Entrapped epiglottis

[Tamski]

My horse has just been diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis. He's got to go to Newmarket to have laser surgery to sort it out. Has anyone else had this done? What's the recovery time and how long will he have to stay in hospital?
Any advice please!

 

[Rueysmum]

Hi there. A subject close to my own heart!

My horse had a major problem with his pharyngeal area for 9 months last year. It started off as choke which then turned out to be caused by abcessation and ulceration in his pharyngeal area.

His symptoms were being unable to swallow properly, coughing and terribly noisy breathing and a horrible billowing noise. He had terrible trouble grazing, could only manage very short grass and still coughed about every third mouthful. He was at risk of aspiration pneumonia because there was a danger that food would go down into his airways instead of his oesophagus.

His management had to be totally changed so that he didn't choke himself to death.


He was scoped twice and was diagnosed as having epiglottic entrapment and persistent dorsal soft palate displacement. Basically the mechanics of his throat had gone haywire. He was very lethargic and lost a lot of weight (which actually did him a favour in some ways as he is arthritic).

We discussed the possibility of an op but basically his throat was b*ggered and it wouldn't have been worth trying. He also probably wouldn't have got up successfully from a GA as he has an arthritic and bent knee.

Anyway, he was on antibiotics for months to try and shift the ulceration and I also put him on Vitamin C tablets and garlic.

Amazingly by 1st January this year (problem started on 6th April 2006) he was completely better. Everything in his throat had gone back into place and all the ulceration was gone.

The bad news for him is that his knee is b*ggered but he is enjoying life as a pampered pet!

Anyway, just thought I would share Ruey's story. Good luck with your horse. Do you know if anything particular has caused his problem? With hindsight I think R's was caused by eating something prickly which then got stuck in all the wrong places.

The op has a good chance of success for "normal" horses (which mine certainly isn't).

 

[ExRacers]

My old horse suffered this back in 2001 at the age of 24! The epiglottis would lie under the soft palate pushing it up over his airway. Consequently he would gurgle & just run out of gas so to speak if trotting or cantering. The vet hospital released it the first time under a standing sedation & all was well for about 6 months before it started happening again.

Second time round he had a GA and they trimmed the epiglottis & soft palate tissue (stayed in hospital for about a week & was back being ridden after a month) & although he still made some gurgling noises at faster paces he was able to eat without coughing all the time. He went on until he was 29yrs of age like this until arthritis got the better of him & he was put down.

No doubt technology has moved on since then - I haven't heard about the laser treatment but hope it does the job for your boy.