Very thick nasal / chest discharge

[Green Bean]

My mare has started coughing, not continuously, or I would have called in the vet, but I have noticed that there is a lump of very sticky, very thick (i.e. not runny at all) mucus on the ground outside her stable, once in her stable, and once where it had somehow gotten into her mane. These are only the ones I have seen, I am sure there are more as I am not at the yard every day. General opinion at the yard, is that there are a few horses coughing at the moment so no great concern. I am worried as she sounds like she is almost choking when she is coughing, trying to get the mucus out. I will phone my vet but just wondered if anyone else has experienced this? I have recently started her on a breathing supplement but not convinced that this will deal with the issue. I have inserted a photo below of one of the discharges - this was sitting outside her stable when I saw her early Saturday.

 

[paddi22]

I would get the vet and and do a swab of the mucus. I had one horse with mucus and slight coughing and it turned out he had septic pneumonia. if they get to the coughing/mucus stage then it's already a bad issue the vet said.they can send a camera through her nose and they will be able to see how bad it is.

 

[Sugar12]

My mare did this basically the mucas they are coughing could be an infection so do call a vet however mine was due to dusty hay , so I made a hay steamer , wheelie bin, wallpaper remover and a wire basket. (google it on you tube, cheap and cheerful and it works ) now I steam her hay and when I can give her haylage and this has solved our problem.

 

[Gloi]

The vet will likely give a few days antibiotics and some ventipulmin to clear it up.

 

[Green Bean]

Just a report back - had the vet come out on Friday last week. It looks like it is a bit of an upper respiratory issue / mild equine asthma. Vet checked her heart, lungs, breathing rate - all were okay. She confirmed that the 'gunk' didn't smell. She used a contraption they were trialing which can give an almost instant read on infection rates in the blood - she took a sample of blood, added it to a little bottle with some liquid in it, then added a drop of this liquid to something that looked like a pregnancy test strip then slipped that into a little machine the size of a credit card machine, which then confirmed there was no infection - no waiting or giving anti-biotics in case. She text my girls teeth as well to make sure there wasn't something hinky there. In the end she has been prescribed Dilaterol to open up her airways for 10 days then I can assess if her cough is still persisting. Daughter rode he on Staurday, so after 2 doses, and her usual cough she has after a short trot didn't happen, so keeping fingers crossed it is this simple. She has gone on to damp hay (not soaked) so we will see how that goes too.

 

[Equi]

My boy tends to get a little muccussy at the time of year, a long winter followed by a spring allergy. Dose of ventipulmin usually sorts it out, but I gave it preemptively this year so hope he won’t get it badly. I have also since last year changed his bedding, only feed from the floor, wet his forage and make sure to muckout or dust down his stable when he’s not in it + is not in it for a good 30mins after.

 

[2 ponies 2 dogs]

My poor boy has been out of sorts for a week, coughing, snotty nose, bit quiet but then over the weekend became very listless ,eating very slowly. I called the vet yesterday and she came to see him this morning. Breathing rate really up, short shallow breaths, temp up, very quiet and not really bothered about vet coming in to him. Usually he plays with anything being shown to him so when he just stood there whilst she listened to his lungs, throat and airways I just knew she was going to tell me he was ill. Very thick crackling lungs, glands up so a course of antibiotics twice daily and dilating syrup twice a day. He ate it all up and sat with his head in my lap as if to say thank you for getting me help. A week off work and try to keep him quiet and warm with a bit of turnout without his muzzle and he should be back to his cheeky self. I hope your horse is back to good health soon.

 

[Green Bean]

My poor boy has been out of sorts for a week, coughing, snotty nose, bit quiet but then over the weekend became very listless ,eating very slowly. I called the vet yesterday and she came to see him this morning. Breathing rate really up, short shallow breaths, temp up, very quiet and not really bothered about vet coming in to him. Usually he plays with anything being shown to him so when he just stood there whilst she listened to his lungs, throat and airways I just knew she was going to tell me he was ill. Very thick crackling lungs, glands up so a course of antibiotics twice daily and dilating syrup twice a day. He ate it all up and sat with his head in my lap as if to say thank you for getting me help. A week off work and try to keep him quiet and warm with a bit of turnout without his muzzle and he should be back to his cheeky self. I hope your horse is back to good health soon.

2 ponies 2 dogs, so sorry about your boy, it sounds really serious. It is amazing how connected our horses are with us, for us to be able to recognise their thanks when we have realised there is something wrong. Hopefully he will be back to his old self soon xx

 

[Green Bean]

Well, following up on my original discussion and outcome. My mare has started coughing again, after being off the meds for a few weeks. I have booked her in for an endoscope this Wednesday which will look into her airways all the way to the bronchi and generally have a good look around and take samples to send off to the lab for analysis. Hope this has a good outcome. I had the choice of trying her on various meds but as there was no sure way of knowing what was wrong, I could be giving her all sorts that are not needed, so chose to go down this route instead. Fingers crossed it provides answers for this.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Mine never had mucus really, but a persistent cough. We did scope and only found minor irritation in the upper airway. No allergies found from the test done then. However, I had him tested via another method months later and found he is allergic to a few things. With proper management (soaked hay, living out, keeping fit) he's really had no troubles. He had the occasional flare up here and there but I have a Flexineb for him.

The Flexineb is super easy to use and clean. We normally treated with Pulmicort and Atrovent. Which worked. Also used Dex in the beginning. He's a bit of a fatty so I prefer for him to inhale steroids since the dose is less, the laminitis risk is less, and it goes straight to the airway.

I've also given him Balsamic Air (orally, never inhaled) and that's worked when he's come up with a minor cough. His are always dry though.

So scoping, allergy testing, and a nebulizer would be my suggestion.