Coughing Shetland

[epeters91]

Hi all,

I went to bring my shetland in yesterday and she was looking very sorry for herself. Eyes and nose were running and a very loud cough. I've brought her into the stable cleaned her face and left her in over night to see how much she's drinking.

She's drank her water and eaten her hay and her nosey and eyes have cleared up but she still has a cough. I am considering that with it being very sunny yesterday maybe she has reacted to high pollen as I know my partners hay fever was very bad yesterday too.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Vet can't fit her in until Wednesday but my mum had a friend whose vet recommended crushing up benedryl tablets and feeding them 1 a day for 5-7 days has anyone ever heard of doing something like that? Did it work?

 

[Casey76]

I would be very hesitant about giving a non-tested medication to a horse without a vets specific instruction.

Lots of things could cause the symptoms you describe, including a respiratory allergy (but also infection, RAO, two unrelated events...)

I'd keep the pony in / or in a pen; in a dust free environment, soak hay and see how she is in 24 hours (which will then be Wednesday), and reassess regarding the vet.

Also, think about it; 1 tablet of benadryl is for a standard (70kg) human... how much of an effect is it going to have on a horse?

 

[Birker2020]

mum had a friend whose vet recommended crushing up benedryl tablets and feeding them 1 a day for 5-7 days has anyone ever heard of doing something like that? Did it work?

At the risk of getting slaughtered for writing this....I took my horse out for a hack the other day with my partner and his dog. It was a hack we'd never been on before (six miles) and there was a lot of undergrowth with nettles right at the end of the hack so we had no choice to go through it. My horse was wearing a thin hi viz exercise sheet that covered his quarters and most of his side but when I untacked him he had lots of little raised bumps. My first reaction was that he'd got nettle rash from the stingers and the y.o kindly offered me two anti histamine tablets which I disguised in a piece of liquorice and which went down his throat very well!

It wasn't until later that evening whilst tossing and turning in bed and worrying whether my horse had an analyphtic shock due to the anti histamine that I realised that the lumps had come all over his bum and sides where the sheet had been so it couldn't have been from the nettles as nettle rash is usually where it makes contact with the skin. He'd pulled up a couple of stalks of wheat or barley that had been growing in one of the fields we walked around and I wondered if he'd reacted to the crop (or possibly crop spray).

The next morning I rang the YO who said all his spots had dissapeared. I know they may have dissapeared by then anyway as skin conditions can come up very fast and dissapear just as fast but I did wonder if the anti histamine had done its job.

Not sure I would use it again though as you have to be careful what to give horses, my horse has 2nd degree heart block for example so some drugs he shouldn't have.

 

[epeters91]

Thanks for the reply Casey I have actually found old threads on various forums where vets have ok'd using Benydryll or other anti histamines one thread was advising to give 10 tables every 12 hours!! As it is I've just been to check on my little one over dinner her night in seems to have helped massively she only did one cough in half an hour which is a huge improvement to last night and had a bit of spark back trotting alongside me rather than looking very sorry for herself so hoping she may be ok with a bit more time in to calm down. Will get the vet out to be safe if cough hasn't gone in 2 days time.

 

[epeters91]

Thanks applecart glad your horse is ok! It is interesting if they can be used I also would be very wary of using them and to be honest would probably clear it with my vet first but was just intrigued by mums friends experience and what others experiences had been.