coughing

[Hillary_Indiana]

We have a Paso Fino mix gelding who has been coughing a lot lately. It started probably a week ago and he was coughing about every minute. It's a real dry cough but sounds like it might be deep in the chest. As of yesterday he was still coughing, but about once every 30 min. I was thinking about giving him an antibiotic shot because I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might help. Any suggestions? He doesn't act like he's in pain or anything...he's still his friendly self.

 

[Alan]

Could be dust, could be dusty hay, could be a problem. Have you called a vet yet? I would start by wetting down his hay and get some advice from a Vet.

Alan

 

[rc]

It's probably just dry dusty conditions. if he's eating, that's good. The sulfa tablets work wonders on the cough if he needs anything. I would not start with shots. If you do the tablets get yourself a coffee grinder to grind them up for his feed. I've had a bunch of em go through the cough it's nothing really, just kinda a hassle.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

If your horse lives in the pasture with free access to a run-in (loafing) shed, then it might have ingested something that it is allergic to.

On other hand, if the horse is "stabled" or "penned" in a barn a lot of time, then it may very well be a case of dust, pollen, "inside things floating around", etc.

Horses do much better in an open pasture with free access to shelter. Stabling them in a barn is about the same as a human working in a school, institution, hospital, etc., where all sorts of critters are in the (bad?) air...lol.

 

[msscamp]

I agree with Alan, although I would rule out dusty hay before contacting the vet. Thump on it a few times with the pitchfork and you'll know if it's dusty or not.

 

[hayray]

We have a Paso Fino mix gelding who has been coughing a lot lately. It started probably a week ago and he was coughing about every minute. It's a real dry cough but sounds like it might be deep in the chest. As of yesterday he was still coughing, but about once every 30 min. I was thinking about giving him an antibiotic shot because I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might help. Any suggestions? He doesn't act like he's in pain or anything...he's still his friendly self.

well if it is deep in the chest it sounds like he is heaving. A healthy horse reacting to dusty hay would most likely cause the horse to do a lot of sneezing and lip blowing. He most likely sa has had the attack from dusty conditions from hay or very leafy hay that is triggering a reaction in his respiratory track and most likely has had this problem in years past. Look at his flank, he will have a heave line if he is chronic. Administring a antibiotic could be one of the worst things to do. Usually with heaves some type of steriod is applied.

 

[msscamp]

We have a Paso Fino mix gelding who has been coughing a lot lately. It started probably a week ago and he was coughing about every minute. It's a real dry cough but sounds like it might be deep in the chest. As of yesterday he was still coughing, but about once every 30 min. I was thinking about giving him an antibiotic shot because I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might help. Any suggestions? He doesn't act like he's in pain or anything...he's still his friendly self.

A healthy horse reacting to dusty hay would most likely cause the horse to do a lot of sneezing and lip blowing.

I've got to disagree on this one, hayray. We've had very healthy horses that were simply intolerant to dust. Feed them dusty hay - even hay that didn't appear to be excessively dusty - and they developed a deep cough as a result - it just took a day or two for the cough to become apparent. Remove the dusty hay or water it down prior to feeding and the coughing disappeared. No heave line was visible, either.

 

[Alan]

Hillary, some good responses, but this is one of those that we are all guessing what's wrong from the keyboard.

Good luck,
Alan

 

[hayray]

We have a Paso Fino mix gelding who has been coughing a lot lately. It started probably a week ago and he was coughing about every minute. It's a real dry cough but sounds like it might be deep in the chest. As of yesterday he was still coughing, but about once every 30 min. I was thinking about giving him an antibiotic shot because I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might help. Any suggestions? He doesn't act like he's in pain or anything...he's still his friendly self.

A healthy horse reacting to dusty hay would most likely cause the horse to do a lot of sneezing and lip blowing.

