# Experience of coughing/summer allergies...



## sydney (31 August 2012)

(Also in New Lounge)

Any advice or happy ending stories please 

My Cob has had been coughing and short of breath for about 6 weeks now. Vet came out initially and gave him an injection, Danillon and Ventipulmin. Didn't do anything. Vet been again- on another Ventipulmin and Sputisomethingorother. 

Only had it in three feeds so far-after very very careful mixing of feed and holding bucket to ensure he ate every last bit! (meds at £60 a pop- wowsas!)

On the last visit vet mentioned she'd be willing to try antihistamines but she didn't rate them herself. She recommended scoping but as I understand it it might not tell us a great deal...? Correct me if I'm wrong- I have alot to learn about this.

She also mentioned steriods but didn't think they'd be suitable- he has a history of laminitis.

The laminitis is managed with diet and exercise but now he is on a postage stamp whilst he can't be ridden- and looking mightily peed off. 

Feel utterly crap. Please send any spare get well vibes to Sid please (we're in Derbyshire).
Ta.


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## racebuddy (31 August 2012)

Hi my show horse suffers with his breathing more in summer when fields getting cut ext he started same as yours coughing and exercise intolerance we had him on ventipulnin initially and the spudaloson as had muscus on his lungs we then after a course of that scoped him which showed he had allergic airway disease luckily he has not needed any meds for couple of years now just management x I def would go down the route of scoping if no improvement hope this helps a little x


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## sydney (1 September 2012)

thankyou thats really helpful! 
So good to hear that you can stil ride!

When you mention management- do you you soak hay? Is he out or stabled predominantly?

Thankies!


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## racebuddy (1 September 2012)

Hi sorry for late reply he is stabled at night all year round and out in day for few hours if fields getting cut ect he stays in , he is my show horse who does county circuit so not used to having all day t/o also on haylage and shavings bed also rub Vicks on his rugs also x hope this helps feel free to ask any more questions x


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## sydney (2 September 2012)

Ah thankyou for that!!!


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## TJP (2 September 2012)

One of mine coughs in trot and occasionally in the field. Sometime she has a nasal discharge which can be anything between clear to a green glue like substance! She has had 3 antibiotics, nasal swabs, steroids, respirate and is going for lung wash & scope on wed or thu this week. She also has a habit of holding grass in the roof of her mouth which can be coughed out 30 mins into a hack and sometimes stains the nasal discharge. Weather, cold & management don't seem to make a difference. Fingers crossed we finally get to the bottom of it with the scope and wash. It's a horrible time when you don't know what is going on. Was hoping to hunt her but not looking likely at the minute.


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## sydney (3 September 2012)

Oh God- thats really sad!  Feel your pain! Best of luck with the wash and scope! Really hope you manage to get to the bottom of it!


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## TRECtastic (3 September 2012)

the first spring i owned my cob he started coughing really bad , had the vet out who put him on ventapulmin 
he was diagnosed with an allergy to spring grass & tree pollen
since that first spring i have had him on clarity which has really helped him , he lives out all year round but has soaked hay or haylage in the winter 
you can have hair tests done if you are interested , i didnt have my horse tested but have had my dog hair tested 
there is a company on facebook that do it


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## seoirse (4 September 2012)

Hi all, very interested to read all this, my horse has been coughing intermittently and a bit lacklustre for about 5 or so weeks now, the cough got a bit worse two weeks ago so the vet came out and hes had 10 days of ventipulmin, he seemed fine and was a bit brighter and hadnt coughed for a week til last night when I had a lesson, we only worked him lightly, mostly in walk and trot with lots of rests and about 25 mins in he really started to cough in trot and sounded like he had loads of mucus. I gave him a canter round the school, it seemed to clear, carried on with lesson and 5 mins later he was gurgling and spluttering again. Ive called the vet this morning she thinks it might be pollen/allergic type response. She is going to come back out later this week. Horse is 15 years old and has always lived in with minimal turnout but now lives out 24/7 with haylage (hay makes him cough anyway). He has always been the sort to have a bit of a cough when you get going but it normally clears after a couple of laps round the school then he is fine. Very baffled by the new cough, and the sluggishness is the most worrying part of it.
How on earth do I go about managing the allergy? Id be interested to have the name of the company doing the hair testing as its worth a try.


