Diagnostic Options for Exercise-Induced Cough?

[Amy3996]

Trying to figure out what diagnostic procedures might be available… Long story short, my horse has always had a little bit of what we called a “start-up cough”. He would cough a few times at the start of a ride and was fine after that. Late winter/early spring of this year, the coughing seemed to escalate. For the first time, he was coughing other than when ridden. We tried soaking his hay, changed his bedding, etc. I tried a few OTC cough remedies - AniHist (some small improvement, nothing dramatic), CoughFree (He abjectly refused to eat it), Buckley’s ZEV (Minor improvement) before consulting my vet. Local vet initially recommended human Robitussin (made it worse because of the expectorant), and generic Zyrtec. The Zyrtec seemed to really help - coughing stopped, except under saddle. Vet chalked it up to allergies.

The “start up cough” seems to have gotten a little worse, though. Where he used to cough 2-3 times during his first trot in warm-up and then stop, he’s now coughing intermittently (4-5 times?) throughout the ride. It’s somewhat distracting and sounds uncomfortable, and I’m concerned that we may have missed something.

I typically use my local vet for vaccinations, routine care for wounds, etc. I’ve contacted the larger veterinary clinic in the next town over to request an estimate for a respiratory scope. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m tired of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Hoping a scope could give us a better idea of what we might be dealing with.

Are there any other diagnostic options I should ask the vets at the clinic about? Anything that’s worked for you, if you’ve dealt with something similar?

Thanks!

[ladipus]

It sounds like your Horse has heaves …what works the best for my heaves Horse was investing in a haygain hay steamer which kills the dust, mold, and spores that’s in all regular flaked hay -no matter how good the quality of the hay there’s always some degree of dust, mold and spores …and the respiratory supplement called Aleira …my heaves Horse rarely coughs anymore …even his startup/warmup cough despite the heat and humidity…in the meantime I would feed soaked hay Cubes only or one of the chopped forages made by Triple Crown that’s good for horses with respiratory issues …
.want to also add that you want the least dusty bedding as possible too …regular straw and saw dust are a big no no …I use the chopped straw bedding that’s bagged made by Gold Fields …there’s another called Bedege …the dust is extracted …as much turnout as possible

Smart Breathe Ultra and Lung Eq (Uckele)are also other good respiratory supplements

[going_gray]

My bay mare has had a cough in the summer (for several years) which starts in July and stops late Oct. or early Nov. Vet says she has allergies as she does not cough in the winter at all. Her stall is closed up in the winter and her hay is not soaked as I did last summer.

I have tried all kinds of cough remedies (same ones you mentioned and plenty of others) and they helped a bit but for a short time. I used generic Zyrtec last summer too (bought from Costco so not expensive). That helped her with her coughing at rest but not with being ridden. The Zyrtec also left her totally unresponsive to leg pressure. She’s always been one I could ride without using spurs or carrying a whip. The Zyrtec helped decrease the running nose but not completely.

I am now giving her spirolina pellets I buy from Smartpak. I started her on them back in early May and by July her coughing had started but it is better. I rarely see any discharge from her nose so that is helping to decrease the coughing. I really believe that spirolina is a great supplement. Check it out. The pellets are easier to work with than the powder form. I had to start off mixing it with applesauce but she has no problems with eating it now.

Three years ago I had a vet out (not my regular one) and she gave me dex for her. It stopped her coughing but she had laminitis a few weeks later. I’m not going to try dex again. My regular vet says he won’t prescribe dex for her so we used Trihist but it didn’t do much at all. I then went to using Zyrtec.

How did you get ahold of the Buckley’s Zev? I’ve read about it and did searches to find where I could buy it. No US companies carry it. (Used to be available in US for people to use.) Green Hawk in Canada does carry it but will not ship to US. My sister makes business trips to Toronto (car) so could bring some back to me. Did it help your horse? Did your horse accept it?

I do think scoping is a good idea. It can tell you what you are looking at and then your vet can give you a plan. Good luck! Such a challenge!

