Help - Pony with undiagnosed breathing problem - Very Worried!!

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cavalier123

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Hi,

This is the sequence of events so far -
)Nov 2012 - Runny eyes
Feb 2013 - swollen/puffy muzzle
April 2013 - Some kind of virus, cough. recovered
May -Stuffed up nose noise when breathing and some flank movement (no cough
Since May - Noise on breathing and flank movement and itchy (no cough)
Since Sept -Noise on breathing and flank movement and itchy and stamping/sensitivity to flies?? Coughing occasionally
Past 2 weeks – Started head throwing and all above (no cough)

Vets initial diagnoses was hay fever as he seemed to improve when stabled, but that didn't work long term. We then tried antihistamines and he did improve somewhat on antihistamines, breathing looked better and itching improved 70% (he wasn’t head shaking at this point), but he still had a stuffed up nose and could hear him breathing.

Has been scoped, all bloods and nothing apart from some swelling in nasal passages. Vets thought maybe pollen allergy as worse in field initially and used to improve when stabled, but within a few months is not improving when stabled and symptoms now present even on rainy days, so not sure pollen now. New symptom as of two weeks ago, shaking head.

Video attached. If anybody has any thoughts I would be so grateful as vets don't know what to suggest and I am really worried about him.
Many thanks![video]https://www.dropbox.com/s/aodevdvd2hksqli/Charlie%2025-10-13.MOV[/video]
 
This may or may not help idk. I work on an family run eventing yard and I noticed one of there horses didn't seem to want to open her eye, head groom said she had previous problems with her eye and it didn't look to bad to her perhaps got some hay in it. Over the next few weeks her eyes got worse, and she was always stood there with stuff streaming out of her eyes and this horrible cough. She was put on ventapulmin but that didn't help very much. She was shut away in her stable with no light allowed in except a small window, and when she was outside on hacks etc or when her top door was open she had to have her fly mask on always, she was then prescribed an asthma puffer, some eye drops, 2 different puffers, twice a day 10 puffs per nostril she started to get better and was then taken off the drops and put on some human eye sprays and some vix rubbed around the edges of her nostrils. She's pretty much completely better now, she has her puffer once a day. They said it was a pollen allergy but then said it was a virus. Hope this helps a little bit
 
I don't know what to suggest but hope you get to the bottom of it.

Looks like he's most bothered around the head, doesn't it. Probably nose/muzzle area as that's where he's scratching.

Two things I would do though. Makes sure you get a copy of all blood reports and check for yourself that everything is within reference range (it'll give the reference range next to the horse's results. Make sure he had a comprehensive test to test cell counts as well as things like muscle enzymes and liver enzymes, and if he hasn't had that, then ask for one. You never know, it might pick up something that isn't obvious from the outside of the horse.

Secondly, I'd ask the dentist to come and take a look, in case it's a problem in his mouth. Probably unlikely, but you never know. One of my youngsters started throwing her head round a lot and it turned out to be a retained cap that was causing her pain. Once the dentist removed it, she stopped head throwing within a few days.

I guess it's possible that there's more than one thing going on, so the signs may or may not be related. For example, could the breathing be related to dust/mould/allergy etc and the headthrowing be tooth related. I only mention this in case it helps you come up with more ideas to help get to the bottom of things.

Hope he's soon more comfy.

Sarah
 
I wonder if the passages (sinus) around eyes are inflamed
Or even ears may be involved. I know of one horse had problems. Took 3 different vets before it was found
Need minor surgery to unblock. But was fine after
 
cavalier123 said:
Hi,

This is the sequence of events so far -
)Nov 2012 - Runny eyes
Feb 2013 - swollen/puffy muzzle
April 2013 - Some kind of virus, cough. recovered
May -Stuffed up nose noise when breathing and some flank movement (no cough
Since May - Noise on breathing and flank movement and itchy (no cough)
Since Sept -Noise on breathing and flank movement and itchy and stamping/sensitivity to flies?? Coughing occasionally
Past 2 weeks – Started head throwing and all above (no cough)

Vets initial diagnoses was hay fever as he seemed to improve when stabled, but that didn't work long term. We then tried antihistamines and he did improve somewhat on antihistamines, breathing looked better and itching improved 70% (he wasn’t head shaking at this point), but he still had a stuffed up nose and could hear him breathing.

Has been scoped, all bloods and nothing apart from some swelling in nasal passages. Vets thought maybe pollen allergy as worse in field initially and used to improve when stabled, but within a few months is not improving when stabled and symptoms now present even on rainy days, so not sure pollen now. New symptom as of two weeks ago, shaking head.

Video attached. If anybody has any thoughts I would be so grateful as vets don't know what to suggest and I am really worried about him.
Many thanks![video]https://www.dropbox.com/s/aodevdvd2hksqli/Charlie%2025-10-13.MOV[/video]
Click to expand...

I was wondering if his gutteral pouches were scoped? Could he possibly have a small gutteral pouch infection?
 
Hi, sorry it's taken me so long to update and thank you for all your replies. Well, approximately two weeks after the video was taken, ALL symptoms had disappeared - along with the pollen I suspect, well pretty much certain really, so looks like it must be a pollen allergy :( All good for the moment but not sure what next year will bring, keeping my fingers crossed it might not come back...
 
A good few years ago my horse started head shaking. He was referred by our vet to have allergy testing done - basically it involved injecting allergens under the skin and noting which ones he was sensitive to. Once they found what he was reacting to we had to inject him with various solutions to try to desensitise him and we did get some improvement. I found this link to where we went www.equineallergies.co.uk something you might want to discuss with your vet before next season?
 
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