Ventipulmin dosage

[dmalbone]

I was just wondering what dosage and how often your COPD horses get their ventipulmin. Vet said it's something he may have to stay on a low dose of forever or at least a very extended period of time. He said then again he might not have to. So... I'm just really curious what other copd horses require. His initial "test" dosage I guess you can say is 10cc 2x day for 3 days. If it's not better then 20 cc 2x day for 30 days. This stuff is $$$$ He looks remarkably better this morning after his second dose last night. The first one didn't seem to do much, but he almost looks like a normal horse. Not quite, but really great compared to the ER visit the other night.

[buck22]

I give my horse 5cc when he looks even remotely wheezy (notice a slight nostril flare). When caught early, 5cc is enough, it knocks it out of the park within 2 minutes (it is akin to me taking two pulls on my rescue inhaler, near instant relief). I have a little 20cc syringe, I just draw 5cc in and then squirt it in his mouth. He likes the taste (or realizes it cures him quickly) and pulls the syringe right out of my hand.

my horse does not need to be on it forever (at least at this moment in time, touch wood). Here is my absurdly long story as its just recently reared its ugly head after being absent for years....:no:
perhaps you'll find something useful in it:

ventipulmin is remarkable stuff. My vet prescribed it me 4 years ago the day I thought I was actually going to loose my horse (btw, I have a very similar story as you: my horse was touch n' go for about a month, just as he'd get bad enough that I'd considered calling the vet, he'd improve. Like a fool, I opted to wait n' see, basically because I know my vet is a very very very busy woman and does not like to be called out for anything other than a dire emergency... she is dedicated, informed and a miracle worker, I love her, but too often I feel as if I'm bothering her... in the end I executed poor judgment and waited too long, I should've called sooner, I nearly lost my horse).

When she arrived, she immediately gave him some ventipulmin, 10-20cc I think. That brought him around nearly instantly. I bought a 100ml bottle ($120 irrc), and she instructed that should he become wheezy again, I should do 10cc once per day (either 5/5 or all 10 at once) for 5 days, if he's not better, then call her. Nipping in the bud and never allowing it advance to even nearly this stage again was the protocol.

We discussed other options, management, etc, but also discussed albuterol. (IIRc, long-term useage of ventipulmin was never discussed, it was a rescue option. For long-term chronic, she actually would prescribe a mask and albuterol treatments, basically a horse nebulizer, though I don't remember if an oxygen tank was needed like for humans...)

I learned that I could administer my own albuterol inhaler for him. The first time he became wheezy, I tried albuterol instead of the ventipulmin (because it was so frightfully expensive, I wanted to 'save' it for when I really needed it). It worked really well (though getting him to accept being puffed up the nostril was a bit of a challenge :lol:). So well that in 4 years i never used the ventipulmin.

Two other products (in addition to management) really helped, omegahorseshine ground flax and finish line "air power". I discovered the OHS in a oddly timely issue of Perfect Horse magazine, they had discussed it as being a possible benefit for heaves. I tried it, it appeared to have worked, so he's been on it daily for the last 4 years. The finish line its just super strong menthol that really clears the pipes... I take it when I get a sneezy fit and get that tight feeling in my pipes. We both like it a lot.

This year has been horrible and damp. Pollen and mold has been uber high and about once a week I'll show up and he'll sound like darth vader.

I went to reach for my albuterol for him the first time, but discovered it was empty (my asthma has been near vanished since I quit smoking last year, yeah me! but lately I too am getting wheezy from the molds, etc, so i'm now on advair as of last week). So, I reached for the un-opened bottle of ventiplumin and have seen how amazingly well it works. The first time I gave it to him, I gave him 7cc (not quite wanting to go full dose). My horse broke out into a full body sweat within 5 min. Dumbfounded and panicking (for giving my horse 4 year old med), I called my vet, she said its a uncommon but known side effect. My horse was happy as a clam (thrilled actually because he was breathing so well so quickly) and completely oblivious to being soaked to his skin. ventipulmin apparently has a nice long shelf life :)

I wish you the best of luck, copd/asthma is so scary... it comes on so fast and can be so deadly serious so quickly. The best remedy is like management in yourself, the instant you notice any tightness of breathing, knock it out of the park. Its when the inflammation is allowed to linger and hang around that things can go downhill at the blink of an eye. good luck

[fivehorses]

I was prescribed 5cc two times a day by my vet. It took a few hours to kick in. The horse weighs about a 1,000 pounds.

When she has been bad, she has also been given a shot of dex.

I purchased a 330ml bottle of clenbuterol for $177 from my vet.

Now that I have it on hand, I do give her 5 cc if I hear her coughing.