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## Gorgeous George (4 September 2012)

I don't know if this helps at all but my boy was diagnosed with COPD in January (he was scoped and had a tracheal wash to get the diagnosis) He is in at night and out during the day. Changed his management by bedding him on woodchips instead of straw, soaking his hay and feeding it from floor/hay bar (never a net) and moving him to an outdoor stable (he was in a barn before).

He then had a 3 week course of inhaled steroids (flixotide) and then moved onto a different inhaler (beclametasone). This really helped him and his condition improved greatly, unfortunately when the hawthorn/rapeseed was in flower he went downhill (I/vet suspect this is an additional pollen allergy) and had to have a 10 day course of declametasone injections (steroid) followed by a 6 weeks tapering course of declametasone tablet along with his inhaler. Had to keep a close eye out for any signs of lami or infection, but thankfully all was well and they really did the trick 

In July he was scoped again and this time the results came back clear  so I then slowly tapered his inhaler puffs down from 20 a day and now he is on nothing  and is doing really well. We jump, xc, dressage, hack etc. with no problem. The vet suspects that in the winter when he can't go out as much he may need his inhaler again, but now we have things under control as long as I start using the inhaler as soon as he shows symptoms then hopefully we can keep things under control with a minimal dose.

Good luck


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## TRECtastic (4 September 2012)

seoirse said:



			Id be interested to have the name of the company doing the hair testing as its worth a try.


Click to expand...

the person that does the hair test has got a group on facebook called 'the natural medicine man' 
it was recommended to me by a friend who had had her dogs hair tested


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## TJP (5 September 2012)

Scope and wash on my mate this morning. Looks like a infection deep in her lungs. Tests away to lab so fingers crossed it can be sorted with the correct antibiotic.


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## seoirse (5 September 2012)

Good luck TJP, hope they can her sorted soon. Vets been again to my horse too as after 10 days on ventipulmin and no coughing he has started again so he's got sputolysin this time to try and clear the mucus as he is gurgling when he coughs now!!
I found out the hair testing is £30 a go.


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## sydney (6 September 2012)

seoirse said:



			Hi all, very interested to read all this, my horse has been coughing intermittently and a bit lacklustre for about 5 or so weeks now, the cough got a bit worse two weeks ago so the vet came out and hes had 10 days of ventipulmin, he seemed fine and was a bit brighter and hadnt coughed for a week til last night when I had a lesson, we only worked him lightly, mostly in walk and trot with lots of rests and about 25 mins in he really started to cough in trot and sounded like he had loads of mucus. I gave him a canter round the school, it seemed to clear, carried on with lesson and 5 mins later he was gurgling and spluttering again. Ive called the vet this morning she thinks it might be pollen/allergic type response. She is going to come back out later this week. Horse is 15 years old and has always lived in with minimal turnout but now lives out 24/7 with haylage (hay makes him cough anyway). He has always been the sort to have a bit of a cough when you get going but it normally clears after a couple of laps round the school then he is fine. Very baffled by the new cough, and the sluggishness is the most worrying part of it.
How on earth do I go about managing the allergy? Id be interested to have the name of the company doing the hair testing as its worth a try.


Click to expand...

Feeling your pain love!  Let me know if you get any joy with hair testing. If I find any worthwhile cures I'll let you know.

Have been putting abit of Vics Vapour rub on his nose before exercising- could be me but I think it helps!




TJP said:



			Scope and wash on my mate this morning. Looks like a infection deep in her lungs. Tests away to lab so fingers crossed it can be sorted with the correct antibiotic.
		
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Hope things are looking up for you!




TRECtastic said:



			since that first spring i have had him on clarity which has really helped him
		
Click to expand...

Have a fortnights worth of antihistamines to try once he's finished Ventipulmin- fingers crossed we get a similar result! 





Gorgeous George said:



			I don't know if this helps at all but my boy was diagnosed with COPD in January (he was scoped and had a tracheal wash to get the diagnosis) He is in at night and out during the day. Changed his management by bedding him on woodchips instead of straw, soaking his hay and feeding it from floor/hay bar (never a net) and moving him to an outdoor stable (he was in a barn before).