I've got to disagree on this one, hayray. We've had very healthy horses that were simply intolerant to dust. Feed them dusty hay - even hay that didn't appear to be excessively dusty - and they developed a deep cough as a result - it just took a day or two for the cough to become apparent. Remove the dusty hay or water it down prior to feeding and the coughing disappeared. No heave line was visible, either.

Within the context of what she stated that the horse was coughing every minute for a week and it was deep in the chest I assume that is something a bit more serious than as I stated - how a healthy horse coughs or reacts from dusty hay - not that healthy horses never cough from dusty hay. Also I stated that in a chronic case you can see a heave line. Chronic meaning a long lasting problem horse. Also, a real difference between a healthy horse sneezing and a deep chested cough every minute. But as Alan stated, this is guessing from a key board so any responses to any of these questions need to be taken in a very broad sense - since we are not talking in person there is a tremendous amount that has to be left out.

 

[msscamp]

We have a Paso Fino mix gelding who has been coughing a lot lately. It started probably a week ago and he was coughing about every minute. It's a real dry cough but sounds like it might be deep in the chest. As of yesterday he was still coughing, but about once every 30 min. I was thinking about giving him an antibiotic shot because I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might help. Any suggestions? He doesn't act like he's in pain or anything...he's still his friendly self.

A healthy horse reacting to dusty hay would most likely cause the horse to do a lot of sneezing and lip blowing.

I've got to disagree on this one, hayray. We've had very healthy horses that were simply intolerant to dust. Feed them dusty hay - even hay that didn't appear to be excessively dusty - and they developed a deep cough as a result - it just took a day or two for the cough to become apparent. Remove the dusty hay or water it down prior to feeding and the coughing disappeared. No heave line was visible, either.

Within the context of what she stated that the horse was coughing every minute for a week and it was deep in the chest I assume that is something a bit more serious than as I stated - how a healthy horse coughs or reacts from dusty hay - not that healthy horses never cough from dusty hay. Also I stated that in a chronic case you can see a heave line. Chronic meaning a long lasting problem horse. Also, a real difference between a healthy horse sneezing and a deep chested cough every minute. But as Alan stated, this is guessing from a key board so any responses to any of these questions need to be taken in a very broad sense - since we are not talking in person there is a tremendous amount that has to be left out.

Ok, I see. I also realize that we are all guessing from a key board, and that a lot of things are probably being left out that would be there in person. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[born2run]

How's the horse two days after the last post? ;-) My pony mare developed a pretty severe cough about two years ago. Wasn't ever able to pin-point the cause, but a call to the vet got me granules and an IM antihistimine. Cured her pretty fast.

 

[Hillary_Indiana]

He's not doing any better since my last post. We've ridden him a couple of times. Saturday he bent his head down trying not to put the bit in his mouth, he's never done that before. When we tightened the saddle it seemed to make him have a 1 min coughing fit. I did feed him that morning (usually I just feed them at night). So it would make sense if it was the hay that triggers it. Maybe I should try wetting down the hay for a couple of days.

 

[Hillary_Indiana]

Flame was still coughing quite a bit, and for the past week it has calmed down immensely. He rarely, if ever, coughs...he did cough a little bit when I was riding him today. Nothing to write home about though. I was wondering if this could have any relation to the fact that we wormed them last week??? My mom said she thinks that maybe he had lung worm?? Anyone had any experience with that? I read up on coughing everywhere I could and NOWHERE did it say to check for lung worm.

 

[Kelly]

Did it come on very suddenly? I don't know if it is possible for it to have something lodged deep in his throat. Maybe even just a splinter from a branch or something? Maybe that is why it didn't want to take the bit? Just a thought. If we get something caught in our throat we cough. You could make sure you treated for lungworms with the dewormer you used. I have used the SMZ's for a chronic cough in a horse. I disolved them in hot water then mixed with her grain 2 times a day for about 10 days. It worked great!

 

[MrGale]

try checking his temperature....hay cough is one thing, pneumonia is another....