Persistent cough in 10 month old foal ???

[Bedford Joy]

My 10 month old Welsh Section D foal Taran has had a persistent cough now for a few months now. I bought him in Feb and he was not receiving the best of care so he was wormed and de loused and is now doing really well except for a cough which comes on when he's at rest in the stable. It happens more when he's eating but not just his hay, it also comes on when he has carrots, swede or his foal mix with sugabeet.

He has so far had a 2 week course of antibiotics and also a 5 day course of Prednisalone steroids and it has made no difference. He is on shavings for his bedding and is out at night on grass, he has ad lib hay and 2 small feeds a day when he's in his stable.

The vet now wants to sedate and scope him for possible cysts which could be in his throat or airway. Can anyone else come up with possible causes to his cough before I see the vet on Tuesday?

 

[Queenbee]

Sadly, it's very much a process of elimination. So I would go for scoping and then go from there. Shavings can be surprisingly dusty, I'd consider a different bedding if it were me, I'd also want to turn out as much as possible ideally 24/7, soak hay, do all the textbook things and work with your vet, ticking one thing off the list at a time.

 

[Spottyappy]

Eliminate hay.

 

[AmyMay]

It wouldbe interesting to see if there's any improvement with 24/7 turnout.

 

[Abby-Lou]

It wouldbe interesting to see if there's any improvement with 24/7 turnout.

I'd give this ago !

 

[windand rain]

has he been treated for lung worm with all the wet weather and warm condition it is on the rise. Also if he has been in contact with donkeys as they are sometimes the culprit.
when he arrived he may have a less resistance to various bugs if he was a bit poor
Lung worm is difficult to treat so not just a case of worming

 

[Tiddlypom]

My homebred filly had a persistent cough and respiratory infection at around that age, lasting for several weeks. The first course of antibiotics (norodine) didn't clear it, so she went onto rifadin syrup (messy!) and clarithromycin tablets. There was concern that she may have had a rhodococcus infection, but the lab results came back clear.

She was never seriously off colour. The bill came to over £900!

She made a full recovery.

Good luck with yours.