He then had a 3 week course of inhaled steroids (flixotide) and then moved onto a different inhaler (beclametasone). This really helped him and his condition improved greatly, unfortunately when the hawthorn/rapeseed was in flower he went downhill (I/vet suspect this is an additional pollen allergy) and had to have a 10 day course of declametasone injections (steroid) followed by a 6 weeks tapering course of declametasone tablet along with his inhaler. Had to keep a close eye out for any signs of lami or infection, but thankfully all was well and they really did the trick 

In July he was scoped again and this time the results came back clear  so I then slowly tapered his inhaler puffs down from 20 a day and now he is on nothing  and is doing really well. We jump, xc, dressage, hack etc. with no problem. The vet suspects that in the winter when he can't go out as much he may need his inhaler again, but now we have things under control as long as I start using the inhaler as soon as he shows symptoms then hopefully we can keep things under control with a minimal dose.

Good luck 

Click to expand...

Thankyou for that! A happy ending-  There is hope!

So glad you've got it under control and are back in action!

I feel abit bad now whinging after my little taster of breathing problems after reading about your ordeal!!


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## Wagtail (7 September 2012)

You could try him on cetirizine hydrochloride tablets. They cost around £1.20 for 30. My mare gets poor breathing in the summer ever since she had pneumonia. She is fine stabled in the winter so it must be a pollen allergy. When she gets it really bad and is coughing a lot I give her 10 cetirizine tablets in her morning feed and it works wonders.


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## seoirse (7 September 2012)

So were now onto our second tub of venti and also on sputolysin, after the cough didn't quite clear and he was quite gurgly. Otherwise he was fine and the cough wasn't worrying me too much as it wasn't too bad, it was more annoying. However last night he collapsed while trotting on the lunge. Poor thing went down like a lead weight, I wasn't looking at him closely as I was having a conversation with someone stood at the gate so not 100% sure what happened. Either he's had a chemical overload/fainting episode or perhaps he just tripped forward as the surface isn't perfect, he banged his mouth and bit his lip too, which could have dazed him, cos then his back legs buckled and he rolled over onto his side, then sat up. He sat there for a few seconds before getting up, I was wary of approaching too fast incase he was having a heart attack and flattened me! He was blowing hard which was weird as he'd only been lolloping along in trot before it happened and wasn't puffed. Vet was going to come but he made full recovery within 10 mins. She did say there are no documented side effects for sputolysin so perhaps 'blacking out' is one that hasn't been recorded! Part of me wants to take him off it, but maybe he did just trip, banged his nose and ended up in a heap, it does happen I guess.
Pretty cheesed off though! Can't seem to get it right at the moment. :/
On the plus he only coughed once on the lunge and I lunged again this morning (too scared to sit on him now til he's given me a few days without keeling over!) and he only coughed once this morning too.
Horses!!!!


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## sydney (7 September 2012)

Oh my god seoirse- that sounds terrifying! Hope you're both ok!!! Didn't experience any side effects with the meds- though he was quite dopey- more of symptom of the allergic response i think. Persever with the Sputolysin and maybe give him abit of time off while his reaction is particularly bad? 

We've finished sputolysin, just abit of Ventipulmin to go. Started ridden work and touch wood he seems ok. Odd cough and breathing rate is better.

Will start on Phenergan Promethazine Hydrochloride 25mg tablets after, though hopefully we'll be coming out of the pollen season soon.

Wagtail- thanks for the recommendation- if we get any joy with the antihistamines I'll approach the vet about trying cetirizine hydrochloride tablets as a cheaper alternative.


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## TJP (14 September 2012)

Lab results came back today. Looks like an allergy of some sort. On top of that we have viral and bacterial infections. The bacterial infection is only sensitive to 1 antibiotic. Vet and I both going 'where the hell do we start!'. Plan prob 24/7 turnout, antibiotic for 10 days and then attempt to attack the rest of the report. Not looking too promising unfortunately.


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## seoirse (18 September 2012)

How are your horses doing sydney and TJP? Any progress?

We just finished sput and venti and he's been great for the last 10 days, but 48 hours off the meds and he's coughing worse than ever and really lacklustre. Scope and trach wash booked for Fri morning. 

Forgot to add, vet wants to test for cushings, as the test is free at the moment, she said we might as well as that makes them immunosuppressant so it's worth considering as he is 15. I thought cushings was primarily ponies? Anyway, it's worth doing, especially if its free!

Will he have to be sedated to be scoped? Excuse my ignorance, fortunately for me I've never had to go down this path before.


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## TJP (18 September 2012)

It's such a nightmare isn't it. You think youre getting somewhere for it all to fall apart again. My mare had sedation - not a massive amount just enough to chill her and we put her in the vets crush for the exam. Made things a lot easier. She didn't find it too bad but did cough a bit when it was done. Also sneezed during which didn't make the vets job any easier!

We are no further forward unfortunately as the vet is still sourcing the only antib that the bacteria are sensitive too. Fingers crossed we will get some tomorrow. 

Good luck on Fri. Time we had some more good news on this thread x


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## FreddiesGal (18 September 2012)

Hi,

Can't really offer much advice but just wanted to say I know what you're going through and how utterly worrying and annoying it is not to be able to get to the bottom of the problem.

My boy had a severe cough last winter to the point he was having coughing fits for about 3 minutes. He was living out 24/7. I got the vet out and he basically told me he had inflamed lungs and to not ride him for a week. He gave me some pellets to feed him (£60 for one small tub!) some nasal cream to coat his nostrils with (£15 for a tub even smaller!) and a course of anti biotics than I had to inject him with once a day for 7 days. I also started soaking his hay.

The cough got better though he still coughed occasionally.

This summer the cough came back the same as before, to the point I couldn't even ride him in walk without him coughing. By this point we had moved yards but he was still living out 24/7. I called the vet back out, who told me she couldn't find anything physically wrong but to give him a week off (she charged me £55 to tell me that - woopee..)

I've given him 2 weeks off and am praying he's got rid of the cough


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## seoirse (19 September 2012)

They are coming out to do the scope, hopefully he'll be good, he is generally a very easy horse so all being well a bit of sedative and he'll be fine. 

He's now 4 full days off the meds and he trotted down the field to me this morning coughing and spluttering. It's horrible. If he walks everywhere he is fine, but as soon as he goes into 2nd gear he coughs and coughs til he walks again. The plan was to winter him out again, which I will definitely do in light of all this, I think bringing him in might finish him off!

He seems quite happy though, he was frolicking about last night while I was trying to poo pick and had a couple of high speed moments haring up and down, me waving the poo picker to keep him away from me! So he's not feeling too sorry for himself.

Freddiesgal, so sorry to hear about yours as well. Sadly time off seems to make my horse worse rather than better, but we are at the point now where I am afraid to even hack down the lane in walk for fear of damaging his fragile lungs even more. Really hope yours improves for a rest.

Good luck everyone! x


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## FreddiesGal (19 September 2012)

seoirse said:



			Freddiesgal, so sorry to hear about yours as well. Sadly time off seems to make my horse worse rather than better, but we are at the point now where I am afraid to even hack down the lane in walk for fear of damaging his fragile lungs even more. Really hope yours improves for a rest.
		
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Thank you. I'm also dreading getting back on for fear he'll be the same as before. He also regularly has a hooha around the field, yet not once have I heard him cough in there - I'm sure he's worked out if he coughs when I ride him he can get some time off work!

Good luck and let us know what the vet says, it'd be interesting if we could somehow rally together and see if we can nip this in the bud!


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## baran (20 September 2012)

sydney said:



			(Also in New Lounge)

Any advice or happy ending stories please 

My Cob has had been coughing and short of breath for about 6 weeks now. Vet came out initially and gave him an injection, Danillon and Ventipulmin. Didn't do anything. Vet been again- on another Ventipulmin and Sputisomethingorother. 

On the last visit vet mentioned she'd be willing to try antihistamines but she didn't rate them herself. She recommended scopingTa.
		
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Definitely get them scoped as that will give you a proper diagnosis.
I have had two with summer allergies. Neither responded at all to Ventipulmin. Our vet has also said that antihistamines don't seem to be effective for horses.

My first horse was diagnosed in her late teens. She responded very well to an inhaler for several years - we competed regularly but I was always careful to apply the inhaler in public in case people thought the cough was a sign of infection! When the inhaler became ineffective, she was put on oral steroids and continued to work happily before she had to retire with arthritis.

My current pony has responded to a simple change of routine. He is stabled during the day and is turned out overnight which has reduced his exposure to pollen. We also have an inhaler which we have only had to use a couple of times. Vet doesn't want to put him on oral steroids as he reckons there is a slight risk of steroid-induced laminitis in small ponies. He has never experienced it in horses.

The other advice I would give is exercise as much as you can. My vet's advice in both cases was that the fitter they are, the better their lung capacity and ability to cope with any problems.


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## seoirse (20 September 2012)

I'm terrified of the prospect of having to use steroids of any sort after losing a horse to sudden and severe laminitis last year. I'm paranoid enough as it is these days!

I'm hoping the scope and trach wash shows its some bacterial cough that can be dealt with by specific antibiotics. The weird thing is with my horse, he is great on ventipulmin but as soon as he stops having it, the cough is back within 48 hrs. I have noticed my other horse (they are turned out together) seems a bit lacklustre this last couple of weeks too, so I'm wondering if they have a virus?


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## sydney (20 September 2012)

Thankyou all again for taking the time to share your experiences!

Seoirse- best of look with the scoping!!! I hope you eventually get an answer as to what exactly is wrong. So frustrating!

TJP- sounds like you're getting there! Keep us posted on your progress with the antibacs.

Better news from this side- tried the antihistimines and it could be me but they just seemed to make horse incredibly lathargic! Touch wood the coughing is alot better and resps back to normal.  He seems to have a few coughs when I put his bridle on then thats it. I'm trying to get him as fit as I can and planning on doing as much as I can through winter incase this starts again next year! 

Good luck vibes to all!


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## seoirse (21 September 2012)

Hi fellow coughing horse owners.

So had the scope, all fine, doesn't take long and not half as traumatic as I expected it to be. He coughed a bit but generally it was fine. Airways look ok, she said they were a bit pink but nothing terrible, and no lumps or areas of inflammation. There was a bit of mucus, but again not tons, but more than there ought to be, and she did say he sounded more wheezy than last time she saw him (about 3 ish weeks ago). So samples have gone off to the lab, she said they'd have the results on Monday which is awesome as I was expecting her to say a week or 10 days or something. They also tested for cushings as the test is currently free so I thought we might as well.

So, I'll update on Monday when we get the resutls. Horse is now coming round from his sedation in the sick paddock with his target hanging out! 

Good luck to everyone else. xx


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## seoirse (25 September 2012)

So the results are in. I am stunned. He's got cushings! They tested on the off chance as the test is free and the vet said we might as well as it could contribute to poor immunity. They also found bacteria in the trach wash sample, which they are culturing at the moment. He is starting on 1 pergolide a day from tonight. Levels were 192, which doesn't really mean anything to me, other than that 47 is the normal amount for this time of year. 
I am so stunned. He has no symptoms other than not being able to shake this cough and being lethargic. 
Vet reckons he will be a shiny new horse once he gets on the right dose of the meds.
So for those of you battling 'the cough' get the cushings test! Rule it out at least! It's free!!
I am hoping now to see some improvement in my poor boy.


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## fjordgirl75 (6 September 2013)

I've just found myself in a similar situation - was you're ever resolved? My horse has just gone from full livery to living out 24/7 and he has a cough. He did live out from birth to age four no issues. Cough is worse when working but some cough in stable and on hacks.


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## fjordgirl75 (6 September 2013)

i have had him on clarity which has really helped him ,

What is Clarity?


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## fjordgirl75 (6 September 2013)

TRECtastic said:



			the first spring i owned my cob he started coughing really bad , had the vet out who put him on ventapulmin 
he was diagnosed with an allergy to spring grass & tree pollen
since that first spring i have had him on clarity which has really helped him , he lives out all year round but has soaked hay or haylage in the winter 
you can have hair tests done if you are interested , i didnt have my horse tested but have had my dog hair tested 
there is a company on facebook that do it
		
Click to expand...

What is clarity?


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## soulfull (6 September 2013)

Mine had a cough. Vet gave ventipilmun and danilon. No improvement so had antibiotics.  Again no improvement.  I had him scoped and it showed a bacterial infection. So he had specific antibiotics and was fine again in 10 days

Interesting he is on haylage. I am at the
Moment suffering bacterial pneumonia after clearing out the haylage barn

So I really would recommend scoping for both the above and below reasons  

Also as i had him scoped and it was proved to be an infection and not copd or an allergy instance are not excluding it


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## TRECtastic (8 September 2013)

Clarity is a suppliment from feedmark


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## seoirse (12 September 2013)

Sorry for the delay, yes it was resolved eventually, when he went onto prascend and the cushings came under control, he has hardly coughed since and I was nervous when we got to August this year as thats when it started last year, but he's on super form, he's in at night now, and I've been competing and he's barely coughed once. I'd urge anyone who is dealing with poor immunity or poor performance which just doesn't seem to fix, especially at this time of year in a slightly older horse, to test for PPID. The test is free again at the moment I beleive.


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## Lucky Lady (14 September 2013)

Reading these posts I feel for you all! I read in the feeding section that two people having similar problems to you all and had great success with product called Pulmon Ez and no drugs!


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