rbrown
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2011
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- 185
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I had my mare shipped from WI to MA mid-October, and she developed a deep cough a week or two after she arrived. She would cough 3-6 times in a row, so loudly the neighbors could probably hear it, and then be just fine for an hour or so before coughing again. I'm boarding her, so had the barn vet out, who said it was likely tracheitis and put her on 10 days of SMZ antibiotics and tri-hist, and told me not to work her until the coughing stopped. She stopped coughing after a few days, and I started driving her again after she finished her round of antibiotics. Of course, 10 days after her last day of the antibiotic, she started coughing when I was driving her, then coughed the next day when we were out for a walk/trot around the neighborhood. Called the vet, said to repeat the same course of antibiotics/tri-hist, and absolutely no working her until she's better. I wasn't sure that putting her on the exact same treatment again is the best way to treat her if it didn't clear it up the first time, but I'm not a vet and I've never dealt with a cough that won't go away before. It is something contagious (at least we're pretty sure it is), because her new paddock buddy developed the same exact cough a week after she did, but his cleared up right away and hasn't been back. Her hay is very high quality, very little dust, and the barn owner shakes it out before she feeds it- she eats it from a big bin/tub on ground level. She gets about 1.5 cups (probably no more than 1/4 lb) of Purina Strategy. She's never had a coughing issue before. Does putting her on another round of antibiotics seem like the reasonable thing to do? Has anyone had this sort of recurring issue before?