Boo! Jingles for Nosey!! Get well soon, little girl.
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Could it be allergies? Several of the horses in our barn get them in the spring.
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Hope so!
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Jingles for Nosey!
I’m guessing allergies! The pollen is out of control this year seemingly everywhere. One of mine has developed a cough recently too - Zyrtec seems to help, though hasn’t eliminated it entirely.
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Maybe too level ten but could your vet start a culture in case the hoofbeats are a zebra? Hopefully everything resolves but if not, a week from now it’s another data point?
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Jingles!!!
Jingles!! I hope it’s just allergies and she’s right as rain soon enough.
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Hoping it’s allergies! We have a couple that cough in the spring and it’s lasted WAY longer. I’m still getting “spring allergy” symptoms myself, even this late.
Jingles!
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Jingles for Nosey!
Jingling it’s “just” an allergy.
Jingling she responds to treatment.
Jingling she’s back to normal soon.
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Jingles for Nosey’s symptoms to go away ASAP!
I’m curious how Zyrtec is working for you.
My TWH reacts to what I thought were fly bites. Only on his neck & jaws, but itchy enough he rubs raw spots. I’ve treated topically with Swat. Seems to help, but if it’s allergies maybe Zyrtec would head off the itchiness.
My vet is out of town, on vacation, but accepting phone consults.
I’d like to let her enjoy herself client-free.
If I can treat horse w/Zyrtec I’d try that before calling her.
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Last summer my mare developed a lot of allergy related swelling (face, joints…), and I put her on Zyrtec. It helped, but did not completely alleviate the symptoms. What did finally help was adding MSM to the dose. When researching allergy meds, one person noted that vets often recommend MSM to be used with allergy meds to help with inflammation. This year I’ve not even had to use Zyrtec because so far the daily MSM is keeping her healthy. I don’t know if it would have the same effect on the respiratory system or not.
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Good reminder on the MSM! I have MSM pellets I can add to her diet to see if that helps. Less coughing this morning, not sure if that’s the doxy kicking in after 24 hours or the allergy meds.
@2DogsFarm my vet recommended 8 tabs twice per day for Nosey, but she’s only 14hands and slender so your dose would likely be different.
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Thanks!
I Googled & it looks like 10 tabs would treat my horse.
And most say horses eat the pills top-dressed on grain. 
Research mentioned some possible not-great side effects (laminitis 
), so while I don’t think my horse would be at risk, I’ll run it by my vet before I pill him.
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If your horse won’t eat the pills top dressed, I’ve tried a couple of other things that work. A CotHer in an old thread recommended putting the pills inside a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie. Works great! Another option is to spread some molasses on half a slice of bread, stick the pills to them, fold the bread over and feed like a treat. My DH calls them “sweet biscuits” and my mare loves them (I currently mix her MSM powder with a spoonful of molasses and spread it on bread).
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For my 14.3 mare, I did 10 pills of Zyrtec twice a day for her hives from allergies. I bought big bottles from Costco, way cheaper and last a while.
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When their immune systems are stressed they can react worse for allergies. My young horse was in a bad situation and developed heaves from spring pollen but after meds and getting him in a better situation he’s never had a problem since. You might need to get her over this hump but don’t stress too much about long term effects or management.
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Might not be a bad idea to treat for possible ascarids. They can cause respiratory issues when they migrate through the lungs.
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Her fecal test was negative.
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Part of the Ascarid cycle is coughing them from lungs to be swallowed where they mature to egg producers
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