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  Discussion on Raw & Swollen Tongues
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Member:
Dawn

Posted on Thursday, Jan 27, 2005 - 6:24 pm:

Dear Dr. O:

I have 3 horses in Central West Florida that are on 24 hour turnout. Four days ago, one of my geldings, Poker, appeared to have long areas on the top, bottom & sides of his tongue, along the parts that would contact his complete front row of teeth top and bottom, that were raw & swollen - it literally looks like strips of the top layer of skin on his tongue was torn or burned off, no apparent objects imbedded. His gums also were red-steaked & irritated in areas. He had no other symptoms - his appetite is normal, no temperature, normal manure, just slow in eating his hay due to the lesions. My two other geldings seemed unaffected at that time. Yesterday, however, another gelding began to exhibit the same symptoms, with long lesions on the tongue and red-streaked gums appearing almost overnight, also behaving normal except for the sensitivity in the mouth. The third gelding has no symptoms.

I immediately removed all of the horses from their grazing pasture, which has had the following recent changes:

2 months ago, we planted annual rye seed for a pasture cover, purchased at Lowes, a home improvement retail center. The horses were kept off of the pasture for 3 weeks allowing the grass to become established, but not to the point that there are any seedheads. I began letting them graze gradually (first day 1 hour, 2nd day 3 hours, 2nd week half of the day, etc.) for the next three weeks until they were on the pasture 24 hours a day for the last 1.5 to 2 weeks. There were no adverse symptoms that were noticed until four days ago, when I noticed that the first gelding had a swollen tongue while at a weekend horse show. We have seeded the pasure during the winter before (two years ago) and have never had a problem.

A neighbor was cutting limbs off of oak trees that were adjacent to the pasture fence line but I did not notice the horses reaching for cut branches, although they could have reached the cut on the tree where the branches were & possibly some dead leaves on the cut branches. However, we have alot of oak trees in our pasture and all three horses habitually eat acorns during the springtime with no apparent adverse affects.

I noticed a small area in the pasture with small brown mushrooms growing this evening. I have not been able to determine if they have been eaten by the horses or what species that they are yet.

All of the horses are on the same quality pelleted feed and the same hay, which is a quality orchard/alfafa hay that I purchased from a reputable show barn that has not had any similar problems. The one gelding that has no symptoms yet eats the same food, hay & pasture as the two that are affected.

I have put in a call to my veterinarian but have not been able to get her out yet, since the horses are not displaying any other symptoms & she has been dealing with other emergencies. Should I be treating this as an emergency since the horses seem okay in all other regards? Could the same thing be happening to their GI tract and if so, would I see changes in their manure? If you have any comments, knowledge or suggestions based on your experience I would appreciate your quick response.

Thank you,
Dawn





Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jan 28, 2005 - 7:07 am:

Unfortunately Dawn without looking we cannot tell whether this is an emergency or not. However if you cannot tell what is going on and if the lesions look serious I certainly would get the vet out as soon as possible as this sounds like a caustic reaction. It is interesting that oak toxicity (see poisonous plants) is largely such a reaction but there are other possibilities that come to mind:
  • Blister beetles
  • Foxtail (Setaria) seedhead exposure
  • Vesicular Stomatitis
With a search I believe you can find information on all of these.

Yes this could indicate lesions forming further down the GI tract and would not neccesarily be reflected in the horses stools until it becomes severe. Perhaps if you could get some good pictures of the changes it would help.
Member:
Dawn

Posted on Friday, Jan 28, 2005 - 1:33 pm:

Dr.O:

I spoke to my vet & my local agricultural agent today. Based on the specific info that I have given them, we have ruled out vesicular stomatitis, blister beetles and probably seedheads. The lesions on the tongues are not random - the wounds are only in the area where the tongue comes into contact with the bottom of the teeth, indicating that the horses are rubbing the tongue on the teeth due to some sort of irritation or reaction. Unfortunately, this puts me in a position of ??? what could they be eating ??? so my next step is to keep them off of the pasture that they were grazing, search & remove any weeds from the pasture, and save such weeds for the agricultural agent to look over when he comes to my place next week. He also felt that some sort of sap from a toxic weed, or the cut oak trees or from a dead tangerine tree may be the cause, due to the nature of the wounds on the tongue being only on the area that contacts the bottom of the teeth. He mostly suspects the dead tangerine tree, because there is evidence that the horses have been stripping bark from it, so we will be removing it also. Neither one suspected the rye grass or seeds that may be left on the ground.

Thank you for your prompt response. If any of this information prompts an observation from you, please let me know.

Dawn


Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jan 28, 2005 - 4:35 pm:

Rubbing the tonque on the bottom teeth? Are they sharp from not being floated Dawn, otherwise they have found a mechanism for disease I am unaware of. And why whould that cause the gums of the mouth to become irritated?
DrO
Member:
Dawn

Posted on Friday, Jan 28, 2005 - 10:32 pm:

Dr.O:

The teeth may indeed be slightly uneven (it's been 2 years since floating) but I know that this is not the direct cause, of course, and would never happen under normal circumstances! Something much more serious is going on, and is most likely caused by some type of outside agent, but the pattern of the sores is very obvious now. The red coloring in the gums has nearly disappeared totally, the only obvious symptom left is that the top layers of tissue on the tongues on both horses is literally missing, and only where the tongue comes into contact with the rows of both the top & bottom teeth in the front of the mouth before the bit seat. There is also some slight irritation on the inside front lips but nowhere else on either tongue seems to be affected, nor is there signs of irritation deeper in the mouth or farther back on the tongue or in the middle part anywhere on the tongue, top or bottom. Nobody that I have talked to has ever seen anything quite like it. My vet says that she has seen a similar reaction on horses that have eaten pepper trees, but I do not believe that I have such vegetation on my property. The horses are behaving very normal, have strong appetites, are playing & socializing with each other and are showing no outward signs of distress except for a sensitive mouth, after five days now from the first symptom. It is very unsettling because I am beginning to feel that I may never know what caused this reaction. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow.

Dawn


Member:
Vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 3, 2005 - 5:16 pm:

A toxic weed that causes gingivitis, sore tongues, colic, and even death is Corydalis. It is not native to central Florida but thrives here in the winter months and does not freeze in my pastures even on the coldest nights. It is green when not much or nothing else is. It is highly palatable and horses especially seek out the plants when they are small and tender. They pull up very easily, and suspect the horses eat them roots and all to some degree. Most animal care professionals in Florida are not aware of this weed, which is not a native species. The foliage is sort of pale gray-green and looks somewhat similar to a very fine Italian parsley. They get a small, tubular flower, most often yellow, though there are other colors. After flowering a small, upright slender green bean appears. This plant is related to the Poppy and the toxic principles are not well understood. In addition to gingivitis of the gums, blisters may appear in the mouth and on the tongue, and the tongue may peel off in big, thick pieces (according to one of my Vets). It also sometimes causes horses to behave oddly, making a strange snapping motion with their mouth, like they are snapping at the air. They can die very suddenly from this plant. You can find some pictures of this plant on the internet . . . have seen it listed under yellow corydalis or golden corydalis, which are two species that look somewhat different, but related. Hope this helps you avoid a problem next winter! All 3 of my boys had reactions to it this year because I missed a couple of patches -- thought I had it all pulled up! If you see your horses hanging around one area of the pasture, usually under trees in the winter, check it out and you may find the attraction is Corydalis. I am responding to an old post, which I just read for the first time, in the hopes of helping others avoid a problem from this weed.
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