My mare had an impaction colic and spent 2 days with a nasogastric tube up her nose. Since she has been home, she has been having nasal discharge and I was hoping it would abate, but instead it is getting a foul smell to it.
I’m not certain if I should reach out to my regular vet or the equine dentist/vet. My regular vet is not good at dental work. My equine dentist doesn’t like to do anything non-dental related.
My advice would be to get a swab test kit from your vet and get it tested ASAP. Also take her temperature.
Swab for what? Bacterial species?
Testing for bacterial or fungal infections so the vet will know what to target.
My first thought is to call your vet that knows about the recent impaction colic issue and tell them what is going on and see if they think it is related to that or should you call your dental vet.
If that is not an option, if it was me I would start with my regular vet.
running a NG tube isn’t without risks. 100% start with your vet. A dentist can only look at things, they cannot diagnose (officially) and certainly can’t treat or Rx anything, unless they are also a DVM. But your vet is in the loop already so start there
The OP mentioned that their equine dentist is a vet.
You can check for dental pain, then call relevant vet.
ah, I did totally miss that (or just forgot by the time I posted LOL!)
She also said “My equine dentist doesn’t like to do anything non-dental related.”
I still stand by the idea that the regular vet, who was presumably involved with the colic and the NG tubing should be the first call, since it’s most likely a tubing issue, not dental, given the timeline
In my experience, this is common in horses that have had an NG tube left in place for a few days. Typically they have some bruising of the nasal passage mucosa and the mucosa necroses a little, causing the odor. It resolves in a few days. I would probably reach out to the folks that hospitalized your horse just to confirm, as they may have more experience with this than folks that don’t manage hospitalized colics regularly.
I spoke with the vet that treated her for colic and she felt like it probably is sinusitis. Also my mare tested positive for salmonella but since she’s asymptomatic she said I can just keep her in a separate turnout and retest in a couple weeks if I want to.
My regular vet took x rays and didn’t see anything concerning.
My equine dentist squeezed me in and is concerned that it could be a tooth root infection and said we can do more x rays or wait and see if it resolves. So fingers crossed this resolves… It sounds quite complicated and expensive to remove a upper molar if it’s infected. Removal would require additional surgery and a (likely complicated) recovery.
Yes. I had a boarded horse have a cracked upper molar. The surgery went ok, but the recovery was horrific, and the horse nearly died when her sinus cavity filled with infections. (This is why I suggested swabbing!).
She also swabbed positive for salmonella…I guess it isn’t that uncommon for a horse to have salmonella up their nose…who knew. The swab result did allow the horse to go on the specific antibiotics needed and she recovered.
I hope you mare heals soon!
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