coughs and colds - silly question - please help

[scheherazade]

Hi, can someone please tell me if horses can get ordinary cough / colds or is it usually something more serious? My horse has been coughing for the last couple of days and has a snotty nose. That said he is perfectly well in himself and is eating / drinking as normal. He doesn't have a temperature and hasn't been in contact with anything that has shown any signs of illness in the last month. Could this just be a normal cough and cold or do I need to get the vet out in a hurry??

Thanks

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Yes, horses can pick up a virus that will give the same symptoms that we get with a cough and/or cold. As long as your horse isn't either a baby or an elderly veteran and is in good health and eating/drinking/behaving pretty much as normal then I'd do nothing except basic self-care. Make sure he's warm enough when turned out, but not overly hot. Plenty of fresh air will be good for him. Don't ride him if he's off colour. There's nothing that you can realistically give him for a low grade virus except time and support so his own body can heal itself. There's an outside possibility that he could pick up a secondary, bacterial infection in which case he might at some point need antibiotics (they don't work on viruses) but in a young healthy horse, that's probably nothing to worry about.

The only thing you need to do is to be absolutely 100% certain that it isn't something like strangles, but he'd be a lot sicker if it was. Keep a close eye on him and I expect he'll be fine in a week or so. Just extra tlc til then x