Cough & catarrh since being in indoor stabling. Homeopathic remedies?

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SpruceRI

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My horse has developed thick yellow snot and an intermittent cough since moving from outdoor stabling to indoor.

She's kept on straw as are most of her stable mates, and is fed big bale haylage.

She's only been at this yard since early Dec, and was absolutely fine until Xmas Day, as she'd moved into an indoor stable a couple of days before.

They were also in for 24hrs on Xmas day and Boxing Day apart from the bit of ridden/lunge exercise I gave her.

She's not ill / feverish at all. Fully perky, eating well etc. She coughs a bit in the stable, and a bit ridden though due to the frost (and this) we're mostly only walking/trotting.

I'm sure the problem is due to the environment, (not that it's a bad one!!) it's just that she's used to living out.

I wouldn't say the straw is particularly dusty, in fact, less so than the stuff I use at home, and the haylage isn't at all, whereas normally she's on dry hay at home.

Can anyone suggest any useful Homeopathic remedies that might help?

I'm not sure whether to just take her home (where she lives out mostly) until she gets over it, and then go back.


Thanks
 
yellow snot = vet i think! if you think its the environment get her back out into outdoor stabling! i think she might have an infection? anyone else coughing and snotting?
 
I can't get her back into outdoor stabling at this place unfortunately
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No other horse coughing or the other
 
I think you're right about the environment. Sounds like text book RAO caused by a dust allergy and it will be the straw doing it. You need to get her off straw immediately but fgs don't clear it out of her stable while she's in the vicinity! Then try to keep her in as dust free an environment as possible. Shavings or paper/cardboard is best for her bedding but if other horses nearby have straw beds, she'll cough all winter. If she didn't cough on hay, then her haylage is fine but the best treatment for a dust allergy is as much turnout as possible. If you can't get enough turnout as your horse needs to stay healthy and if you can't use a different type of bedding, you need to move yards before your horse becomes much more ill x
 
I agree with the other posters but as a temporary measure for the cough, Hilton Herbs do a herbal cough mixture for horses which will sooth it for your horse.
 
Homeopathic remidies are you kidding!! If your not going to call the vet then you need to put your horse on dust extracted shavings immediatly and soak the hay for at least 10 mins and wet the feed a bit. Also syringe some human benylin in the the mouth it will make neck muscles relax stopping the coughing and giving the horse some relief but you really need to get a vet.
My horse has RAO/COPD and I know how bad it can be, luckily I have out door stabling and the yard has been fantastic - they wont put a horse next door to me who has straw
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As others have said, sounds like reaction to the stabling.

Stinky if kept in for a while - more than three days without t/o gets a bit of a dry cough- it is very hard to soak hay where we are (YO hates mess and using lots of water) and as said, he is normally fine on hay as it is good quality. He is on LWP which are very good as they are not dusty.

This year I have found that feeding Feedmark's Clarity which is a herbal supplement has stopped any coughing and kept him clear from a snotty nose so it might be worth using this as part of your routine as prevention measures. I would change the bed from straw and as you are on hayledge that will help.

If the Clairity does not clear things in a few days, then I would have the vet out.

I have also used benylin for a chesty cough (advised by my vet) - 1/4 of a bottle twice a day on top of his feed for three days does the trick. If not clearing up by then, I call the vet and go from there.

If your horse is wheezing and having difficulty breathing and producing a lot of thick snot then I would call the vet asap in case she has an infection.
 
Trouble with indoor stabling is even if you eliminate dust from your stable the environment will still be dusty if straw is being used in adjacent stables. My lot live out all year and my vet says every Jan when they have their booster jabs that she wishes all horses had as healthy sounding chests as mine. I guess at this time of year vets get lots of calls re coughing horses. If it was my horse and vet confirms its RAO or similar I would go back to your previous management system as it obviously suited your horse.
 
You are going to need to move her again I think. It's a terrible pain for you but her reaction shows what she thinks of the new place.
 
FPErin and cptrayes, yes you're both right.... I have arranged for the vet to come tomorrow although it's started snowing heavily so I don't suppose she'll be able to come, and nor will I be able to transport the girl home.

Such a shame to leave as we were enjoying all the company and the lovely school to ride in, but her health comes first I know.
 
Well done for thinking of her first Madhossy. It's a bit of a nightmare, but if she can't cope with indoors, she can't. Is there still a possibility that she has simply caught a bug from being with a load of new horses? None of them have to be sick, there are loads of symptom free "carriers" in a livery stables. I would have expected the snotty nose to happen after two days (though that would be quick, more likely four-ish) up to two weeks of moving to the new place, but not immediately. If the vet can't get there has the yard owner got trimethoprim (antibiotic commonly used for throat infections) stored as a precaution? If so maybe your vet will advise you over the phone if she should be given it?

