Cough

[nuttynugget]

Hi,
My horse had gotten the yard cough thats been around.. thought we'd escaped it but no luck!!
I have been soaking his hay and giving him cough medicine but its not really working, can anyone recommend anything?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

It's 99.99% certain to be a virus so there's nothing you can do except support his body with proper nutrition and management while he sorts it out himself. Don't bother with fancy supplements - as long as he's getting the proper nutrition, that's all he needs. A good quality cough syrup might soothe a sore throat for half an hour but again, I wouldn't bother. I'd give him a sick note for work though - just think how you feel when you're run down with a virus. Keep him warm but not suffocated and plenty of fresh air, properly rugged/shelter as necessary. If he's very old or very young you might want to keep a close eye on him in case of secondary opportunistic bacterial infections - these would respond to antibiotics. Give him the equine equivalent of tlc and chicken soup and he'll be fine, though some of these viruses can hang around for longer than you might expect x

 

[brucea]

I found Covonia (in the big bottle) very helpful for my pony's cough. And he loved the taste of it! 25mls twice a day.

he got to the point he was all excited when the bottle and syringe came out.

 

[Ali2]

Agree with BoF - time off and let it sort itself out

Last (and only) time my lad had a cough this was vets advice - cleared in a week