My horse previously had a bad tooth, which was extracted in May 2024. An additional tooth had to be taken out to get to the tooth needing removal. Prior to that he had a very thick, foul smelling odor from his right nostril. Antibiotics cleared it up twice but when they didn’t work anymore, the tooth was taken out.
Things were fine for several months - until around October. Tonka again developed nasal discharge out of the same nostril, but it was not the same foul smell and was on and off. Vet was called and he went back on SMZ’s, which cleared it up but then it came back. X-rays were taken but this time, the vet did not think it was tooth related. He went in for a sinus lavage, but when he got there, the vet did not think that was warranted. (took more x-rays). So, he went back home. It came up again. The vet switched his antibiotic to doxycycline for one month. Cleared up, but after a while of being off the antibiotic, it came back. Another vet in the practice looked at him and felt it was sinus related, but not tooth related. I scheduled another sinur lavage which he had this past Monday. He stayed until Thursday and had four sinus flushes. Vet said there was still some there and did a Cushings test which was in the high normal range so he is now on a low dose of Prascend. There is a very real possibility that he developed ulcerss while at the vet as well - because he usually loves his grain mixture but was not finishing that at the vet, but was eating the hay. He is not normally stalled and does not like it. So, he also came home with omeprazole. He got an Excede shot while at the vet, and gets another one on Sunday. But even when I picke dhim up, there was the thick nasal discharge in his nose. It does not seem to be any better at all. His face is swollen, which they did not feel concerned about. The first night he was home, he again, did not finish his grain mixture. But did eat hay. I’ve now cut the amount of his grain down tremendously, and am giving him just 2 cups of senior, along with 1.25 cups of Outlast, a pelleted vitamin supplement and some soaked timothy/alfalfa pellets. He is eating it. I’ve put his hay in a slow feeder hay net, and added straight alfalfa to his mix of Orchard/Alfalfa and Coastal…so he has a blend of hay. Of course, he loves the alfalfa and I know that is good for him stomach. But the nasal thing is lingering. It does now have a smell, but not as strong as when he had the bad tooth. I do not want to take him back to the vet, because he obviously did not do well there. I am not sure what the next step is or if I just wait another couple of weeks and see if it gets better with him being on Prascend and the second dose of Excede. But something is telling me it won’t. Does anybody have an experience with this? I’ve never dealt with this before.