I hope you get it sorted.
 
...(think Im going to get hammered here!)...

Personally - I dont think its an issue - should be left without anti-bios until (& will prob clear up) within/for 8-10 days. I know many will disagree with me! - but...

Our yard is an AI Yard - so we have stallions in for collection, or 4-8wks getting them ready for various gradings, we have mares for insemination, mares & foals coming in for next season, youngstock arriving & going pretty much all year round - without a problem - ever. Livery horses are in a different block, but my own mare (19 in feb) & her now 18mth colt have always lived in the "breeding block".

She got a snotty nose last October (& I was convinced it was something virulent *grins*) - however - apart from the owner we also have a vet on site 24/7 - & both responded to my "oh my god's" at the green snot outside my mares door in the mornings with "if her temperature is not raised & she's fine in herself - leave it ten days" & if "after 10days no better - then ok, a short, sharp dose of antibios".

If the horse is eating, peeing & pooing as normal & with no significant raise in temp, chances are its low grade & should be simply monitered - like humans they need time to build up immunity to low grade virus & too many vets like taking money issuing antibiotics.

scotia
 
I completely and totally disagree with you scotia2k7. From what the OP said in the original enquiry, this sounds like a textbook case of RAO brought on by an allergic response to the dust in straw. If you just ignore an allergic response, the horse's body will mount a more and more vigorous "attack" on the dust particles and you can end up with a horse with a third or more of its lung function destroyed. If it were just a snotty nose, following no changes whatsoever in the horse's normal management and environment then, by all means, treat it as you would yourself if you had a bout of the sniffles, ie do nothing as it will disappear when it's run its course. If it's a virus, antibx are pointless anyway - the body has to deal with it through the formation of antibodies to zap the viruses.
 
I agree with BoF - sounds like RAO, and well done OP for putting the horse first and considering a move away from current yard.

RAO is basically equine asthma - there was a thread in NL the other days asking how long asthmatic owners could spend in their stables / what bedding they used, and the general consensus seemed to be they couldn't spend long in stables, which I think goes to show why stabling RAO horses is such a problem.

It takes something like 7 days away from stable dust and molds to alleviate the signs of RAO, but continued bouts (ie continuing to stable a horse) will eventually result in permanent lung damage, as BoF said. They've done a bit of work on this at Leahurst and I think it was something like 2 hours of stabling was enough to start symptoms again in horses with chronic RAO.
 
Having an "asthma" suffering horse I certainly wouldn't ignore it and it is hard trying to get the right balance when keeping them in. I am very careful with my mare after having a £1200 vet's bill 3 winters ago due to her breathing problems, she is now permanently on a supplement from the vets to keep it under control. My mare's problems started with straw bedding - my vet explained to me that it wasn't the dust but the mould spores withn the straw. I changed to rubber matting with a sprinkling of shavings and all others in my yard are luckily on the same (indoor barn stabling) I also moved her to the end stable next to the doorway. Always soak hay/feed haylage and as others have said, get them out as much as possible!
 
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Is there still a possibility that she has simply caught a bug from being with a load of new horses? None of them have to be sick, there are loads of symptom free "carriers" in a livery stables. I would have expected the snotty nose to happen after two days (though that would be quick, more likely four-ish) up to two weeks of moving to the new place, but not immediately.


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cptrayes - you're exactly right!
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Vet came and diagnosed a low grade virus. My mare has clear lungs, is bright and perky and normal temperature. She didn't actually cough while vet was there, though there was some snot, runny enough not to be of a concern apparently
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Given that she started coughing a few days after being brought into the indoor stabling having been in the outdoor ones on the same bedding and haylage, the vet stated that she is likely to have caught a virus from an older horse in the barn, who is carrying it but immune itself.

I have Ventipulmin to give her, told not to ride her for a week, and it should clear up in that time.

The vet said she is better staying in, warm and dry at the moment than going home to my old place and living out.

Thanks to you all
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Further to my original question about my coughing horse, I thought I'd update you all on how it all went.

Well, after the Ventipulmin didn't really work, (it suppressed the coughing all the time girlie was on it, but cough came back with a vengeance once it had all gone) so I took her home to live out, as she always has done so.

While her cough was much improved since being out, it didn't go altogether, and in fact she passed the virus onto my other mare
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(

So, I have gone back to my favoured Homeopathic route.

I've had my older mare on Phosphorus tablets for 2 weeks and Echinacea tincture for 7 days, the young one on just the Phos, and my Shetland on Echinacea as a preventative because he hadn't actually caught it.

So, the shettie is still fine and dandy, my older mare has not coughed on my morning or afternoon visits for 3 days and the young one is still coughing a bit.

Started young one on the Echinacea tonight.

Will see what happens now.
 
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