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 » Discussions on Respiratory System not covered by the above »
  Discussion on Coughing problem
Author Message
New Member:
giardina

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009 - 10:17 pm:

Hi
I have a 17 year old half arab half appy that I do endurance on. We've done 5 rides so far this season.
My last ride was a 75 done in Nevada (I live in CA) on June 13th. I let him have a week of just being turned out. I didn't notice any problems. After the week off I started taking him on jogs with me. Just like 2 miles, nothing big. When we first started doing this, I began to notice his cough.
He does it mostly when being exercised, but will cough in his pasture too. He doesn't have a fever (and never did). He eats, drinks, and still plays normally. When he coughs, sometimes saliva comes out of his mouth.
I am doing a 100 mile ride in a month and I am trying to get him better as fast as possible. I called my vet last friday and the vet watched him cough. He did not listen to lungs or do anything else. I was prescribed 2 medications.
One was like a cough syrup (1 ml 2 times a day by syringe) and the other was a anti-inflammatory medicine that is a powder that I put into his grain (1 scoop for 3 days, then 1 scoop every other day for 3 more days). I don't know the exact names of the medicine because they are at the barn but can get them if necessary (he is not boarded if that makes a difference).
The vet figured he must have had a small inflamation.
Well, I'm all out of the cough syrup medicine and have not seen improvement. I have been wetting down all of his hay, and watering his paddock to keep all of the dust down. So here are my questions for you::
1.) Does medicine usually take more than 1 week to set in?
2.) Do you think he could have something else- if so what do you think?
3.) Many of my rides have been on BLM land, so after reading some articles lungworms scared me. It sounds like he could have them, as burros often graze on the same places that I let him eat on the endurance rides. I was worried so I checked my worming dates. He gets ivermectin and strongid rotated each time. His last worming was in the beginning of May with Strongid (doesn't kill or protect against lungworms) so I wormed him last week with ivermectin. If it was lungworms, how long would it take to clear up after the worming and would there be other obvious signs?

I am really looking forword to your opinion. My vet feels that I should wait for another week before getting him scoped or anything but I am pulling my hair out and concerned! Would it be beneficial to wait longer? Please let me know if you have any questions- thank you so much!
New Member:
giardina

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009 - 10:21 pm:

By they way, he has never ever coughed before so this isnt a chronic problem
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 2, 2009 - 9:19 am:

Welcome Courtney,
Taking your questions in order:
1) I am uncertain what you mean by "set in" however I would expect most cough medications to have an onset of action within 24 hours of beginning.
2) Courtney from the information you present there are many possibilities and we discuss their differential histories, clinical findings, and how to differentiate them at Diseases of Horses » Respiratory System » Chronic Cough Without Fever.
3) It can depend on the seriousness of the infection and require several weeks to a month to resolve.
4) Whether it is good to wait or not will depend on the cause so the first step to answering this question is getting a firm diagnosis. However even with undiagnosed cough there are steps that can be taken now to help increase your chance of a quick turn around and these are covered in the article referenced above.

I will also note that though this is a new finding it may be the beginning of a chronic disorder, so while the history is acute onset, chronic causes must be considered as some of them are very common.
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