Cough Cough, Its That Time Of Year Again

[Retty]

Yes its winter so its time for coughing again! I manage Max by soaking his hay and turning him out everyday, so far this has worked.. but a friend texted me earlier to let me know she had heard Max cough a bit this morning... eeekkkk. Last year he got a bad cough and I had to inject him with intramuscular injections as he ended up with chest infection - obviously I want to avoid this at all costs and wondered if anyone has cough mixture recommendations that work?! I will continue with soaked hay and as much turn out as poss (they have to come in over night, and we have to use straw not shavings - yard rules), but want to get what I can in order to avoid this getting worse. Thanks in advance!

[Sarah1710]

Flyer was stabled on straw when I first started bringing him in at night and he developed an awful cough, despite the fact that I was soaking his hay. I swapped him into Thorobed which is finely cut dust-extracted flax straw, and his cough disappeared overnight. Would they allow you to swap to something like this?

[Retty]

No, unfortunately they wont allow anything other than what they provide - its all in the price and they recycle everything...

[nutkin]

do you soak his bedding? If you have to use straw its a good idea to sprinkle water over it to stop the dust particles from moving around in the box.Also is it possible for you to switch the hay for haylage as this is less dusty too.If not then you are doing all you can by soaking his hay. Also feeding from the floor is a good idea as it helps the mucous build up that causes the cough to drain out. I have similar issues with my horse and just by managing him in the above method of soaked straw and haylage fed from the floor it does make a real difference. If your yard insists on feeding their hay would they not offer you a discount if you brought your own haylage in and fed that instead.

[Retty]

I do buy in haylege if the hay is even slightly dusty looking, I do not get any discount for not using their hay. I just started to put the hay on the floor a couple of days ago.

I will also try spraying the straw :)

Any recommendations on cough syrups etc? I have heard of some people using Benylin before..

[nutkin]

I don't have to use on with my horse at all on his management system but I know another horse who suffers really badly in winter with coughs despite really careful management is given some stuff which I think is called easy breathe or something like that.It does work for her.There is some stuff you can get to use before exercise which is really good.You spray it in each nostril before working the horse and it really opens up the airways. I have also heard of people giving their horses benylin although I am not sure if thats a good idea or not.

[Chip]

Our horse suffers from a cough when in, so we don't stable him. However, in January, we had to bring him in every day as he was performing in a Pantomime. he developed his cough and we just bought some cheap Superdrug Cough Mixture - worked a treat:D

[Mimi + Me]

My mare developed a really hacking cough last year. She moved to a barn and was eating really manky, dusty straw that was not really even suitable to be used as bedding let alone eating :eek: :eek:

Anyway, on the YM's recommendations I bought her a big bottle of Benylin (you can get either normal or non-drowsy depending on your horse's temperament :rolleyes: ) and it really worked a treat. I put in a large syringe (not sure of the actual millilitres or whatever they are) and gave it to her twice a day. Once she realised it wasn't wormer she loved it, really licking her lips after I gave it to her. Within a few days her cough had gone completely :)

The only snag was telling the pharmacist when I bought it at the chemist who it was for, you know they say to you when you buy medicines "is it for yourself?" and I had to explain it was for my horse :o :o

[Retty]

Many thanks for all your answers :)

Nutkin do you know the name of the nasal spray you used?

I will pop down the chemists in the morning and get some cough mixture :D