Horse with swollen glands & smelly poo?

Question

My 16hh RID bay mare has had swollen glands below her ears & jaw for 3-4 weeks, vet suggested virus & gave 1 week antibiotics. no change. She is easily stressed and nervous, but energetic, active and shining with condition. 7y.o.Any ideas? She was wormed with equamax 1 week age & flu vacc etc up to date

Answer 1

Sounds like a Gutteral pouch infection. Its an upper respiratory infection and is a lot of the times hard to get rid of. I had a client call me when he noticed significant swelling around the eyes and ears. It took about a month for the infection to go away and a lot of antibiotics.

Talk to your vet again or consult another one. When not treated this can lead to labored breathing and chronic illness in equines.

Answer 2

First off i think you should phone the vet and do a followup, tell him the symptoms are not clearing up, even with the antibiotics....

2nd off-- Either you have something wrong here or your vet does. Viruses cannot be cured with antibiotics, therefore they are not proscribed for such illnesses, Time and rest is all that can help cure viruses.

3rd off--Vaccinations are important to control many dangerous diseases, we must be cautious not over vaccinate. When horses have bad reactions to vaccinations, such as the Tetanus shot-- they can experience swollen glads and laboured breathing.... Has your horse been recently vaccinated? That could be the reason...If so was it for strangles? If not then THIS below could be the reason...

4th off--- have you investigated the possiblility of your horse having Strangles?

Symptoms
When a horse is infected with S. equi, the first signs of disease are fever, inappetence, and a sore throat. As the infection sets up house in the lymph nodes that drain the head, pain and enlargement of these nodes is noted. Most affected lymph nodes between the lower jaw bones, and the lymph nodes that lie in the throat latch region of the horse. --As infection progresses inside the lymph nodes, abcessation occurs, and the lymph nodes soften and then break opened draining puss containing the bacteria. Horses will have a nasal discharge, and may also develop a cough. Once the enlarged lymph nodes are soft and ready to drain, veterinarians will often slice them to drain and heal.

The rule of thumb for S. equi infections in horses is similar to that which occurs with people exposed to the virus causing chicken pox. S. equi is usually a childhood disease, affecting younger horses. Once infected by the bacteria, roughly 80% of horses do not ever contract the disease again. The remaining 20% can become ill again later in life.

Older horses that have never been exposed to the disease are equally at risk as a young horse. Horses are usually sick for about two weeks and then once the lymph nodes drain, they begin to feel much better.

Treatment
Of primary importance is to ensure that the horse is comfortable and able to eat, drink, and breath easily. Fevers are controlled with antiinflammatory agents like phenylbutazone and Banamineâ.

--Warm compresses applied to affected lymph nodes are frequently prescribed because they provide comfort and expedite maturation and drainage of abscessed lymph nodes.

--Penicillin is an antibiotic which kills the S. equi organism... Horses infected with S. equi that are not able to eat, drink, or breath properly, or are experiencing other severities are treated with penicillin.

--Horses that have signs of lymph node enlargement but are handling the illness with only fever, nasal discharge, and general malaise are best left off penicillin. Instead try using antiinflammatory agents and hot-packing of lymph nodes. These horses usually do fine once the lymph nodes drain.

GOOD LUCK i hope i helped! Please follow up with me when you have any news, i'd like to know if i was right =)

Answer 3

Sounds more like strangles to me! The smelly poop could be from the antibiotics. You can't use antibiotics on viruses- they don't work- so I'm guessing some kind of infection orr strangles-
Strangles is highly contagious, most barns here quarantine- better make sure- you don't want to cause an epidemic- on old or weak horses it can be bad...

Answer 4

mabey it has something to do with her teeth? and one of the arteries is swelling because it's infected?

Answer 5

Poo smells anyway...