Guttural pouch flushing...

[BlondeAmbition]

Following on from my previous post, I have spoken to another vet at the practise yesterday and shared my concerns that my horse could be a carrier.

I explained about the Equi Zoo which he had back in November, and the suggestion was made to endoscope the pouch and flush it with penicillin and take swabs.

Has anyone had this done before?

 

[brighteyes]

I have had it done to a pony. She was just over a strep infection and got (eventually) chondroids in her left guttural pouch. It was full and the vet thought they wouldn't be able to shift them. However, the guttural pouches were x-rayed because they couldn't get their endoscope in. At least one showed that it was chock-full of pus

A trip to Leahurst was quickly arranged and she was scoped - and the gp found to be more or less empty! It had been full, however and looked very manky, with a small chunk of dried pus in the bottom.

They sedated her to do the scope and put the whole thing up on a huge TV. A nasal tube is introduced into the gp and however many bags of 'wash' are required are passed through. The rubbish and wash simply come back out down the nose onto the floor. We had a follow up course of A-B's but no recurrence!

The pony had, completely unbeknown to us, shifted the whole mass herself and quite how she did it baffled the vets completely. I was watching her like a hawk and usually we saw an odd bit floating in her water bucket, but never more than a cheesy crumb or two. It's a long-winded procedure for chondroids, and it has to be repeated for up to a fortnight (is what we we prepared for) with no guarantee of success

You may just need the one wash, like we did

Good luck and do let me know.

 

[BlondeAmbition]

Thanks Brighteyes... He had the guttural flush done this morning.

It was absolutely fascinating! Both guttural pouches looked healthy and well, no signs of infection to be seen, but I requested it be flushed with penicillin anyway due to the swab results last weekend. The vet has taken two samples from his guttural pouches to be cultured and PCR'd but there was no pus or signs of infection within either pouch.

When we pumped some saline in, and sucked it back for the samples, there was some matter floating (a very small amount which was clear - white) so whether that comes back as anything will be the telling sign.

If they both come back as negative, I am not really sure where we go from there... I presume he will need another nasal swab doing to show clear???