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Discussion on Excessive Salivation/Sluggish epiglottis
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New Member:
nacho06
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Posted on Saturday, May 8, 2010 - 9:39 am:
Last night I noticed our 12 yo mare salivating excessively....literally pouring out of her mouth and leaving a large puddle at her feet. Otherwise acting OK. Dental care up to date. Took her in to vet and he examined her mouth for foreign objects, passed an eg tube to rule out esophageal obstruction and nothing. Passed a scope and told me her soft palate looked edematous and her epiglottis was not responding normally...seemed very sluggish.
He gave her steroids and lasix, pumped some fluids into her stomach for hydration to bypass the need to swallow, and this morning said it all seemed to improved about an hour later. On talking with my hubby and kids this morning, she had been doing it for at least 24 hours when my hubby fed her and my daughter says she saw one of our other horses with similar symptoms, although not as severe, last week.
Working diagnosis at this point is toxic plant ingestion but my worry is I have no idea which one would cause this. I read several posts that indicate excessive salivation being common with certain plants that aren't really harmful, but the sluggish epiglottis part has me worried.
Any ideas? We live in North Central Texas and my horses have free access to grass pasture and coastal hay. The hay is the same they've eaten all winter without problem.
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, May 8, 2010 - 10:15 am:
Is there any clover in your pastures...that makes some DrOol buckets (literally)
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New Member:
nacho06
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Posted on Saturday, May 8, 2010 - 10:41 am:
I haven't seen any clover. Our pastures tend to be more grassy/coastal and not particularly lush. As I research more, I'm starting to suspect some type of thistle.
My concern is that her epiglottis seemed sluggish and I worry that she's going to aspirate. Is the "sluggish epiglottis" the mechanism for the excessive DrOoling in clover or thistle ingestion?
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, May 8, 2010 - 12:43 pm:
I'm not sure of the mechanism of the clover slobbering or why some horses do and some horses don't, I believe it is some kind of allergic reaction it is caused by "black patch fungus" If your horse seems fine otherwise I would be out looking to see if you have any clover in your pastures or hay. Mine DrOol constantly from it...some years.... even tho I didn't see the fungus on it, white clover caused 2 out of 3 horses of mine to DrOol excessivly, but I believe all clovers are "capable"...there will be puddles where they are standing. Another reason I killed our clover in the pastures . If keeping her off pasture for a day or two cures it I would be highly suspicious of clover. It will return with the return to pasture if indeed clover is your problem.
If you google DrOoling horses and clover I'm sure you'll get a lot of hits. Hope it is that simple for you.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, May 9, 2010 - 9:32 am:
Welcome Caren,
You will find an article on excessive salivation including the more common causes including Clover Poisoning at HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Mouth, Esophagus, and Liver » Slobbering, Salivation, and Clover Poisoning.
As to the sluggish epiglottis and swollen soft palate: was your horse having trouble swallowing food? Or is your horse inhaling food into his lungs or making unusual respiratory noises during exercise. Without signs of epiglottis and pharyngeal dysfunction I remain uncertain as to the significance of this finding and horses often DrOol copious quantities without having such dysfunction.
DrO
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New Member:
nacho06
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Posted on Sunday, May 9, 2010 - 10:13 am:
Dr. O,
She was grazing happily without any difficulty when I brought her in to feed and discovered the massive DrOoling, but when she ate some hay in her stall she coughed and I took her off of it. Our vet gave her a shot of Dex and within an hour, the DrOoling resolved.
He rescoped her the next morning and all seemed fine. In retrospect her muzzle also seemed mildly swollen, which had resolved the next morning, too.
I searched our pastures and I can't find any clover, but I did find an 8 foot stretch along the fence line that had some yellow thistle, not yellow star-thistle. I've pulled all of that and treated any remaining roots, so hopefully that was the culprit.
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