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feed/water/grass coming out mare's nose...HELP!

9K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  RhondaLynn 
#1 ·
Help, I need your Vets hats put on!!
This post is about our mare Maggie... I am going to ask anyone that has had a horse have water/feed/grass coming out the nose please read on and help me.
Before anyone says "call a vet" we have! Our equine only vet has been to the barn 3x, and we have taken her to UT equine Vet hospital in Knoxville with No real answers. Here is the quick version of the story.
We went on a ride at a state park and kept our horses in a public stall, then about 16 days later my mare came down with a "bad snot nose" vet was called for her, by the time the vet got there 1 1/2 days later she was much better but my hubby's mare was feeling horrible.
Maggie, Hubby's mare had 105 fever and you could tell she was feeling really bad, she had the snot nose also. Vet diagnosed probable cold/flue type virus which made sense because the mare that was feeling so bad was younger and didn't have as much immunity to virus'
The vet was going to come back in 4 days to give her another shot of antibiotic due to the bad snot nose. She did, by this time the mares fever was fairly normal and you could tell she still felt bad but not horrible, BUT... she had started not eating well, and water/feed/grass was coming out her nose when she drank/ate. she was coughing due to aspirating some of the feed/water. Our vet suggested taking her to one of the university hospitals due to we could not rule out strangles and since it was so contagious the place our vet wanted to send her to that was close could/would not take her due to they didn't have quarantine stalls in case it was strangles.
We loaded her up and took her 3hrs to UT in Knoxville, they did a scope and could find NO REAL reason she was having the feed/water come out her nose. And nothing was unusual!
BUT... they did rule out strangles, herpes, bacterial infection. from the swab and bloodwork done.
We have been home 6 days and she is still having "blow back" every time she eats/drinks. 2 days ago she started feeling MUCH better and really ate great. THe amout of snot/water/feed is less. Our vet has been back out to give her a 3rd antibiotic shot. and suggested since it was not strangles and she seems to be pretty much over the "cold/flu" part we could take her to a close vet hospital and do x-ray(UT hospital did not do an x-ray) . Our vet called and spoke with another vet and he said he has had horses do this and slowly get better without ever finding out why....
MY QUESTION.... has anyone had anything like this... if so what happened???? . We have already spent about $1000 on her and while we would spend more if needed, we really don't have it to spend. We just want to hear from anyone that has something similar happen.
 
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#2 ·
Thats terrible! That is a sign of choking. Check if she has any odd lumps in her throat. Feel her neck. its possible that she could have something stuck in her throat or cancer. If there is nothing wrong with her throat it must be in her digestive track. She will need an X-ray.I hope everything works out :(
 
#3 ·
They did a scope and there is nothing in her throat, the scope was pretty normal. There was not swelling that any vet could feel from the outside, nor swollen looking on the scope. I asked my vet if she was suspecting a tumor and she said no, not really.
 
#4 ·
I must say the way your post starts off I was thinking "are you serious?!" until it was clear you HAD already been though the x y and z parts lol.

I would think that whatever made her sick stressed her enough that something else happened and this is not directly related to an illness.

Unfortunately it sounds like she really does need x-rays, at least. I have heard of this but don't remember the details. At least get x-rays done. Can your regular vet do it?
 
#5 ·
As of today, Tuesday. We are on a watch and see.. The mare is better, very little water when she drinks comes out her nose and feed doesn't come out as stained snot... she is still blowing her nose to clear it. Our vet consulted another and the other vet had seen this type of thing that they NEVER figured out why.. it was a wait/watch giving her plenty of rest. So as of this moment.. fingers crossed.... prayers said.... she is better.. I will post more as it happens.
 
#6 ·
I hope she continues to improve, sometimes horses get serious inflammation in the throat when they get flu type virus' just like we do and it makes it difficult for them to swallow but they don't have the sense to not keep trying to eat and drink so stuff ends up coming down the nose instead
There is a risk of pneumonia when that happens as particles can end up trapped in the lungs if they inhale at the same time so do keep a close eye on her temperature even though your vet had given antibiotic


We had something similar to this with your horse happen with a horse that we bought from a sale that then passed the virus on to another horse that had a much worse reaction as she was bought in poor condition - I think it must have been passed via human contact as the two were never together - both horses made a full recovery with antibiotics to reduce secondary infection in the lungs and a pain killer to make swallowing easier
 
#7 ·
Thanks JayDee, it makes me feel better knowing that it HAS happened to others.. Our vet has given 3x a injection antibiotic called exceed, she said to watch her this coming weekend that is when it would be wearing off. We are watching her and taking temps to try and head off any pneumonia if it happens.. Vet said it could.!!! The vet that our vet consulted said he had to give antibiotic 4x before they were well so we know there could be another vet visit. just saying a prayer every chance I get!!
 
#9 ·
Glad she is improving! I agree it does sound like she had some inflammation that was interfering with her swallowing. I've seen this before when one of my 4 yo came down with Strangles and just felt miserable but still was trying to snarf up his food. I solved that by putting fist size rocks in his grain pan to slow down his eating and double bagging his hay so it was harder to grab huge bites (this was the old rope hat bags). Jingles that she continues to improve quickly!
 
#10 ·
Maggie is MUCH better almost 100% better... it was basically a keep giving her a senior horse mush for feed and keep a watch. For the last 3 days she has not had any feed/water/grass coming out of her nose and she seems back to the old Maggie.. We will be keeping her on the Senior feed for at least another bags worth. THANKS for all the well wishes and ideas.
 
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