Respiratory infections...HELP!

[neasham]

Hey all,

Iv just recieved my friesian mare from holland today and she's stunning but unfortunatly things havent worked out as I'd have liked. As soon as we got her into the box we noticed that she had alot of discharge coming from her nose but she seemed fine and proceded to eat (mainly her straw!lol) so we rugged her up and left her while we made a trip to the local horse shop for some more suplies, when we got back russel the livery yard owner met us and told us that she had started to shake quite alot so we decided we best give the vet a call. The vet arrived this evening and found that her temperature was high and listening to her breathing there is a good chance she has picked up a resperatory infect. She's been given some jabs and the vet has taken a swob of her discharge (snot!) and is comming back tommorrow afternoon to see how she is doing. Has anyone else had a horse or know of any horses who have suffered with a respiratory infection? If anyone has any ideas how I can make her more comfortable also then this would be great. Iv read lots of things saying that respiratory infections can be spread easily to other horses but all the other horses in the barn have had their jabs so do you think they will be okay...I will feel terrible if they get ill too!

Anyway I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she looks brighter in the morning as I know she's just had a long hard trip and being tired wont help her feel any better! I'm a bit anoyed also because she had a vet check just before she set off on the ferry n this came back fine and also one a week beforehand. She was however unrugged threw the whole journey so I wonder if she caught a chill from it as they cant even move to keep warm.

Rachael

[Gracie]

Hi Rachael,
Congratulations on your new purchase.
I wouldn't be too concerned, like you said it's probably from the traveling and I am sure she was a bit stressed which brings down ones imune system.
I know if a horse has a lot of discharge they say to put the hay on the ground or lower so the horse has to put his head down to eat it, to help the fluids drain!

Best of luck!

[Jessey]

I would agree probably got a chill on the journey and the stress etc will have made what would normally be 'just a snotty nose' in to more of a problem :o

Stick with the vets regime, and make sure she is kept warm, knowing me I would probably give warming feeds too - maybe a little warm sugarbeet in her tea :D

On a more serious note, garlic can be very good for the respiritory system and is also mildly antibiotic so giving her that would certainly not hurt :D and Echineacia is a herb used to boost the immune system and help ward off nasties - again won't hurt and both should be fine alongside you vets treatment - but do just double check :D

[Sexy Sietske]

GET THE VET OUT AND GET HER ON ANTIBIOTICS!!!!!!

I had the same problem, same breed from same country!! She was fine, putting weight on and eating but she had to have £2000 worth of treatment to get her better.

Put her on garlic and echinacea (sp?) and antibiotics ASAP!! If she is no better after the first lot of anitbiotics get an endoscopy and swabs! If its anything what we had you better brace yourself for the worse!!

Where abouts did you get her from and what transport company did you use??

[neasham]

hey guys thanks for your msgs.

I got her from friesians4all.com and they shipped her over on a ferry using a company called Gelissen. She was however delayed by the weather so instead of it taking 2 days it took three, she was also unrugged during transport so I'm also not suprised she has got this bless her little heart.

The vet came back today at 3 and gave her some more jabs. Thankfully her nose is starting to dry up and she is looking one hell of alot brighter...which was shown by her trying to bite me when she had her jab in her neck today!:rolleyes:

The vet says her temp has gone down but is still above normal and she also has a cough. Iv been given some stuff to syringe into her twice a day for 3 days and also some stuff to put in her feed on a nite for 3days. The vet is comming back on monday morning to have another look at her. Iv also started adding garlic to her tea as well so she will smell lovely!

My main concern at the moment is that the other horses pick something up as there is no way to keep her away from them on a night as they are in open topped boxes...the shed is very well ventilated though and the others are all up to date with their vacs...if they do get anything I'll just have to offer to pay the vets bills! So much for a bargain priced horse! :p

[Retty]

Max had to have a course of intramuscular jabs l(anti biotic ones) last year (seven days worth) as he had a cough which then led to chest infection (complete with green oozing snot), I have to give him soaked hay (or hayledge), I put it on the floor, also as much turn out as possible (might be different in your case, Max's infection was from the dust in straw & hay), I hope it all goes well, I think it might be a knock on effect from the travelling etc, am sure she will be right in no time!

[Sexy Sietske]

I had my friesian filly from the same place by the same transporters and got the same excuse about the weather!!!! She had an infection in her gutteral pouch so would defo get the vets to look and make sure. If it is a similar thing it won't be contagious because our fillies wasn't, but it could be! We made a complaint to the seller and they just basically said it was our own fault even though she was ill when she walked off the lorry :mad: So i think something definately needs to be said about it!

Good luck with you mare...i think you are going to need it im afraid :o We nearly had to make the decision to put our filly to sleep :(

[cvb]

too late in this case - but just to comment that all horses should be in isolation when they first come on to a yard - for exactly this reason !

(There is a case of strangles about 9 miles away from us.. so this kind if basic precaution is on my mind right now !)

[Sexy Sietske]

hi its me again my friesian was in quarantine for 3 months she would have antibiotics it would clear up then a week after she would be poorly again this went on for 2months with the vets coming out thats when they did an endoscopy and found she had infection in her gutteral pouch she then went away to cambridge uni were they had to flush her out then she came home and i had to inject her for 3 weeeks :rolleyes: it was frightening but you do anything for your horse on a good note i will behaving her injections against flu at last next week so the £2000 was nothing compared to her health i would have paid the hearth for her because i felt guilty bringing her across from holland:)