Snotty Horse....

[apprentice87]

Hi Apache,

What you make of this.... "21 year old horse, seemed fine.. One of them cob ones where you can starve it all you like and it is still fat.. Anyway, the thing was fine, but seemed not to want to eat its food, it stuffs down grass in the field ok though. Anyway, Zoe thought it had a cold or something, as it had a snotty nose, only in the last few days though.

Now though, it seems that the snotty stuff is composed of "ordinary" snotty stuff but combined with food... When it has been in a stable the stuff is browny [like the horse food], and when it has been in the field eating grass, naturally enough, it is more greenish [like grass..]..  Apparently it now finds some difficutly drinking.. All that has happened in the last few days.. Zoe watched it drink water, and it seems that he now has some difficulty drinking and the water has a tendency to run back out of the horsies nose....

What you think?? The thing is in very good shape other than this, it is the size of a barrel and no way would you think he was 21

Supposedly a little while ago some other horse at the same establishment had much the same, and it was diagnosed as having some kind of flesh eating fungal infection in its throat. The vet said that this was really rare but that he had seen 5 cases recently...

john...

 

[Apache]

I don't like the sound of this.

It needs a vet and a good look in the mouth.

I've seen it in a foal with a cleft palate (milk came out the nose), bit not as an acquired condition.

 

[apprentice87]

Thanks for that. We will organise one and tell you what happens...

On another subject, i just gave that murdoch a bit of a bollocking for having a rant at a new forum user.. Attacking people that ask reasonable questions hardly helps the forum...

john...

 

[misssweden]

A few years ago one of the horses down the yard had something similar, but only one snotty nostril. If I remembered rightly that turned out to be a problem with a tooth that had caused an abcess in the top of his mouth.

 

[apprentice87]

Jack the horsey is ok!!!! He can take his tin helmet off and the .338 Win can go back in its case!!!!

Love Jack the horsey....

john....

 

[apprentice87]

Hi all,

Tests came back and it turns out Jack the horse has a mild case of strangles.... Is that bad???

john..

 

[Andy™]

 

[apprentice87]

Poor Jack the horsey has got purpura now.... severely not good i suspect.. and the strangles that we thought had gone have come back. I have to give him injections every day now to help him..

Oh, and Amber his girlfriend has now got strangles too....

Hope they both get better and forgive me for sticking needles in them..

Love them both....

john...

 

[Apache]

What are you injecting them with?

Strangles is generally treatable.

Good luck (and sorry for not replying sooner - been mad busy recently)

 

[apprentice87]

Hello!! Right, Jack started to get better on his own, then he had antibiotics [iM] and powdered ones to go in his food. He seemed VASTLY improved, all the snotty stuff went away. I go to see him this morning though, and there is grass green stuff coming out one side of his nose again. He seems fine in himself though.. No idea if the strangles has come back or if it might still be inflamed where he swallows or if there might be some other problem.. Much worse is that his legs have swollen up noticably in the last few days. Some sort of oedema??

Vet had a look and said it is mild.... but could very well be purpura haemorrhagica Not good.....

Amber has no snot, but a swollen throat with painful swollen glands under the throat and a high temperature too.

Today they have both had antibiotics and Amber had some sort of pain relief stuff injected into her. So far as i know, this was not analgesia as such, but some sort of anti-inflammatory stuff.

For the next week i have to inject them once a day with 20ml's of Depocillin..

This Purpura.. Is it a rapidly progressing condition?? and will the penicillin help based on the advanced theory that if you kill the bacteria, you hopefully thwart the reaction that causes it??

Apparently steriods of some description are used to treat purpura, but problem is also predispose the horse to other problems [laminitis]

Anyway, vet says to give them the Depocillin, and that if that does not work, just leave the horse to get on with it..

Back in my sheep molesting days i was told to inject large quantities slowly as it reduces trauma. The vet today tells me with a horse it is best to shove the stuff in fairly rapidly and just get it over with..

As 20ml is quite a lot, should i inject into different sites each time?? The neck is easiest and safest for me as i do not fancy standing at the back end of Amber, a known kicker, and stabbing it with a needle.....

john...

 

[Apache]

Alternate sides of the neck. Below shows the injection site:

Depocillin is very unreactive.

The laminitis risk from steroids is massively overplayed - if the horse needs them - do it.

 

[apprentice87]

Ta!!!!! I will go and do them tomorrow with the stuff. It is in the fridge now, hope it is not too cold when i inject them!!

john...