This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Respiratory System » Heaves & Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease »
  Discussion on Warmblood mare with strange cough
Author Message
Member:
cathyb1

Posted on Thursday, Oct 18, 2007 - 12:54 am:

I have a mare who has a strange cough. She puts her head down, almost groans, then coughs so hard that she has flatulance at the other end. She is not sick, no temperature, eating well, very healthy otherwise. The vet scoped her, and found she had pus around the epiglottis. Her lungs were clear. He put her on BromoTrimidine powder for 10 days, during which the cough disappeared. A few days after finishing this medication, the cough came back. I gave her Sputolysin (on the vet's advice) for another 5 days, which helped, although the cough didn't completely go. Now she is coughing fairly frequently.
I read the article about COPD and Summer Pasture COPD. My mare is stabled at night, out in her paddock during the day. We are in south Eastern Australia, on a farm. It is spring here, but we are in a DrOught (have been for a few years now), and although we had good autumn rains earlier in the year, everything is drying off rapidly, owing to hot, dusty, drying winds, and warm daily temperatures.
My mare's pasture is mainly what we call barley grass. It looks like barley, but smaller - obviously it is not really barley. It has a similar seed head. It is flowering at the moment. It has been quite dusty here.
She is stabled on wood shavings, although I notice over time that the woodshavings do break down to become a bit dusty. ( When I muck out, I remove the poo and the wet stuff, and put new shavings in. So the same (clean) shavings can be there for some time. Could it be the shavings that are making her cough? I feed her pellets and (our own) hay. Recently, as she was so fat after a spell, I was feeding her on barley straw (what is left over after we harvest the barley). It is not dusty, and smells fine, but it is nearly 12 months old. It makes my nose run, but then I am quite susceptible to hay fever myself! I have taken her off this, and put her on to a mixture of ryegrass and clover hay, not dusty, but almost 12 months old now. I am careful not to feed her musty or moldy hay - she would refuse to eat it anyway!
She is a big warmblood mare, which I use for dressage. She coughs when I first get on, then works fine, and coughs when I get off. Perhaps she is allergic to me!
Any ideas?
Member:
cathyb1

Posted on Thursday, Oct 18, 2007 - 1:05 am:

I should add to my previous post: since I wrote this, I have had the vet to the mare again. She listened to her chest, and described the breathing in the upper part of the lungs as "noisy" - not crackly, though. She then scanned the mare's lungs, which did not show anything unusual. Then we scoped her, right down to where the trachea branches, and took a sample of yellowish fluid. The vet also took blood, and I am waiting on the results of these tests. During the scope, the upper airways were clear.

It has been dusty here for a long time - we had a period for a few months where it rained, and there was green feed in paddocks. She still had a slight cough then, but not like this.

She had a month off in the paddock, coming back into work about a month ago, and when she came back in, she had the slight cough.

What does it sound like to you? If this is chronic, can it be managed?
I'll let you know the results when they come through.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 18, 2007 - 1:40 pm:

Hello Cathy,
It does sound like COPD but your management is not what we recommend for such cases be sure to review the most common cause in the article and remember once horses develop the allergy even good hay can cause coughing. Most horses with a history like yours will respond to our treatment and management scheme within a few days to a few weeks.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC