Yelllowish snot Asthma

[GypsGal1718]

This morning I noticed some yellowish snot on my old boys leg, it seems he has wiped nose on leg and the snot is yellowish which started ringing alarm bells for me. He has Asthma so it could be that? His nostrils were clear and he had no other signs of illness/strangles and has not been in contact with any horses apart from his companion who has not been in contact with any other horses apart from him in the last 6 months. Anything to worry About?

 

[meleeka]

Does he cough?

 

[Widgeon]

I can only speak for myself but my horse has a dry-sounding but snotty cough after what feels like an epically long winter on hay. It's proving very difficult to shift. He has slightly sensitive airways after a chest infection a few years back and this now seems to happen at the end of every winter. It's very annoying but nothing hugely sinister (vet is involved) and he's quite happy in himself. If your boy is older and has been on hay all winter it could be nothing more than that. I would keep an eye on him, and if it gets worse or he seems a bit down / off his food / coughing at rest, then call the vet. But don't panic.

 

[Fransurrey]

Yellowish snot suggests white blood cells. This may be inflammatory/allergy mediated, or it may be infection. If there isn't a known environmental trigger that you can change, then I'd get your vet out.

 

[nutjob]

I would check his respiration rate and temperature. If either are above normal contact the vet, if normal monitor closely over next few days to see if it's getting worse or resolves.

 

[AppyLover1996]

My lad has COPD and produces the exact same snot when he is having a flare up - I call the vet out and normally get prescribed a course of Ventipulmin or something similar and it's always cleared it up x High pollen levels are a major factor for my lad x

 

[GypsGal1718]

Just talked with vet, no infection just his Asthma, no coughing. He is on meds for it.

 

[Merrymoles]

My horse produced copious amounts of similar when we were on a different yard. I had the vet out who told me that generally if it doesn't smell bad, it's not too serious.

He had no treatment, other than me rinsing his hay which was pretty dusty. Since we moved yards and he is living out, he has hardly had a recurrence - maybe once in the last year, even with more or less ad lib hay.

 

[HollyWoozle]

We had the vet out for our old boy today - he was rattling and coughing this morning but cleared the mucus (I assume) but still didn't look totally comfortable. Vet said they had four call-outs yesterday for horses all presenting with respiratory/asthma type issues and that the time of year is to blame. In our case the pony had some steroids and a muscle relaxant and we're advised to feed rinsed/damp hay for the next few days, but his lungs sounded OK and all else was fine.