Menu

Stay in Touch
Sign up for ENews
Subscribe Now

Unlimited access >

Menu

Tell me about sinus issues in horses

Horse Care
#1

My 23 yr old retiree (been a pasture puff 8+ yrs) has enjoyed has had a snotty nose on and off for 2 months. On the first day I saw it, the vet started him on Uniprim. Then we did a course of SMZs. Then we did three exceed shots - his nose was clean for 10 days, but it’s back. The culture came back saying it was actinobaccillus, and those antibiotics should have sorted it…

Three sets of bloodwork later, his liver seems compromised and that may be related. He’s also been footsore with this wet weather - cue daily packing, wrapping and boots, and hoof xrays. All good, but just adds to the $ spent… about $1500 so far.

We did head xrays next. Vet sees things, sends the rads to the big teaching hospital, and now I’m taking him up there for a sinus catheter, possible tooth extraction, and 1-4 weeks in a rehab center at about $50/day.

Needless to say I want my old pet healthy, but costs are looking at going over $3k.

If anyone has experience with sinus catheters and flushing, how to keep costs down, and how likely this is to recur please weigh in!

#2

Ugh, not fun stuff !
My TB gelding had a sinus infection he was about 21 yrs at the time. Surgery was out of the question as it required hauling him out of province and $4000+. We did 4 weeks straight of I believe apo sulfatrim. Honestly my vet couldn’t believe how well it cleared up! His snotty nose cleared up well before 4 weeks but we kept him on it straight through just to be safe. He lived a few more years, it never reoccurred and he died of something completely unrelated.

#3

When our old guy had a cracked tooth we did all the flushing (before and after) at home. He had a bone flap surgery and came home 3 days later. The surgery and his stay at the facility cost somewhere around $1200. He got a bone infection then a fungus infection from all the antibiotics.

Flushing sounds terrible but really wasn’t that bad. We used a syringe end that is used to treat cow udders and would slip it into the hole that was drilled into his sinus. Then we would use a syringe to flush the sinus.

We were lucky that our horse was a good patient.

#4

I just dealt with this in a 9 yr old. She had nasal discharge last Sept that smelled, tried just SMZs she cleared up fine (was afraid of bad tooth). Then had some slight snots after first of year but nothing alarming. Then end of March she overnight started having horrible nasal discharge. Hauled to vet and he drilled and inserted a catheter into the sinus cavity (rads showed she had a gelatinous cyst in her cavity) She stayed hospitalized and had it flushed for several days until clear. Teeth are fine, no guttural pouch issues (scoped to make sure nothing there) still a bit of discharge but nothing shows up on scope or rads so thought possible irritation so now on tapering dose of pred.

First time I have had a sinus issue and I have had horses for 35+ yrs. Ran about $1400 for treatment, just sent in to insurance.

#5

I went through this with my horse last year. His was 109 was abscessed which was a direct route to his sinus cavity.

Two sinus flap surgeries later he is back to himself. It is a very tough road I am forewarning you. It was about 9K in vet bills between the 2 sinus surgeries, antibiotics custom compounded and the removal of tooth. Insurance covered about 8K in the bills. Otherwise I would not have been able to afford it and would have put him down. The tooth itself was the route of the infection but all the sinuses on the left side were impacted with goo.

I did months of SMZ and Exceed when during the last sinus surgery they cultured the sinus itself and it turns out the bacteria was resistant to every antibiotic out there except the one that was customized.

IF you looked at my horse now you would never think he ever had a problem with his sinuses unless you looked closely at where the head was drilled into. He was 8 at that the time so I knew it was worth it.

I hope it isn’t as bad for your boy but that is what happened with mine. I have pictures on my phone of the post surgery look for round 2.

#6

I don’t remember how old my TB was when he had an infected tooth and the hole drilled in his face, but let’s say early 20’s. Ours had a great outcome – vet identified the problem, we tried sulfa, it helped but not enough, so we made the appointment at the vet school to have the tooth extracted. The vet school surgeon thought we might get away without removing it after all, so he drilled the hole, set us up to flush daily, and sent us home with more sulfa. Flushing was no big deal, antibiotics worked, tooth was actually quite stable and would have been a bear to remove so once he healed up, he never looked back. I doubt I spent as much as $1,000 with all the various visits and drugs, start to finish, including having to pay a vet tech to come do some of the flushes when I had to travel for work. Here’s hoping the rest of your story goes as smoothly!

#7

I agree with those who have said sinus issue are often tooth or guttural pouch issues. The can also be allergy related.

The vet will help you find the source of the horse’s issue.

