My QH is opening her mouth and yawning and when I went to rub the sides of her mouth, she started to whinny, I also went to blow in her nose and side of her mouth and she whinned, did not eat all of her hay this morning, only half.
She eats all the time and finishes everything. Noticed a slight smell in her mouth as well. Before I call out the vet
has anyone experienced anything like this before? Thank you
Could be a tooth, could be something else - like a guttural pouch (not so much the smell, but problem eating).
In either case why would you wait to call a vet?
Save a dime & end up with something costing dollars.
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Yes!! Call the vet. Have had this twice. In the first case, it was an abscesses tooth. The second case ended up being due to Guttural Pouch Mycosis, an infection of the guttural pouch which is highly deadly if not caught early.
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You might only get a whiff today but the smell will get worse every day until you smell her before you see her. Get the vet, it is an infection.
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If the smell is just a little unpleasant on and off I’d probably not worry about it by itself but combined with yawning and not wanting to eat I’d definitely want a vet to look in there. Abscessed tooth or some such would typically smell like the worst bad breath imaginable (anaerobe smell) whereas normal horse breath is usually not unpleasant at all.
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a three year old at the barn had never had his teeth done. when he was sold this found wood splinters in his mouth which looked like they had been there for a while. Horses can be so stoic I wouldn’t count on them to tell you if it hurts. Definitely best to get the vet to check.
If it smells like rotten vegetables it could be a fractured tooth and food is packing in the cavity in the tooth. Once you smell that you never forget it. Best to get that looked at before it becomes an abscessed tooth. Which smells even worse. All of these are better looked at before they get worse and the sooner the better.
