Bit worried about my horse...

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4legged1

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My horse has been isolated because he has a cough and a snotty nose atm, the mucas is an off white colour. It seems to get worse when he has had a drink after munching on his haylage and I have noticed slightly swollen glands behind his cheek bones which feel firm to the touch. He is not off his food either.
My YO thinks it's just a flu type thing and it's only just started so was going to give it a few days to see how it goes but I thought I'd ask what you all thought and how concerned you'd be?
Again I am not a troll, just a new user.
 
I would ring the vet and describe the symptoms. Its good that he is isolated, however if it should be strangles then the whole yard should be isolated.

See what your vet says.
 
You could do with having a vet come out to examine your horse. This condition could be extremely infectious so apart from isolating your horse, which I appreciate you've already done, the disease could easily be transmitted to other horses on the yard via touch, grooming kits, rugs infactr anything from your horse that comes into contact with other horses.
 
4legged1 said:
My horse has been isolated because he has a cough and a snotty nose atm, the mucas is an off white colour. It seems to get worse when he has had a drink after munching on his haylage and I have noticed slightly swollen glands behind his cheek bones which feel firm to the touch. He is not off his food either.
My YO thinks it's just a flu type thing and it's only just started so was going to give it a few days to see how it goes but I thought I'd ask what you all thought and how concerned you'd be?
Again I am not a troll, just a new user.
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I would take his temperature, and call the vet now if it is raised, or if he shows any additional symptoms.
If his temp is normal, I'd wait a few days to see how he is.
S :D
 
It's the dreaded S-word that I'm worried about :(
Not only is my horse isolated along with another horse who has the same sort of thing, everything we use for them such as grooming kits, rugs, feed and water buckets, pitchforks, wheelbarrows etc are only to be used for these two horses and are kept seperate and disinfected. Haynets are not put back into general circulation and when empty are kept aside and well away from the yards haynets and everything else the yard uses. Boots and hands are disinfected after going into these stables and I even change my clothes after I get home so as not to be wearing the same thing the next day. Also these two horses are the last to be seen to after everything else on the yard is done so there is no cross contamination. Everyone who is not directly involved with the ill horses i.e everyone but the owners and YO have been told to stay away! Basically they are under strict quarantine conditions just in case it is strangles.
So vet out straight away is the advice then? :( I really hope he's ok, he's only just turned 5 and I've been told that strangles is worse for younger horses? I bought him after last years outbreak and so missed all the horrid chaos so I've been scaring myself silly reading up about it :(
 
It is a nasty disease but dont panic too much, I dont think 5 is what they mean by the very young and very old. I would think that means the first year or two.

I'm surprised your yard owner hasn't insisted on the vet. If it is strangles then isolating the two wont be enough, nothing should move on or off the main yard either.
 
rockysmum said:
It is a nasty disease but dont panic too much, I dont think 5 is what they mean by the very young and very old. I would think that means the first year or two.

I'm surprised your yard owner hasn't insisted on the vet. If it is strangles then isolating the two wont be enough, nothing should move on or off the main yard either.
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Ok thank you, was freaking out his age would be a major factor if it did turn out to be strangles. A little knowlege and all that :o
She's pretty sure it's just a flu type thing, both horses have been out pretty much all winter and there are no other horses with any dodgy symptoms as yet. Will definately get my vet out if it gets any worse and will see about taking his temp tomorrow, don't think he'll like me for that but it has to be done I suppose.
He doesn't seem his usuall self but he's not looking depressed, just a bit bored about being kept in for the last few days kind of thing. He perks up when you go past or if you talk to him and he got really stuck into his feed tonight, usually he doesn't get much as he's not doing a lot of work but I felt sorry for him and thought it might help when he's under the weather, give him a bit more energy to help fight off whatever it is.
It's a bit confusing though as when I go into his stable he seems fine. I change his haynet and water and he'll have a munch and then a drink and he'll have a couple of coughs and then occasionally blow his nose sort of thing. He's not snotty about the nostrils apart from then if you understand what I mean?
Is coughing another symptom of strangles?
 
Symptoms of Strangles, I was wrong about the very young, but he's still out of the danger zone.

Infected horses quickly develop a high temperature (up to 41°C) causing them to become depressed and go off their food. In the following days the lymph nodes around the throat enlarge due to abscesses forming with in them. These can result in respiratory obstruction and difficulty swallowing, hence the name strangles. Although the name sounds concerning, complete respiratory obstruction does not occur. The abscesses in the lymph nodes may rupture of their own accord or may need to be surgically opened by your vet. Infected horses often develop a nasal discharge which may start clear but becomes thick with pus and often copious in amount. They frequently also develop a cough. In very rare cases, the bacteria may affect other lymph nodes in the body and cause abscesses to form through out the horse’s body. This is caused ******* strangles and is usually fatal. Infected horses can develop varying severity of clinical signs and a nasal discharge without glandular swelling is sometimes all that is seen. Younger horses (under the age of 5 years) tend to develop more severe clinical signs
 
One of the other girls up the yard had the same symptoms a couple of weeks ago with her 2 year old. We were all worried about the S word but it turned out to be just a virus which was treated with anti-biotics.
 
rockysmum said:
Symptoms of Strangles, I was wrong about the very young, but he's still out of the danger zone.

Infected horses quickly develop a high temperature (up to 41°C) causing them to become depressed and go off their food. In the following days the lymph nodes around the throat enlarge due to abscesses forming with in them. These can result in respiratory obstruction and difficulty swallowing, hence the name strangles. Although the name sounds concerning, complete respiratory obstruction does not occur. The abscesses in the lymph nodes may rupture of their own accord or may need to be surgically opened by your vet. Infected horses often develop a nasal discharge which may start clear but becomes thick with pus and often copious in amount. They frequently also develop a cough. In very rare cases, the bacteria may affect other lymph nodes in the body and cause abscesses to form through out the horse’s body. This is caused ******* strangles and is usually fatal. Infected horses can develop varying severity of clinical signs and a nasal discharge without glandular swelling is sometimes all that is seen. Younger horses (under the age of 5 years) tend to develop more severe clinical signs
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Thank you, hmm vet visit imminent I think :(

Cornish on the Cob said:
One of the other girls up the yard had the same symptoms a couple of weeks ago with her 2 year old. We were all worried about the S word but it turned out to be just a virus which was treated with anti-biotics.
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That's encouraging to hear thank you!
 
The first symptom with the S word is a raised temp - normal for a horse is 37.5 to 38.5 so if yours is in that range then really don't worry. Take the temp am and pm to monitor it and call the vet if the temp goes over 39.5. Even if it turns out to be the dreaded S- it's still not too bad- it's BS you really need to worry about and that is pretty rare. If you have a snotty nose with a normal temp. you really don't need to worry.
 
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