Strangles / Cold ?????

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brownie57

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I am very upset. I have 2 horses kept on livery. The owners of the yard are dealers and there are always new horses coming into the yard. Over the last few months there have been lots of these new horses coughing, snotting and its rumored there are some with strangles, although none of us liveries have been officially told this.

One of my horses has become very ill, very dull in the stable, not eating much, sometimes coughing and today i realised how sick he was, just leading him out of the stable i could hear his labored breathing, his chest sounded very congested, and he could just about put one leg infront of the other. He is 10 years old, but what worries me is that my 17 year old has been using the same bridle, so he will obviously get it, and i noticed today how much more he is drinking, he looks ok for the moment, but im worried now.

I got the yard owner to look at the 10 year old and she said not to worry too much, and said he has just probably picked up a cough from somewhere and just to put cough medicine in his feed. Personally i think the horse needs some bute, ---- if he has got strangles, can i give him bute to make him feel abit better or do you just have to leave them to get over it by themselves ?????????? i know you are not meant to give antibiotics, but i thought some bute might make him feel abit better. ??
 
If he is ill get the vet, have you took his temp?

I would get the vet out if hw has strangles regardleas of what yo says he needs to be quarentined and i doubt both yo and other liveries will be happy with you if everyone else gets it!!
 
Has he a temperature and swollen areas around his face/ throat? Mine went dull, then swelled and spiked a temp. It was obvious as others had already got it. My vet said they where not fussed about it and to let it run its course. If she was struggling to breathe/ eat or drink anything they would come and see her, but only If there where complications. Are there any other horses with it for definate?
 
I think so, but if i challenged the yard owner i know she would deny it.

The 10 year old is eating all his hard feed morning and night, but just picking at the hay, my 17 year old looks ok at the moment, but he is drinking loads, and ive noticed the 10 year old drinking loads too, maybe it because he has a sore throat. Can i give them bute or is it best not to ????????????
 
brownie57 said:
I think so, but if i challenged the yard owner i know she would deny it.

The 10 year old is eating all his hard feed morning and night, but just picking at the hay, my 17 year old looks ok at the moment, but he is drinking loads, and ive noticed the 10 year old drinking loads too, maybe it because he has a sore throat. Can i give them bute or is it best not to ????????????
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get the vet out it could be anything
 
brownie57 said:
I think so, but if i challenged the yard owner i know she would deny it.

The 10 year old is eating all his hard feed morning and night, but just picking at the hay, my 17 year old looks ok at the moment, but he is drinking loads, and ive noticed the 10 year old drinking loads too, maybe it because he has a sore throat. Can i give them bute or is it best not to ????????????
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I would not give anything until the vet has seen them, as bute can help to reduce the temperature so then you will be giving your vet wrong information.
Please do not go down the this is your fault line, its disruptive and wont help the horses, you need all the co operation you can get, if this turns into a full strangles out break then your going to be stuck together for 6 to 8 weeks.

Get some virkron, do your well lad first, wash your hands and boots, change you clothes and then do your poorly horse - and the wash your hands and boots and take off all the potential contaminated clothes. But please for the welfare of your horses get the vet, but try and keep your yard owner on side, as they sure as hell wont want bad press especially if they buy and sell from the yard.
 
You really haven't a clue what you are dealing with here and have probably worried yourself to death with what may or may not be a strangles outbreak.

Get the vet and then deal with whatever the problem is.

If it is strangles the yard should be quarantined and not dealing until the vet gives the all clear BUT there are a lot of things going about at the moment so really it could be anything from flu to the sniffles.

Get the vet and find out.
 
Excellent advice, especially from Gingerwitch.
Please call your vet and make sure you tell them that you suspect possible strangles. The vet will then know not to visit another yard afterwards without taking appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of infection.

I worked on a couple of dealing yards in the past, and the owners used to use any excuse under the sun for any horse that had a cough and runny/snotty nose.
I really don't understand why people (YO's) feel the need to keep a strangles outbreak hushed up. If everyone in the area concerned knows about it, they can take preventative measures to stop it from spreading.
If it IS confirmed strangles, keeping it well contained (and making sure that others in the area know the affected yard is a no-go area until clear), and treating the horses on a vet's advice, is the only way to deal with a strangles outbreak.
 
The problem is that as soon as the S word is mentioned, the shutters go down and everyone goes into blame mode, then panic mode. There are a lot of bugs running round at the moment and strep equi - strangles (black plauge) has almost identical symtoms to strep zoo (flu). High temperature, runny nose, cough.

Unfortuanly by the time you find out if the horses have or have not got strep equi (strangles) you can be upto 10 days into the disease. Blood tests are not definative in proving if a horse has or has not got strangles, it just shows that the horse has been exposed to something and the body has anti bodies. Nasal swobs take time to develop and again depending when taken they may come back as negative for strep equi and step zoo, and may not pick up either - you are supposed to have 3 negatives to prove the horse has not had strangles - but cannot be relied upon.

If it were me, i would quaranteen both of mine, get the virkron and get my vet out, and if the horses start to be a bit head shy, or have lumps appear around there throat get the vet straight away.

Right at the start treament by antibiotics is sometimes administered, but tbh your 17 year old has propably been exposed to this at some point in his life.

Good luck and dont panic -
 
That's interesting to know GW.
There are actually a couple of confirmed strangles outbreaks locally to me, and the yards in question are doing an excellent job in keeping it contained. More importantly though, they have not pulled the shutters down and denying all knowledge as I have known other yards to do. This means that everyone in the local area knows of the risk, and would be able to have the correct tests/treatment if their own horses showed any symptoms. Strangles is something that happens with horses pretty much every year, I just don't understand why people have to be so secretive and defensive about it. Horses get coughs, temperatures and runny/snotty noses for a number of things at this time of year, but if you have an idea of what it might be, e.g. yard X 2 miles away has a horse with a cough and a snotty nose, so we better not go showjumping/dressaging/hacking out with friend who keeps horse there until we know WHY it has a cough/snotty nose.
It's like the EHV-1 outbreak in Devon, people are panicking about a virus that is very common (most horses have been exposed to EHV in at some point in their lives, some are carriers and shed the virus without ever showing symptoms), but still asking whether or not they should still go to a competition at or close to an affected yard :confused:. EHV vaccinations are not expensive. Either stay at home until the "outbreak" has cleared, or have your horse vaccinated to reduce the risk.
 
Its all about looking after your fellow horses and liveries. Doing exactly that is what has got me a badly broken leg though - but the old saying is "no good turn goes unpunished".

I have arranged for my mare to have the guttral wash next week - i dont have too, as my horses are completley in there own field, away from nose contact with other horses but whilst i am worried stupid about having the procedure done (due to an issue from sedation and loosing my big lad) i cannot NOT do it for the welfare of my other horse, the others horses and owners on the yard, and the reputation of the yard.

I have learnt alot about strangles this last month or so, what i do know if that you cant prove a negative, you can only prove a positive. Nasal swobs do not prove anything but a positive - they cannot prove a negative.

Good luck, but dont panic - no other horse has had any symptoms on my yard - but thats because we did everything by the book - very hard work - but it is do able
 
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