Sinus infections

[Dairygirl]

I have a little guy who started out with a stopped up nose. He breaths in with his mouth and out his nose. So me having tons of sinus myself I tried him on Wind Aid. Well this brought out some yellow stuff and a ungodly smell. So I ran him to the vet. Sinus infection is what he told me. Give me Albuterol, 20cc's a day and SMZ:TP 960 mg. 7 pills daily for 10 days. Well it did improve some but didn't knock it out. So I go back and he gives me more pills 10 a day for 10 days. Still not much better. He runs around and acts normal other than his stopped up nose. It is driving me crazy. No discharge at all. I think I would rather it run out and get out then it dry up inside.

Has anyone had this problem and what have you done. I have had a few race horse people tell me some things they do to some horses before they race if they have snot nose or some other breathing problem. Using sulfur and making a smoke with it and putting him in a small area and letting him breath it in. They say it will bring all infection out and would help him. Too chicken to try it.

 

[HGFarm]

Did anyone look at his teeth??? Problems with an infected tooth or roots or something interfering with his sinuses perhaps?? Here is what I found on the drug you were given for your horse

Why is this medication prescribed?

Albuterol is used to prevent and treat wheezing, shortness of breath, and troubled breathing caused by asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other lung diseases. Albuterol inhalation also is used to prevent breathing difficulties (bronchospasm) during exercise. Albuterol is in a class of medications called beta-agonists. It works by relaxing and opening air passages in the lungs, making it easier to breathe.

How should this medicine be used?

Albuterol comes as a tablet, extended-release (long-acting) tablet, and a syrup to take by mouth and as an aerosol, a solution (liquid), and a powder-filled capsule to inhale by mouth. The solution is inhaled using a nebulizer, and the powder-filled capsules are inhaled using a special dry powder inhaler. Albuterol tablets and syrup are usually taken three or four times a day, and extended-release tablets are usually taken twice a day. For the treatment or prevention of asthma symptoms, the oral inhalation is usually used every 4 to 6 hours as needed. For the prevention of bronchospasm during exercise, the oral inhalation is used 15 minutes before exercise. The nebulized solution is used three or four times a day.

Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Take albuterol exactly as directed. Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor.

Swallow the extended-release tablets whole; do not split, chew, or crush them.

Albuterol controls symptoms of asthma and other lung diseases but does not cure them. Do not stop taking albuterol without talking to your doctor.

Perhaps try a different antibiotic (though I have had great luck with SMZs) or get a 2nd opinion. Is the horse any better at all?? Sometimes, like with a human cold, etc.... the 'infection' part is gone but the coughing or sinus problems hang on for a while yet. ????

 

[Marion at Underwoodfarms]

I will be curious to see the responces here. I have a 3 year old filly that seems to have a cronic sinus problem. She had a horrible infection last year. We took her to a specialist and they drilled a hole through the bone so we could flush the cavity out every day. She was on Tribrisson (sp) for months. The infection went away after treatment for 8 months but is now back, although not as bad at the moment. I am at my wits end as the treatment last year cost a lot of money and now I am headed right back to the begining

:

Sinus infections seem to be very hard to treat and take agressive measures if long term antibiotics do not work. The problem is that the antibiotics do not reach the affected areas easily.

Dairy Girl I would consult another vet, teeth are often an issue although not in my fillies case. The foul oder would suggest possible teeth issues that go up into the sinus cavity. My fillies drainage had no oder and teeth were ruled out by many head xrays. One thing I learned is that sinus infections require long term antibiotics, months long, and the horse sould be on probiotics during treatment to help proper digestion.

 

[Dairygirl]

I have him on probiotics already. I'll sure have him check his teeth when I take him back. He is a coming 2 year old and has had a very ruff start here at my place. He is the same guy who got attacked by the dogs and lost both sides of his upper neck. Damage from that injury has been ruled out.

 

[kaykay]

alot of minis get sinus problems from teeth issues. i would have a good equine dentist check them out. also i had one that had allergies and would get sinus infections.

 

[Wee Mite Miniatures]

Are you talking both sides or only one?

There is always a chance that a sinus problem that does not clear up or keeps coming back is a Equine Paranasal Sinuse cyst. The problem with a cyst is that it can drain and they come right back or slowly come back over time. A cyst will keep coming back unless the cyst sack it totally removed. This is major surgery.

