'A bit under the weather' dilemma (also in vet)

little_critter

little_critter

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I'm lucky that my pony is very rarely ill...but it means I'm fairly clueless on when to call the vet out!
About a month ago she had a mild cough in the morning. Never coughed when exercised and seemed well in herself. She produced an impressive glob of snot one morning and for the last month I have been feeding her hay from a barrel on the floor instead of a haynet to allow things to drain.
No noticable cough in the last month.
This last week she has felt a bit flat when schooling and this morning she coughed another glob of snot. It was a one-off cough, no coughing at all after the snot was produced.
So - do I call a vet out?
Do I try something else for a week or two and if she still feels flat then call vet (I was thinking an immune boost supplement, red cell or something of that kind)

I was also wondering if feeding dry hay from a barrel isn't actually all that good - it allows things to drain and her head is in a more natural position...but is she spending the night with her head in a bucket of dust now?

Any thoughts or advice?
 
Certainly soak the hay. And possibly try to feed from the floor so she doesn't arch her neck over the barrel rim to get to the bottom. And dampen her feeds if you feed dry.

If the snot was yellow or green then it would be worth getting the vet out to get her scoped just in case. You will want to rule out anything infectious
 
Thanks - the snot was white and thick (looked a bit like brie I guess!)
The reason I feed from a barrel is if I put it on the floor she drags it into her bed and wastes it...but I will start hosing it to damp down any dust (not that it's 'dusty' hay, but all hay is a bit dusty IYSWIM)
Feed-wise she only has a small feed of lite balancer so it's not a dusty feed anyway.
 
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White or opaque snot is usually not infectious so if it were mine I'd keep going for a bit. Keep monitoring and see how you go. I use red cell to perk up anything a bit under the weather. Good luck!
 
Thank you - I'll let her have a week off (she's having a back check on thursday so would probably get a few days off after that anyway).
I'll have a look at red cell and other immune boost things.
 
Some horses can go a bit 'flat' when their coats change, and white snot is not usually anything to worry about - however as it is not 'normal' for your horse, maybe soak your hay and see if that helps?

If it was my horse I would give it another couple of weeks, then if no improvement, get the vet to do some basic blood tests.
 
Last year my gelding was a bit down and flat and he had the occasional dry cough. The vet came out, checked him over and said it could have been a virus. Gave him a course of ventipulmin and something called 'event' which is like a multivit booster (smells DISGUSTING) and that seemed to do the job :)
 
You have done the right thing calling the vet. Sometimes they can get an infection which gets stuck in the lungs (so no green snot) and will only come up with antibiotics. Also rao doesn't show as green snot, only shows as lethargy and varying type if cough.

Example my horse with exactly same symptoms. I had him scoped. Turns out he did have a bacterial infection. It took 3 different antibiotics and 2 lots of ventipulmin to clear
 
little_critter said:
Thanks - the snot was white and thick (looked a bit like brie I guess!)
The reason I feed from a barrel is if I put it on the floor she drags it into her bed and wastes it...but I will start hosing it to damp down any dust (not that it's 'dusty' hay, but all hay is a bit dusty IYSWIM)
Feed-wise she only has a small feed of lite balancer so it's not a dusty feed anyway.
Click to expand...

If your horse is reacting to the dust and spores you need to soak the hay for a short time to enable the spores to swell so that they cannot be inhaled.
Just hosing it down won't do the job if your horse does indeed have an allergy.

I soak all hay as a matter of course, as any horse could develop an allergy at any time when exposed to dry hay. Its not hard to do and worth it IMO just to be on the safe side.
 
And the conclusion.....
Vet said give her a week off, could just be a low grade virus she needs to get over. If after a week she still feels flat then call back for blood tests, or of course if she gets worse call back earlier.
Think I'll be soaking her hay anyway just in case.
 
little_critter said:
And the conclusion.....
Vet said give her a week off, could just be a low grade virus she needs to get over. If after a week she still feels flat then call back for blood tests, or of course if she gets worse call back earlier.
Think I'll be soaking her hay anyway just in case.
Click to expand...

I always feel better after speaking to the vet. Hope she picks up. Xx
 
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