#8

Well the old dear is at the vet hospital today getting drilled for a sinus cath and having a tooth removed, so I hope he pulls through. Started today with some bad runny butt, so they put off sedating for a few hours. He’ll go straight to rehab from there and I’ll see him in a week!

2 Likes
#9

Jingling that all goes well.

#10

He survived, and more importantly no humans were harmed in the process :wink: He’s on his way to rehab singing an Amy Winehouse song right now, with a week of flushing and 4-5 weeks of 15 antibiotic pills 2x a day. I’m sure THAT’S going to be a special treat for all of us… :lol::concern::rolleyes::dead::sigh::ambivalence:

2 Likes
#11

Update on the update: He spent a week at the rehab facility where they flushed him daily - Sunday he finally flushed clear so they removed his foley catheter and Monday I picked him up. He’s on 15 TMZs BID, which will likely go on for 3 more weeks. He was v excited to be home and the whole herd ran about on the hillside then settled to eat grass.

Hope he doesn’t get a recurrence. Costs ended up being:

Set of head rads at home, 3 full blood panels, 1 snot culture, 3 different antibiotics, multiple visits over 2 months: $1000
Visit to UC Davis, more rads, tooth extraction, antibiotics, foley catheter installation, 2 night stay: $900
Week in rehab, daily sedation and flushing: $330
And there’ll be more TMZ costs but hopefully not $$$

2 Likes
#12

Jingling for your pony’s quick recovery! (and your wallet’s) :slight_smile:

#13

Hah! :wink: Thanks. Wallet is feeling a bit colicky but should pull through!

1 Like
#14

My horse was recently on similar dose of antibiotics and he was less than enthusiastic about dosing.:disgust: Bought those little prepackaged apple sauce containers, mixed ground meds in there along w/ a handful of grain. Voila, it was a great success. Oh, and we topped w/ a drizzle of Karo syrup.

#15

Yes! I get the hairy eyeball when I approach with the dosing syringe but since it’s 50% molasses there is reproach, then there is grudging licking, and the spitting out is minimal.

#16

Update on the update: the snot nose came back right after rehab in June. We did I think two more rounds of antibiotics to no avail, and the vet hospital finally said “well, you know you can just ignore it…” so… we did.

The infection spontaneously cleared up a few weeks later.

Two weeks ago, it was back - with a vengeance. Now both nostrils are VERY snotty - for a few days with blood in one nostril. Not only that, but now there’s a bad smell coming from his nose…

We did more head xrays today and they’re being sent to the vet hospital.

Horse is eating well, no temp, but clearly there’s something very wrong in there and he’s not feeling 100%. Could be another tooth, could be sinuses, could be guttural pouch. Antibiotics don’t seem to touch it.

I’m not sure what to do - $1500 rads/trip to the vet hospital every 6 or so months for a horse retired the last 8-9 years seems insane if it’s not really cured.

I’ve read a lot about this recurring - any experiences or advice for me?

#17

Did they culture the recent snot? Ours turned into a rare type of fungus infection and no antibiotics would touch that. The vets said the fungus could clear up and then return. Jingles that you can get on top of this.

Our guy is a happy healthy 29 year old now.

#18

The culture from before was actinobacillus and all the antibiotics used where supposed to treat that. I’m going to have the vet hospital culture again.

1 Like
#19

I have a thread on here called ‘Sinusitis’
Basically my horse had the same, only mine wasnt a tooth. They drilled and lavaged it and sent home, 5 weeks later he was full of infection again. I had to have bone flap surgery and they found a very large cyst. Interesting as this was missed completely in the drilling and camera inserted into the hole.
He is around 5 weeks post that surgery now and its been a rough road.
Sinus issues are difficult to resolve and im fully expecting a relapse, in my research this can happen anytime from immediately to years after the surgery.
My horse is only 5 and hasnt coped with the latest lot of medical intervention, so unless he is a case of years down the track, he wont be operated on again (he wont be trailer loaded anymore, amongst about 50 million other issues)
My vet bills are running up about 8k total so far too.
Next time I come across it, I will be having a very long hard critical think about the way to proceed. Unfortunately they need intervention pretty much immediately, its not like you can save up and get the op done later - like say a wind tie back.

Best of luck

#20

Ugh. That’s awful. I’m scrambling for a trailer to the vet hospital for a Monday appointment and really wondering if this is a waste of time… dammit. Poor old man

Get your Digital Subscription here - only $21.95 / year

Subscribe here
See gift options

Sign up to our monthly newsletter!

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.

Copyright © 2023 The Chronicle of the Horse