[Amy3996]

@going gray Thank you for the insight! I found the Zev through Dominion Vet Supply. I can PM you the link. It cost me $50ish for a 2 liter jug. I gave him 60cc AM + PM in his grain. I do think it helped, but I think syringing it orally would have been more effective. My horse is very much opposed to anything being syringed, so I had to work around that. I mixed a little brown sugar into his grain when I first started adding the Zev, just to entice him to eat it. After a couple of days I was able to stop the sugar and he ate it just fine. It has a really strong menthol smell and is kind of bitter. If you decide to order it and go the oral syringe route, I would definitely follow the instructions and mix it with some honey or corn syrup before you dose.

I think I’ll look into the spirulina, then! I’ve heard it can be helpful, and it’s not terribly expensive, so why not. Thanks for the recommendation! Good luck with your horse, too. This is so frustrating… fingers crossed that I can find something that works for my boy.

[Uncorked]

My guy was diagnosed with Inflammatory Airway Disease 5 years ago. I tried many things. I keep him on SmartBreath Ultra now and that seems to work - that and along with keeping him out as much as possible - this time of year he does come in during the day but his stall is very open (dutch door and full length open window). I no longer wet his hay but I do try to keep the dust down in his stall by using as little bedding as possible and large flake shavings. His stall fan is mounted to blow across the stall and not down on the shavings. I never clean the stall with him inside and do not ride him if the arena is dusty.

[skipollo]

My (now retired) QH gelding used to have that in the summertime. It started as a few coughs here and there, and it progressed to him coughing regularly during rides. The longer I rode, the more he coughed. We tried wetting hay, no luck. We got the vet involved and I think he was on prednisone? But I was a teenager when this happened so I don’t remember 100% what else the vet did.

The pred did help, but obv. wasn’t a long term solution. We ended up putting him on a pure vitamin C supplement and that really helped. He would still cough 1-2x during our rides, but he was a lot more comfortable and the coughing was greatly reduced.

It’s super affordable as well, which is always nice.

[Simkie]

Have you done a tracheal wash, to see if there is something in there? That would be a good box to check.

If a resting scope isn’t productive, a working one might be. Technical name is dynamic videoendoscopy. Might have to look around for someone with the equipment.

[kiwichick]

I took my horse in for a respiratory check for an airway issue (a cough when warming up is also present) and they did a respiratory test using a plastic bag over his nose (I found this traumatic to watch) and when that didnt find anything my next option was a trachea wash, over here these are quite expensive.

We found a significant and non-related upper respiratiory issue so I stopped there, so I dont have any other info sorry.

[OneTwoMany]

Agree with earlier posters. It sounds like heaves. We tried many of the things posted above when we had a mare with heaves. Some things helped for a while like wetting the hay etc. until they didn’t. Eventually had her tested for allergens and a had an inject-able allergy serum customized for her. Funnily enough we had to move her to a new barn for a few months and symptoms completely disappeared. We were able to take her off her meds and she remained symptom free.

She was also a horse that was sensitive to dex. Had to be hospitalized twice for laminitis before we put two and two together.

[CanteringCarrot]

It might not be heaves. However, it is important to take respiratory issues seriously before scars build up in the lungs and before it develops into something more.

I have a horse that presented quite similar to yours. I had an endoscopy done with a wash. He was diagnosed with Inflammatory Airway Disease. I did a treatment of Dex and Atrovent (brochodilator) via nebulizer. When Dex is inhaled it goes straight to the source of inflammation and also the risk of laminitis is far less. I rather see more people go the inhalation route than inject it, but the latter seems more popular for whatever reason.

We did two rounds of that, then Ventiplus when the cough still lingered just a bit. The cough then went away and I kept him on a syrup the vet provided for about a mounth. It was basically an herbal airway soother. He’s been fine ever since. It’s been a few months now. He lives outside, and also gets a higher dose of MSM daily.

I would find a vet or clinic to trailer into and have an endoscopy done to see what exactly is going on in there. Otherwise it’s just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. I feel like doing a proper diagnostic test ends up cheaper and potentially less stressful in the long run.