Filly Has Cold in eyes/nose with cough

[mrwjd]

Sweet little 4-y-o Morgan filly, my little girl has raised and trained since weaning.  She's been healthy, has had all the available vaccines.  Two days ago, we weren't sure there was even anything--maybe irritation from a little dust.  Last night, temp was high normal (101.1) and one eye and one nostril discharging.  This morning both eyes and both nostrils, maybe starting to hear her breathing.  Not strangles, at least doesn't look like it so far.  

Vet's receptionist very blase, we can come out at the end of the week.  I said no, TODAY, she said, oh, I'll call the vet and see what she says, but we're shorthanded today.  Stablemaster is concerned--we used some home remedies yesterday with, obviously, no improvement.

I don't like to see her sick, ever, because to me horses are so fragile compared to the dogs and cats, and so hard to help if they get really sick.  So far as I can tell from other owners, there is no such thing as "just a cold," that can be counted on to go away instead of becoming life-threatening.  

HELP--advice sought!!!  

[BTS1022]

lol, The way I look at it is why should they be complaining when you call, they are getting paid and paid very well I might add to be concearned with a barn call. Not only that but he did go to vet school to be a vet....so why does he seem like he doesnt enjoy his job? eh, some people anger me when it comes to animals and their wellbeing and healthcare.

[mrwjd]

"They have taught me in class that if *YOU FEEL UNEASY* It is an emergancy"
_____

I agree--ditto with kids!  In the olden days, when I was growing up and having kids, the opinion in the medical profession was that mom was generally overreacting, dr. was calm and reasonable.  I'm happy to see they are finally catching on that we KNOW our kids, and our observations are really good information.

My small animal vet is great that way.  I'm not embarrassed to go in and say, "Nothing really, she just isn't herself," or "he doesn't feel well," and that's good with her.  It's only my large animal vet that still needs to be brought into the 21st century!   lol  

[BTS1022]

I know the love for lippits very well. In fact I use to show them when I was growing up. Right now im not able to own horses, as im focusing on building my family. But when I do plan on getting horses again, I do plan on having me a few morgans.

The utter swelling could be a signal from her hormones that she is about to go into her heat cycle. It could be a million things naturally. Horses are hard to diagnose because unlike cats or dogs, they are outside with snakes, bee's, coons and so forth. They are also ver suseptible to different agents that the normal house pet isn't. lke your west nile, potomac fever and so forth.

She could have easily been stung by a bee, mares tend to sweat a lot in their mammory area, and bee's/wasps especially sweat bee's love that kind of stuff. The large *Rope* you were feeling is more than likely the main vessel that runs through her mammory system, and if it was swollen the vein is likely to be aswell, the more blood flow to a closed injury the faster it can heal. I have seen a lot of mares lactate during their mensus aswell, the lactation however isn't really milk, it is a hormonal fluid that leaks out instead, and can cause swelling.

If she comes back from camp with the utter still swollen, I would try to hose it down for 10 min in cold water, see if it is hot to the touch, and hard...when I say hard it would feel like holding a baseball in your hand. She could easily be having some kind of allergic reaction to the strangles vaccine, or even the medication the vet put her on for her *cold*.
If the swelling doesn't go down, I would call the vet, and if he isn't making it easy for you to get him out, I would suggest finding a new vet. They have taught me in class that if *YOU FEEL UNEASY* It is an emergancy. No account is to small when working in the medical field, and I know exactly how it feels to have an inconsistant vet, thats why I am working my way up in school to be an equine vet, there are to many out there that don't care enough, in my opinion.

If you need anything feel free to email me, I will do my best to help in any way I can.

[mrwjd]

Thank you very much for replying.  I feel helpless with a sick horse, everything is vague, hard to get a diagnosis from a vet.  The new thing, he doesn't even bother to guess.

I called the vet the second day, as soon as it appeared it was "something" and not dust.  This time, he gave her a big shot of antibiotics and a big shot of something "to increase her resistance."  We had thought we heard something in her breathing, but not wheezing or anything like that.  We began wetting her hay to keep the dust down., giving her a powdered medicine he gave us, trying to keep her cool in the (Arizona) heat, bluing in her water (these old cowboy remedies make the hair rise on the back of my neck sometimes).  Within a couple of days, her temp was normal and she was essentially recovered.  That was a week ago, and she is at 4-H camp with my daughter now.

This is my new worry:  After the cold symptoms, one side of her udder swelled (she has had heat cycles, but no pregnancies).  It wasn't tender.  It felt like a 1" rope inside the skin, very firm, 8 inches or more long, finally 10 or 12, extending forward on her belly.  I called the vet, he acted clueless (I HATE this about horses! you can never find out what's wrong.)  Right now, when I got your message, I was sitting here trying to decide whether to drive up to camp tomorrow just to see if it's changed.

Have you ever run into anything like that?  I'm quite sure it isn't an abcess, because it isn't tender and it didn't dent when I pressed on it.  I researched a lot, and in only one place they said strangles vaccinations can cause these lumps on the belly, but it isn't really the belly with her, it's the mammary system.  Anyway, she didn't have vaccine recently, but I suppose she might have been having strangles without the throat swelling, which I understand happens.  

We brought this filly from the Ohio when she was 7 months and my daughter was 10 years.  She's a Lippitt Morgan--we call her a lap horse; we know a Lippitt breeder in MI who calls his pocket horses.  (You have a lot of Lippitts in MI--well, a lot compared to the fact that the whole studbook was 2,000 when we got her and about 5,000 now.)    They aren't big, Mystic is 14.2, but they aren't ponies.  The line was started about 125 years ago by a couple of men who were concerned that Morgans were looking less like Morgans, like the Justin Morgan horse, who for all his feats was an even 14 hands.   The studbook is much more recent, of course; they are double registered Lippitt and Morgan.  I wanted her for my dtr because they really are bred for gentle personality, and she has that in spades!  My dtr, now 13, has raised and broken (really, no breaking required) and shown her--she's the only person who has ever ridden Mystic.  Mystic loves us however horses love (especially the kid; she'll look right past me if I'm alone to see if my dtr is coming) and of course we love her--you know, not very practical but happy.  ;-)    I'd recommend this  breed to anyone who didn't weigh hundreds of pounds, especially anyone with kids--maybe, like, three little boys?  And even some big people like to have them around, more or less as lawn ornaments!  :-)

Sometimes I just can't stand the idea that any old illness, even an upset stomach, can be life-threatening to a horse, and there seems so little that can be done.  I'm happy to see from your profile that you are going to be in the front lines of caring for horses, because they need all the intelligent, caring women they can get!

Thanks for your reply.  If you have any ideas on the lump, will you let me know?

[BTS1022]

Horses can get colds that just go away, infact they are very common. Also another thing to look at is maybe she has allergies. A lot of horses tend to get allergies like us humans do, and sometimes they are sudden allergies. Have you rinsed her eyes out to make sure she didnt get any sawdust/shavings in her eyes? If you can hear her breathing, like a raspy breath she could have came down with an upper resp. infection which can be treated with antibiotics. I would keep a close eye on her temp, she could have contracted strangles, but the abcess hasn't become large enough to view yet.

Hope all is well.