sitting_pretty
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Would love to hear some opinions on this or whether anyone else has had any similar experiences, we are really tearing our hair out looking to help this horse!
So, my 15h connemara who has suffered from Equine Metabolic Syndrome for a few years now (and is on a permanent course of metformin and pergolide to stabilise this), had a bout of laminitis from December to January this year, but made a recovery by mid January sort of time. And so from here we started to gradually turn him out into his small paddock of rough winter grass to which he seemed to take quite happily.
Then mid March, one morning he was unable to stretch his head down to the floor to eat his breakfast without a considerable struggle. After examining him we discovered that his glands on both sides, but mainly his right were very, very swollen (hadn't noticed this initially as it was covered by his huge mane!). He had no other symptoms, and no discharge from his nose at all. Called the vet and she suggested it was an infection and gave him a course of danilon and I had to inject him with penicillin twice a day for about a week - she advised that this would kill it off if it is an infection so it wouldn't return. The swelling did go down, but not completely back to normal, although he seemed quite happy and desperate to get out of his stable again so we started gradually turning him out again.
A few weeks later however it returned with a vengeance and was restricting his breathing at times, meaning that he was wheezing especially when trying to eat and breath at the same time. Still no fluids coming from his nose, or any coughing. So, vet took a nasal swab, blood test and performed a biopsy on the right hand side swelling.
Results from the blood test just told us that there was an inflammation (which we knew anyway), nasal swab told us that it definitely wasn't anything like strangles or similar strains, and the biopsy results told us that is was nothing serious such as a tumor. Great, but didn't tell us what it actually was!
Weeks passed and all the vet could suggest was to keep him in with all of his feed raised (hay is soaked), as it's possible that having his head down may just be causing his gutteral pouches to fill with air much like some horses regularly get with a grass allergy, or it could be hay fever. Medication wise, he stayed on danilon and also piriton in case it was something like hay fever causing it, as well as his normal course of metformin and piriton - if you shook him he would rattle! It worries me that all this medication is actually doing more harm that good, he's now just so full of chemicals. He has also been prescribed ventilin to help with his breathing.
All of this time he been stuck in his stable other than going out for half an hour ever few days for a roll and to stretch his legs just for his sanity. Unfortunately he will not stay in alone, and the one occasion where he was alone for only 5 minutes he neighed and lost his breath, panicked, couldn't breath, panicked more and I really thought he was having a serious sort of asthma attack and could drop dead. Luckily I brought my other horse back in just in time and by some miracle he managed to settle and recover himself. However, now I am terrified of leaving him alone which is really tough on my other horse who is a big sport horse who is getting thoroughly fed up of being stuck in his stable now!
So essentially, the vet has said that the swelling is in his gutteral pouches (left and right but also underneath) and is likely to just be filled with air, similar to how horses with general grass glands react. However, he's had a severe reaction to it and although they don't seem to actually pain him, the severe swelling means that he cannot breath properly and now even when he breaths at rest his is seriously wheezing. Even with ventilin, it just seems to be getting worse rather than better. I should note though, he's still very bright eyed and seems quite happy - desperate to be out in the field!
Apologies for the length of the post, I hope it's not too hard to follow! Has anyone had anything similar happen? The vets really haven't given us any idea on a prognosis, just that they've heard of one horse who took months for his swollen pouches to go down.
How long should I keep going for with just keeping him in waiting for them to go down?
Thanks so much for reading.
Would love to hear some opinions on this or whether anyone else has had any similar experiences, we are really tearing our hair out looking to help this horse!
So, my 15h connemara who has suffered from Equine Metabolic Syndrome for a few years now (and is on a permanent course of metformin and pergolide to stabilise this), had a bout of laminitis from December to January this year, but made a recovery by mid January sort of time. And so from here we started to gradually turn him out into his small paddock of rough winter grass to which he seemed to take quite happily.
Then mid March, one morning he was unable to stretch his head down to the floor to eat his breakfast without a considerable struggle. After examining him we discovered that his glands on both sides, but mainly his right were very, very swollen (hadn't noticed this initially as it was covered by his huge mane!). He had no other symptoms, and no discharge from his nose at all. Called the vet and she suggested it was an infection and gave him a course of danilon and I had to inject him with penicillin twice a day for about a week - she advised that this would kill it off if it is an infection so it wouldn't return. The swelling did go down, but not completely back to normal, although he seemed quite happy and desperate to get out of his stable again so we started gradually turning him out again.
A few weeks later however it returned with a vengeance and was restricting his breathing at times, meaning that he was wheezing especially when trying to eat and breath at the same time. Still no fluids coming from his nose, or any coughing. So, vet took a nasal swab, blood test and performed a biopsy on the right hand side swelling.
Results from the blood test just told us that there was an inflammation (which we knew anyway), nasal swab told us that it definitely wasn't anything like strangles or similar strains, and the biopsy results told us that is was nothing serious such as a tumor. Great, but didn't tell us what it actually was!
Weeks passed and all the vet could suggest was to keep him in with all of his feed raised (hay is soaked), as it's possible that having his head down may just be causing his gutteral pouches to fill with air much like some horses regularly get with a grass allergy, or it could be hay fever. Medication wise, he stayed on danilon and also piriton in case it was something like hay fever causing it, as well as his normal course of metformin and piriton - if you shook him he would rattle! It worries me that all this medication is actually doing more harm that good, he's now just so full of chemicals. He has also been prescribed ventilin to help with his breathing.
All of this time he been stuck in his stable other than going out for half an hour ever few days for a roll and to stretch his legs just for his sanity. Unfortunately he will not stay in alone, and the one occasion where he was alone for only 5 minutes he neighed and lost his breath, panicked, couldn't breath, panicked more and I really thought he was having a serious sort of asthma attack and could drop dead. Luckily I brought my other horse back in just in time and by some miracle he managed to settle and recover himself. However, now I am terrified of leaving him alone which is really tough on my other horse who is a big sport horse who is getting thoroughly fed up of being stuck in his stable now!
So essentially, the vet has said that the swelling is in his gutteral pouches (left and right but also underneath) and is likely to just be filled with air, similar to how horses with general grass glands react. However, he's had a severe reaction to it and although they don't seem to actually pain him, the severe swelling means that he cannot breath properly and now even when he breaths at rest his is seriously wheezing. Even with ventilin, it just seems to be getting worse rather than better. I should note though, he's still very bright eyed and seems quite happy - desperate to be out in the field!
Apologies for the length of the post, I hope it's not too hard to follow! Has anyone had anything similar happen? The vets really haven't given us any idea on a prognosis, just that they've heard of one horse who took months for his swollen pouches to go down.
How long should I keep going for with just keeping him in waiting for them to go down?
Thanks so much for reading.