As I said in another thread, I switched her to second cut grass hay, I think she is allergic to something in 1st cut since 2 years in a row, same time, she has had an attack.

Its a horrible experience to come upon your horse nostrils flaring, whole body heaving to breathe.

[dmalbone]

OMG... that makes me nauseous. I paid $135 for a 100mL bottle from my vet (along with a $50 tube of banamine for another horse... yes you read that right... $50) I was actually just reading through the threads on getting a written prescription from your vet. His prices are absolutely ridiculous.

[Liberty]

OMG... that makes me nauseous. I paid $135 for a 100mL bottle from my vet (along with a $50 tube of banamine for another horse... yes you read that right... $50) I was actually just reading through the threads on getting a written prescription from your vet. His prices are absolutely ridiculous.

Yikes. Yep, those prices sound a bit excessive. The vet I had at the time (2005) sold me Ventipulmin for $97 per 100 ml bottle. Thing is, at the rate he prescribed it (can't remember exactly what it was), I had to run up to his clinic twice in about a week and a half to buy two more bottles.

Then I saw that online vet pharmacies were offering a larger bottle (330 ml) for substantially cheaper, and I (very politely) asked my vet why he hadn't just sold me the larger bottle to begin with. He said he should have and issued a credit to my account for the difference.

As for the Banamine, he sold me a couple tubes for $34/each. Since it was for a mare that was going to need it continuously for a month, the vet did write me a prescription to get it online for cheaper upon my request.

My current vet charges $32 for a tube of Banamine.

[Blinkers On]

I was just wondering what dosage and how often your COPD horses get their ventipulmin. Vet said it's something he may have to stay on a low dose of forever or at least a very extended period of time. He said then again he might not have to. So... I'm just really curious what other copd horses require. His initial "test" dosage I guess you can say is 10cc 2x day for 3 days. If it's not better then 20 cc 2x day for 30 days. This stuff is $$$$ He looks remarkably better this morning after his second dose last night. The first one didn't seem to do much, but he almost looks like a normal horse. Not quite, but really great compared to the ER visit the other night.

Those doses are waaay too huge and it is expensive depending on location and size of bottle ond country. It is a HUGE expense with the growing popularity with female body builders as it has an anabolic effect and is used for "cutting." It burns fat especially in females. That in part is a reason for the expensive nature of the medication.
You have to lower your dose. heart attack can be a side effect of the clen and there are obvious reasons why...

[fivehorses]

I think I have to agree, sounds like an awful high dose.
what does the bottle say for dosage?

[dmalbone]

I don't know about the label. Its over there and has the vet label on it. I'm on my way over there now. He's gotten 10 ccs twice a day so far, not the 20. I believe the website said for his weight it should be 5ccs, but I just looked really quicke before I left. Would walking him around help the agitation or do you think I should be concerned about him getting too worked up and exerted? I don't want him to have a heart attack. :(

[fivehorses]

IMO, read the label and dose per the label. This is a situation I would take the matter into my own hands, and not follow vets orders.
As a very esteemed vet once told me, You are your horse's advocate, not me. His health and safety rest with you, not me.

I would also ask the vet why the diversion from the manufacture's label?

I was told 5 cc's twice a day for 15 days when I brought her to an equine clinic for a work up. my mare was so bad, the local vet suggested euthanasia. The vet who had prescribed the 5 cc's was from NEE(the clinic where I had her worked up), and I highly respect and trust her and that clinic. The following year when she had her second attack, my local vet provided me with the clenbeuterol, but did not prescribe an amount since I told her what the NEE vet had prescribed the previous year when she had an attack.
good luck.

[Gbryelle]

Ventipulmin information...is this what you are giving him?

http://www.bi-vetmedica.com/sites/default/files/ventipulmin_syrup_rp.pdf

[MissCapitalSplash]

My heavey mare was on ventipulmin when we lived in FL. Prior to moving to FL, she had no issues whatsoever. She did well on 10 ml/day initially then reduced to 5 ml/day and then 5 ml every other day. Once I moved her back up to MA, I have had to give her ventipulmin once.
She was also on dex when in FL, and the amt was scary, I am very lucky she did not suffer any side effects from it!

[AKB]

We give our 1500 lb horse 12cc of Ventipulmin/clenbuterol twice a day if he has symptoms. If I give it more than a few days in a row, the Ventipulmin seems to decrease in effectiveness. In humans, this is a well documented problem with beta agonist meds like albuterol and clenbuterol. Apparently, in horses this is also an issue. I would question why a vet would want you to give Ventipulmin every day. It is expensive, even from the catalogues, and you need it to work when you give it.