Smelly discharge from one nostril... ideas?

[rolsterlady]

My friend's horse has had a smelly discharge from one nostril for the last 6 or so months... and she's getting really frustrated with not being able to find out the cause.

She's 20 years old but is healthy and happy in every other way, the nose problem isn't causing her to be 'poorly' as such.

The discharge varies from being thin and white to thick and yellow. She's been to the vets several times and has had scans, endoscopies, biopsies and has had a tooth removed as they thought the cracked tooth she had may have been the cause.

She's been on several lots of antibiotics and has just finished a longer course of 30 days of antibiotics. Problem is, she still has the smelly discharge.

My friend has spent hundreds on vets bills and is still has no answers.

Any ideas on what it could be? We have considered allergies but think this is unlikely as the discharge is smelly.. and have also considered a fungal infection, i'm not sure why but the vet didn't seem to think this was the problem.

Thanks

 

[hayinamanger]

Poor mare. Has the possibility of infected sinuses been explored? It sounds fairly typical of sinusitis to me, if the sinus is blocked it cannot drain and becomes infected. It can be trephined by creating a hole through the horse's face (sounds grizzly but not as bad as it sounds) Usually this can be diagnosed by endoscopic examination, which the horse had already had, so I could be barking up the wrong tree.

 

[Marydoll]

Poor mare. Has the possibility of infected sinuses been explored? It sounds fairly typical of sinusitis to me, if the sinus is blocked it cannot drain and becomes infected. It can be trephined by creating a hole through the horse's face (sounds grizzly but not as bad as it sounds) Usually this can be diagnosed by endoscopic examination, which the horse had already had, so I could be barking up the wrong tree.

Agree It does sound like a sinusitis that is ongoing

 

[alfiesmum]

as above, one on yard had this recently x
other than that i have no clue , sounds like your vets are trying and i would imagine they have already ruled out sinus infection, but you never know x

 

[brighteyes]

Chronic guttural pouch infection following a viral illness?

 

[rolsterlady]

Thanks for your suggestions, I will pass them on to the mares owner

 

[mymare]

There is a test the vet can do where dye is put in through the eye? (I think), then you wait to see if it passes down through the nostril, obviously if it doesn't there is a blockage of some description. This happened to a friend's pony several years ago.

 

[Izzwizz]

Horse at our yard had something similar to this and he had an abcess in his nose/nostrils. He had to go to horsepital and have a GA to get it drained.

 

[Louby]

My horse had the same and after ABs were unsuccessful, had a tooth removed under GA as it was fractured. He also had a trephine at the same time and we flushed his sinuses 4 times a day. The discharge went but came back about 6 mths later. He had more ABs, worked for a few weeks, then he was trephined again but in the lower sinus and that worked for a few months then the smell came back. More ABs both injectable and powder and it went again but came back again . It was a nightmare. I reckon it was about 2 yrs until it finally went for any length of time. Even now, 8 yrs later we get the odd days when I can smell the awful smell. I dont worry about it now as it seems to go away on its own in a couple of days. It happens very rarely now though. He doesnt seem affected by it in any way and after all he went through I dont think I would put him through it again unless it was life threatenning.

 

[sarahrees]

my boy just had this, it was his (no 10) tooth root had caused an infection in his sinuses. Leaving the tooth were it is at the moment and trating the infection. the antibiotics are already clearing it up so fingers crossed

 

[applecart14]

Chronic guttural pouch infection following a viral illness?

That was what I was going to say. When my horse was scoped for recurrent nosebleeds they thought he had a gutteral pouch infection. They struggled for ages to get the camera in as its quite a difficult procedure. They managed to look at the left side but not the right as they just couldn't gain access.

In all likelihood the vets have scoped for this already but it might be worth a mention just in case.