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  Discussion on Gutteral pouch swelling
Author Message
Member:
Lindalar

Posted on Monday, Oct 18, 2004 - 7:41 pm:

Hello, I have an 8 month old POA filly. She has a bit of a swollen gutteral pouch. We first noticed it in August when she was stalled for show fitting. We feed low protein all natural feeds and good quality grass hay. She was seen by a vet and felt there was no problem. A few weeks later she was again seen and thought to have a very very mild case of tympany. She was turned out to pasture with cover she seems to recover. I brought her in and stalled her last week. Hand turning her out each day. By day 5 her little gutteral pouch was very swollen and she was making breathing noises. I turned her out. She ran bucking and leaping as if she had not a care in the world. After being out 24 hours her swelling is almost non existent. I have been given TriHist to see if she has some kind of allergy. She has been radiographed and there is no evidence of fluid. She has no fever and eats well. You can massage the pouch and she will belch. Does anyone have any ideas. I have a consult at the Vet teaching school but it is an 8 hour drive and I would rather not send her on such a ride unless we truely have no alternative plan.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Nov 7, 2004 - 10:57 am:

Hello Linda,
I have not heard of a successful medical therapy that is beneficial and these cases rarely resolve without surgery. With lasers the surgery can be done standing under sedation.
DrO
New Member:
Jagrwd

Posted on Monday, Sep 26, 2005 - 10:56 pm:

I have a 18 year old mare with a severe guttural pouch infection from Strep Equi. She has been hospitalized 2x for saline flushing but it keeps coming back. She has had it for 2 years now and has been on multiple courses of antibiotics. We had her x-rays a few weeks ago and surgery was recommended. I would like to know about the laser surgery Dr. Oglesby mentioned because the surgery that was described to us was very invasive and could result in paralysis due to the nerves that run through the top of the guttural pouch. We need to do something fast because she has gotten worse in the last 3 weeks with the hot and dry weather here. Where are you located?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 27, 2005 - 7:43 am:

Lasers are used to "ablate" tissue that is to remove unwanted tissue. Not all surgeries can be done with a laser. What is the nature of the surgery they want to do on your horse Ginger?
DrO
New Member:
Jagrwd

Posted on Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 - 9:57 pm:

We originally discussed 2 options with the vets. One was a full surgical debridement under general anesthesia and the other was a saline rinse procedure with a high pressure spray that pounds the conDrOids out. I think they said option 2 could be done standing. The first vet that we saw recommended that we use the surgical approach on the mare or put her down and the second seemed to feel that the pounding might have a 70% chance of working. I called the second vet back earlier this week and call me back.

The mare has been flushed before and soft mucus was expelled from the pouch but the vet said he couldn't get deep enough to flush it very well. Once they got the inflammation down this time and put the scope in, some cottage cheese stuff came out so the mucus had hardened some. It was probably exacerbated by the extremely hot and dry weather we had here for about 8 weeks.

My gut feeling is that the high pressure saline rinse might work because the mare's overall condition doesn't appear to be that bad yet(her last flush was the last week of May). I think if we could just get deep enough in the pouch to clean it throughly her body might be able to do the rest but of course I'm not a vet so I'm still picking their brain regarding the best solution. I want to have several perspectives before I make a final decision.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Sep 30, 2005 - 8:49 am:

It strikes me that the flush can be done and if it fails the surgery is still an option.
DrO
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