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| Author |
Message |
    
Laura Swain (Lswain)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Dec 26, 2000 - 10:43 pm: |   |
Hi Dr. O
I've read the discussions on this topic, but have a question or two. I just imported a horse from Holland to Florida and about 7 days after discharge from quarantine, he developed a dry cough-no fever or discharge. Vet came out, lungs sound fine, hay is high quality orchard grass, alfalfa mix. We pulled blood for allergy testing and will get results in approx. 10 days.
According to your article, horses who cough more during/after exercise are likely to be recovering from an infection. Since this is the symptom my horse expresses, should I cease riding him or working him until the cough stops completely?
Laura |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM (Dro)
| | Posted on Wednesday, Dec 27, 2000 - 5:18 am: | |
If the exercise makes the cough worse, yes I would suggest rest, it indicates that you are irritating the tissues that need to heal. I think I should mention there are no effective blood tests for allergies in horses though it may help rule out active infection. Of course a good physical exam and a thermometer is pretty effective for that to.
DrO |
Jeri Starr (Jeri)
| | Posted on Thursday, Jun 13, 2002 - 9:50 am: | |
Hello Dr, I have a 14 yo gelding that has developed a chronic cough that is more pronounced when he eats. We started treatment after noticing a bad odor that appeared to only come from one nostril. Our vet scoped the sinuses and did not discover anything unusual, xrayed for an abcessed tooth without any unsual findings. The vet decided to drill and flush his sinus cavities. This was done and the gelding was placed on 30cc of gentocin for 10 days. After this treatment, the symptoms still remain. We have noticed that when he eats small pelleted food, he has to stretch his neck out to swallow. He seems to swallow hard and often will produce a deep cough. He has not had any fever or nasal discharge during this entire time. We are really confused about what course of action to take next. I have reviewed all of the articles in the respiratory area and did not see anything with the same symptons. I would appreciate any comments that you have? |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM (Dro)
| | Posted on Friday, Jun 14, 2002 - 1:25 pm: | |
Hello Jeri,
If we assume the cough, odor, and difficult swallowing are all related there is a problem that includes either some tissue necrosis or food trapped and rotting localizable to the pharynx, larynx, guttaral pouches or possibly the proximal esophagus. Most of these spots, except the esophagus, are fairly easy to visualize when scoped so I would first recommend another more careful scoping and more radiographs in some of the possibly involved areas are not clearly shown, perhaps even referral to a institution where these procedures are done by people who do this everyday.
Then again if the odor is unilateral it might be a problem in a sinus. Though your post indicates otherwise the sinuses are not visualizable by endoscopes commonly used in equine practise because of the contortions that they would have to go through to get into them.
Go to the article on Equine Diseases: Respiratory System: Nose Bleeds: Epistaxis. Many of these diseases that cause bleeding also can cause necrosis and odor and diagnosis is the same.
DrO
PS Jeri, when you post a new question you should start your own discussion and not post it at the bottom of someone else's discussion. When you create your own discussion, it keeps discussions easy to read and you will get more responses quicker. The buttons for starting new discussions are at the bottom of most pages with a list of subtopic titles on it. For more on this see the "READ THIS FIRST" topic besides the Add a Message label on the form below. Lets go ahead and finish this here and later I will move it into its own discussion. |