This link will give you a lot of reading on equine sinus problems.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=equine+si...l0LuwABAA%40%40

 

[Lori]

My 3 month old colt has had snotty nose issues all summer. I kept him and the mare in part of the day and out in the afternoon or evening depending on the weather. When I would let them out on the pasture, within an hour, he would have yellow snot out of one or both nostrils. Sometimes he would have a little yellow from his eyes as well, sometime a little cough but not much. It would go away when he came in the barn and if he stayed in a few days because of the weather, there would be no discharge at all. He never ran a fever, always ate great and seemed to feel fine. I ran him on 2 rounds of Tribisson but nothing ever changed. He didn't get worse, but it didn't go away either. I still was checking his temp last week and it was always normal. For the last 2 weeks he has been out all day almost every day and all he has had is a little clear watery eyes, but not much. I was so afraid that something was just going to take over and really get him down. The vet said it could be allergies, but it seems like everything I've read lists skin problems like hives as a sympton for allergies. He didn't have that. I was going to post this a month or so ago because it was driving me crazy. I was wondering if anyone else had had this problem? He did have a little congestion sound in his nose at times as well. I wondered since he has been out more, if he finially go used to whatever it was bothering him? or if he has just got better, but I was hating it, whatever it was, I just hope it's gone for good. Good Luck with your guy. Do they get respiratory allergies like we do?

 

[Westwood Farms]

Hey I have been missing your e-mails

Lakota had chronic sinus infections til he turned about 3. The vet said that they will only have a discharge from one side, and that is what he always got. It was always one sided and sometimes had yellow to it. We would give him a cortisone shot ( I think), and it worked like a charm. I can find out exactly what it was for you tomorrow.

He never coughed unless he got to running too hard. Otherwise he was completely normal except for the nose thing. I was told sinus only will discharge from one side, Rhino, or some other problem discharges from both sides. He was not contageous. It happened about 3 times one year, and 2 the next, and he has no problems since we moved..

Hope this helps

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Are you feeding alfalfa? I had a filly who was sensitive to alfalfa. We cut it out (it was in the Equine JR) and she returned to normal. SMZ tabs sometimes take a long time to kill a serious sinus infection. An aventurine would also help clear the sinus and help with the breathing.

(note: I am not a vet but do have alternative knowledge)

 

[HGFarm]

I knew someone else who had a horse very allergic to alfalfa but it would just get diarhea SO BAD... they finally figured it out and changed the feed- it went away.

I did have a big horse that broke out in hives- this was many years ago. We never DID figure out what that was! And she never had it again.

 

[disneyhorse]

Allergies COULD be a cause, but only an allergy panel would tell. It tests for allergies from common foods, local trees and weeds, and even things like horseflies, dogs, pine shavings, mosquitos, etc.

I've seen horses allergic to timothy hay, pine shavings, beet pulp, oats, molasses... and react different ways: persistent coughing, hives, diarrhea, runny eyes... I find the allergy tests VERY interesting and love to see the results. Maybe he's high positive to an allergen, but you'd never know without the test. I think it's a blood panel and a couple hundred bucks for the vet to run.

Andrea

 

[Charlotte]

We had this same thing with Cowboy...when he was 2. Went on for the better part of a year. It ended his show career. He was on lengthy courses of various antiboitics but it always came back. One side only. We finally made arrangements for the OSU small animal clinic to scope him (he was too little for the big horse scopes) We thought they would find a gutteral pouch infection, but they didn't. Then they x-rayed his head thinking a tooth. Nope. Finally plans were to bring him back in 2 weeks for a CT scan, but the discharge never showed up again! I think something related to the scoping cured him. I wonder if he didn't have a tiny bit of debris stuck somewhere in his nasal passage and the scoping washed it out. I don't have any other answer.

It was pretty scary. we were starting to think we might lose him if we couldn't get it cleared up.

I do think allergy testing isn't a bad idea and not overly expensive, but if the discharge is foul smelling that would sure indicate infection. I can say this, with the Tribrissen/SMZ (trimethoprim/sulfa) products they do take a long time to do their work and sinus infections are usually long term treatment.

Good luck with this and please let us know what works for him.

Charlotte

 

[CJMM6]

One of my 2 year old fillys had a bad sinus problem. :new_shocked: She had a discharge from the one nostril. I tried 3 different antibotics and it would clear up & within a few weeks it was back again. I had 4 different vets look at her & they never got to the bottom of it. We don't have a Vet anywhere close that does the scope. I treated this horse off & on for 1 1/2 years and then I was emailed a suggestion buy someone of the forum

and by golly she was right on target , my girl is cured. I am no way a vet buy I will tell you what worked for me;;

:

I was told to order powdered iodine from my Vet, so I did, she was willing to try & help me. For 1 month I gave my filly 1/2 teaspoon of the iodine along with smz tablets. I guess the iodine gives the horse an imune boost. Maybe you can talk to your Vet. My Vet was unaware that this would help but she said if I was careful it wouldn't hurt. So I'm glad my angel from the forum helped me & I'm glad it worked. cjmm