Suspected RAO

[Wheels]

New horse arrived just 4 weeks ago with a snotty nose and a cough.

Day one = vet visit and antibiotics prescribed for 5 days. Some improvement on both the snotty nose and the cough but once antibiotics were finished the cough got worse again. So we had another 5 days of antibiotics plus ventipulmin. Again saw some improvement but the cough was not completely gone. Tried another different airway opener and again saw some improvement but the cough was still there.

We finished that particular medication on Sunday morning - one cough during ridden work on Sunday afternoon but I haven't heard the cough again yet. I'm pretty sure it will be back and yesterday morning and this morning he had a small amount of cream coloured snot (lovely!)

I think (in some lights) that I can see very mild heave lines but I think I see them and then I don't see them so not entirely sure.

My local vet who has been treating him thinks we should go now for a scope - waiting for the equine specialists to come back to me with further info etc.

He is currently out 24/7, grass is not great so he's on good quality haylage and I dampen his feed - is there anything else management wise I could be looking at in the mean time? Any good supplements I can try before further investigations are under way? Do these types of conditions usually get worse over time?

 

[be positive]

As it may be long standing I would get him scoped now so you know what you are dealing with rather than waste time and money just dealing with the symptoms, they do tend to get worse over time, especially if they are still symptomatic living out, so the faster you get the correct diagnosis the better in my experience.
Once he is well having him really fit can be the best way of keeping the airways clear but you have to balance it so as to not put too much strain on them when you are building up the fitness.

 

[Wheels]

Thank you

I spoke to the equine specialist vets who do not think it's RAO but instead a virus. They want to do blood profile, Lungwash and possibly a scope as well so I suppose that would give us a good overview anyway