Intermittent cough for two months

[fermecinqsens]

My 5 yo has had an intermittent cough for the last 2-3 months and I’m hoping for some ideas of what could be wrong.

He got vaccinated for flu/tetanus/rhino in Feb and a week later went to his first show. The horse in the stall next to him was coughing…
A month later he started to cough. He did not have any other symptoms although was exercise intolerant so I let him rest. My previous vet in Canada told me to not ride until he had stopped coughing for a few days.
I thought of that horse at the show and emailed the organiser but they said none of their horses had flu. (Important fact: in France where I live it’s mandatory that all horses at shows and boarding stables are vaccinated).
He only coughed for a couple of days and I gave him a couple extra days off. Picked up riding again and he was fine…. For about 10 days and then he had a coughing day again. But only one day. Gave him a couple days off again, and then continued to ride.
This has happened a few times now. He will go a week or two with no coughing even during jumping sessions and then randomly one day he’ll be standing in the field and cough a bunch.

Last week he had his vaccine booster and the vet listened to his lungs, said no problems. Didn’t know what the problem could be.

He had his teeth done a couple of weeks ago because I was thinking that he could have had trouble chewing his food properly. But he has had two coughing episodes since then.

I have 7 other horses. Only one other is vaccinated. My 3 yo developed a cough shortly after the horse in question. Hers was for 2-3 weeks and every day. No other symptoms.

My horses live outside on hay and pasture.

Again I want to note that he has otherwise been completely normal. No fever. Good appetite. No snotty nose. In between the coughing episodes we’ve been riding as normal and he’s been great. It always seems a bit random when I hear him cough. But it’s gone on long enough now and I don’t want to be missing something.
Any thoughts?

[ThreeWishes]

My horse has an intermittent cough caused by seasonal allergies. I manage it with Zyrtec and Guaifenesin.
Edited to add I had his airways scoped and everything was normal. When it gets seasonably bad I also have a nebulizer that I use with a small amount of Dex and Saline. It’s a Flexineb.

[fermecinqsens]

Thanks for your comment.
I thought about allergies but I thought they normally occur along with sneezing, runny nose, etc.
Does your horse only have the cough? How did you figure out it was allergies?

[ThreeWishes]

Yes his main symptom is coughing. When he coughs particularly hard he will get some nasal snotty discharge. But it doesn’t run. He’s just harking up the mucous. He’s never been sick from the cough. No fever, no malaise, good appetite. Had him scoped and his airways were structurally normal. No problem with the guttural pouches. He just had a lot of mucous. Where I live in Florida the vet sees a lot of seasonal allergies. So we do the Zyrtec and Guaifenesin which is an expectorant. Basically managing the symptoms. And his cough improved. When the pollen and outside plant allergens are particularly high I will put him on the nebulizer for 15 minutes.

[ThreeWishes]

Nebulizer in action.

IMG_6199

[IPEsq]

You may want to scope the airway and (if clear) do a BAL. This is basically how my friend’s horse with asthma got diagnosed. He didn’t have any major problems other than normal allergies until some sort of respiratory virus (unknown type, didn’t test for any of the usual things) went through the barn. They think maybe the infection just kicked up the asthma into out of control territory. The lower airway scope done with the BAL showed a lot of unusual material (large particulates, mucous, and something else I’m blanking on) in his lower airway and lungs. The internist was pretty surprised. I think at rest, your typical mild equine asthma horse sounds normal, and unless the horse has heaves or a bunch of fluid or something in the lungs, you won’t necessarily hear anything unusual. Or you might have to catch him during a phase where he is just standing around coughing and take a listen then?

[sami-joe]

Similar scene at my horse’s barn in the middle of a madly blooming orange orchard under mulberry and live oaks that also are shedding pollen by the pound. My horse got hive-y and cough-y, no snot or fever, about 10 days ago.

Though generic Zyrtex, cetirizine, made the hives disappear in a couple of days, my boy’s still coughing with exercise. Vet said lungs are fine. He recommended non-expectorant cough syrup, I presume because my horse has a totally clear nose.

[ThreeWishes]

Was it ventilpulnmin?

[sami-joe]

The syrup?
No, he suggested generic human cough syrup.
I haven’t been to the store since, so haven’t tried it yet.

[ThreeWishes]

Bottom line is I think just like people horses can develop airway disease / irritation. There are a bunch of treatments for it some work better than others on an individual basis. But imo it means your horse basically has an allergy induced asthma and it can be a hit and miss to figure out the method that works best to manage symptoms. In the end it’s a diagnosis you manage … you don’t cure.

[ThreeWishes]

Oh that’s interesting. Like robitussin?

[sami-joe]

Yes, the suppressant, not the expectorant (Guaifenesin).

[ThreeWishes]

Thank you ! Good to know.

[fermecinqsens]

Oh yes this is reminding me that my first pony used to get Buckley’s cough syrup for a chronic cough. He must have had allergies or something too.

My only question about it being allergies is the fact that my other horse is coughing too…

[Live_Wire]

My horse gets seasonal allergies. Halotherapy has helped him tremendously! Bonus, I will stand in the salt chamber with him and it alleviates my sinusitis.

[candyappy]

Our mare has allergies. I have actually noticed her coughing randomly the last couple days. Must be something out there bothering her. It has been a few years but she was doing it in the Fall last time.

[fermecinqsens]

Thanks for all the responses however I’m still not convinced it’s allergies since my other two horses are coughing too.

[Willesdon]

@fermecinqsens If there is an environmental source for the allergen then more than one horse might be coughing. It could be a particular tree in flower or a crop, such as oilseed rape, on a local farm.