make when they breathe.
all i can think of is Angel has an allergy but it seems a real puzzle doesn't it?
is her field near any rapeseed fields, i've heard that rapeseed pollen can be an allergen.
Some allergy bloke on gmtv was saying that tree pollen was about this time of year too
sorry i can't be of any help :(
 
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Beryl tends to get a cough this time of year. It isn't as bad as Angel's sounds like though. She doesn't cough at all in the winter and normally goes away in a couple of months. I think it is all the pollen that is around. This year I am trying her on NAF's Easy Breathe which does seem to be helping. I put Gydja on it when she got a cough during the winter and it really helped her as well.
 
I'd guess the vet may be listening / examining for various clues...

sounds of excess fluid / muck rattling around in lungs - could be infection (eg bronchitis / pneumonia) or allergy, also can get fluid in lungs if heart not working well for long time (congestive heart failure). Can you press on her ribcage without her flinching? Is she depressed / off food?

tighter, narrower airways ?due to allergy

full expansion of both lungs - if not, could be due infection in that area / lobe of lung

temperature - up in infection

heart rate.

Has she had any new drugs recently? eg possible severe reaction? Vet book also mentions to rule out severe anaemia.

Good luck and hope she's better soon! I had my cat collapse breathless the other week and it's horrid when they're that ill...
 
just to clarify again: she is not coughing.

she's on global herbs airways plus and perfectly fine other wise (eating, is alert etc). she isnt on any drugs and gets a balanced diet (all purpose supplement plus grass), so shouldnt be anaemic. shes not sensitive on her ribcage or anything.

the mind boggles ...

Julia
 
My horse has an 'allergy to the environment' according to my vet. They can't specifically tell what with. She's on haylage and has an inhailer (the brown one humans have- as perscribed by vet)....and if it gets really bad shes on ventapulmin (as pescribed). She was a bit wheezy at the beginning of Spring, so we just got some good old ventapulmin and it cleared it up.

She also had a tube put down her nose and I got to see inside her! wow! They took a sample and the vet said hers was the worst he'd ever seen.

Her allegy only started last year, just like some people can get hayfever later on in life.

Well anyway to the point. I think getting the vet out is the right thing to do.
 
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all I can say is the tree pollen is out like billy-o at the moment as the sun has finally shone, its a very powerful allergen, at my yard you can see it floating around in the air.
Click to expand...
poor thing has a lot to battle against at the mo - did you see this was even in the news today, it's so bad over East of England - due to lots of rain then very warm, the pollen counts have rocketed! See...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4760885.stm
 
right, vet's been this morning (complete with vet student! they reminded me of the detective pair in Midsomer Murders :D ).

Angel had to breathe in a plastic bag (once she discovered there wasnt anything tasty in the bag she got annoyed with it fairly quickly!) and was prodded, had her temperature taken (which was fine) etc.

vet isnt sure what exactly is causing it but confirmed that her breathing is quite dodgy (too fast, irregular, doesnt sound clear) :( some sort of COPD i guess (since he said to keep her out as much as possible!).

she got an anti-infammatory injection (steroids. she was a VERY good girl for the needle for a change!) and will be on ventapulmin for two weeks (which involves relying on good samaritans to give her that in the morning as i cant get to the yard before work .... I WANT A CAR! I WANT IT NOW!). she musn't be exercised/ridden for at least two weeks (hope she doesnt balloon!!).

i feel sick just thinking about the bill already :(

Julia
x

ps: glad i wasnt imagining it though and just put it down the the weather as there IS something wrong.
 
eurgh. i hope it wont be a permanent thing :eek: that'd be like 60 quid a tub ... i hope she'll improve in the two weeks she's on the stuff!

whats actually in ventapulmin? excuse my ignorance, but all i know its something thats commonly prescribed for respiratory problems.

Julia
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