Horse with rotten smell from nose

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charlie13

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We have a horse on our yard welsh d type whom a friend brought in to feed the other day as its owner couldn't come up. When in we thought what is that smell it smelt like something rotting on further investergation it was coming from his nose ! His teeth have just been done. I have only smelt something like that from a foot abses before. Quite concerned I rang owner and explained . She said she has told the vet and vet said as long as eating is fine ???? Have encourage her to get vet out as phone diagnostic is no use. The horse has slight discharge from one nostril which is a pale white colour. Has anyone seen this before ? I am presuming sinus infection or similar .



Apologies for bad spelling
 
Teeth can be rotten and unless vet, dentist check thoroughly with a head torch can easily be missed. Mine had two bad teeth, antibiotics cleared it for a bit but it came back. Then vet looked again and teeth needed attention.
 
I've had a horse with this - it cleared up with antibiotics but came back as soon as they were out of his system. After teeth and various other checks he had to have an operation to drill a hole in his scull and have a drain inerted and flushed through with an iodine solution twice a day for a couple of weeks - that cleared it up.
 
If the nasal discharge is unilateral, then I would suspect a tooth abscess - I nearly lost my horse after one was missed by a major vets hospital and it resulted in further infections, a 3 month stay in hospital and a number of operations which have left her face disfigured and scarred. The dentist didn't see mine, neither did my vet, neither did the vets at the hospital. It was only on the THIRD set of x-rays which I pleaded for that they conceded there could be a tooth problem. Please do not ignore it.
 
The vet needs to examine the horse immediately. (It could even be the onset of strangles). The fact that the horse is eating does not mean that it is o.k.
It may be a tooth abcess or an infection in the sinus.
The vet will prescribe anti-biotics but if they do not work then it will be a referral to horse hospital for further in depth examinations i.e x-rays and scope and a possible operation to remove the tooth and/or clear out the sinus's.
 
My horse had this. We took her to hospital to have an operation to remove her tooth. When we left vet warned there was a 1 in 1000 chance it could be something more serious like a tumour. Unfortunately the next day when the vet operated he found my horse had advanced cancer in the bones of her face causing them to rot and crumble which caused the smell. The decision was taken not to wake her up. I know this is rare and it is probably a sinus/tooth problem in your case but a vet really does need to check the smell out.
 
Thanks guys ther owerner is a little dippy to say the least really hard to get through to her that the vet is needed ! Will see if anything has been done when go up yard as told her Sunday

Many thanks Charlotte
 
mine had this recently - scopes and xrays found nothing obvious - xrays studied by my vet and sent to DICK vet for their opinion (thats the large horse vet in Edinburgh name before anyone down south thinks i'm being rude :o ) and still came back with no ideas although both sinus pouches were filled - options were to give anti b's or further investigation - luckily anti-b's worked but i think they are filling again so she's off to teh afformentioned vets in Ed to have a full scan of head and see whats needed - could be a tooth that didnt show on xray, could just be a bad infection that wont clear - goodness knows... all i know is thank god for insurance!

oh - fwiw - she stank - putrid - with pus gushing from nose - really disgusting - but she seemed to feel fine in herself - still ate - although gurned when it dripped into her mouth - poor girly!
 
Mine had this and it was a fractured tooth, took a while to diagnose as it was that fine, it didnt show clearly on xray, Leahurst dismissed it, DICK vet seen it and said remove the tooth, which was done under GA shortly after. A long story later and fast forward a couple of years and it finally went!!! The smell is horrendous, I had seperate outer clothes for dealing with my horse that lived at the farm.
 
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