FAQ – Wildfires

What to do for your horse when exposed to wildfire smoke: https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/guidelines-horses-exposed-wildfire-smoke

https://www.facebook.com/groups/277077519400687/permalink/821564121618688

Evacuating horses in wildfires:
https://www.facebook.com/UCDavisVERT/posts/4338771162860788

Nebulization Therapy:

Nebulization should only be done at the direction of a veterinarian. Silver has had no controlled or peer reviewed studies in horses to ensure its safety. In fact, reviews of the literature indicate that silver causes inflammation and can translocate and become embedded in other organs after inhalation (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284799/). Until studies have been performed to confirm the safety of silver nanoparticle inhalation, we cannot condone this practice.

Inhalation of essential oils can also be dangerous and should not be done.

If you are convinced that nebulizer therapy is needed and you cannot get a hold of your veterinarian, ensure that the person who is doing the nebulization therapy sterilizes the nebulizer tubing and mask between each patient. Risk of transmitting respiratory disesases such as strangles, EHV-1/4, influenza, etc are real and possible. With at least strangles, there are asymptomatic carriers – just like COVID.

We could only recommend the nebulization of sterile saline. Any other respiratory therapy needs to be directed by your veterinarian.

Use of over the counter respiratory aids such as Wind Aid, Aleira, or SmartBreathe Ultra, or any paste with eucalyptus can be helpful as well.

If you see that your horse is having trouble breathing or is coughing excessively, please ring your veterinarian.

When to return to exercise after a wildfire: From: https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/guidelines-horses-exposed-wildfire-smoke

“Give your horse ample time to recover from smoke-induced airway insult. Airway damage resulting from wildfire smoke takes 4-6 weeks to heal. Ideally, plan on giving your horse that amount of time off from the time when the air quality returns to normal. Attempting exercise may aggravate the condition, delay the healing process, and compromise your horse’s performance for many weeks or months. While we recognize that owners and trainers of sport horses may want to return to work sooner than 4-6 weeks, Dr. Kent Pinkerton* recommends that horses return to exercise no sooner than 2 weeks post smoke-inhalation, following the clearance of the atmosphere of all smoke. Horses, like all other mammals, tend to have an irritation to particles, but will recover from the effects within a few days. With the devastation at San Luis Rey Downs (where 46 horses died, mostly from fire or smoke inhalation), it would be wise give the horses a break from exercise and then to gradually re-introduce them back to their routine exercise. On December 10, 2017, Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director at the UC Davis Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and at the California Horse Racing Board, issued an advisory on behalf of the CHRB regarding horses at the Del Mar racetrack.:
• Air quality index (AQI) is used to gauge exercise/athlete event recommendations for human athletes. It may be reasonable to use those for equine athletes as well. For example, the National Collegiate Athletic Association lists the following recommendations on their website: “Specifically, schools should consider removing sensitive athletes from outdoor practice or competition venues at an AQI over 100. At AQIs of over 150, all athletes should be closely monitored. All athletes should be removed from outdoor practice or competition venues at AQIs of 200 or above.” During the Napa area fires, the Napa Valley Unified School District used the AQI to determine when students should return to school. They recommended 2 weeks off based on the AQI which was over 400 and took more than 10 days to resume normalcy.”

Also see: https://www.orequine.com/blogs/wildfire-smoke-inhalation-and-returning-your-horse-to-work?fbclid=IwAR0BpR6ZIQh13Bh_dTVHygPVj6L9NK1Ro9XFu31FkWAnnmVN_DnKIN-VAyA for details on bringing a horse back to work after the fires.

#HVCwildfires

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