Fighting scratches again.

[Simkie]

@CanteringCarrot

I never thought about copper in a topical application. I’ll have to see if I can find any. Usually an antibiotic ointment, anti-fungal cream (like for human foot fungus), and a zinc oxide paste together clear things up quickly for me. I do have a chlorhex cream too but it’s kind of thin, so actually, applying something over it may help. I could use the zinc paste for this or the Swat I ordered from America. Food for thought.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹

I wasn’t able to find one, which I found surprising given how it is used so successfully in non healing wounds described in that paper. But copper oxide is pretty easy to source–I picked it up on Amazon. Added maybe a tablespoon to a swat sized jar of chlorhex? Try on small area just in case your horse objects, but it does seem to be helping mine. (Do note that copper SULPHATE is in a few proud flesh preps. Different action, don’t think that’s appropriate for this need. Everything I was able to find about wound healing described copper oxide.)

I’ve been SO pleased with layering chlorhex and udder balm (it’s the Dr Naylor’s one, but I’ve got to think anything really emollient will do the trick.) Give it a try, hopefully it works just as well for you!!

[LEL]

I’ve had good results with a combination of Triple Paste diaper rash cream and miconazole nitrate 2% powder spray. Both off label and both drugstore/grocery store finds. Prescription products haven’t worked as well for me in the past. Another thought, do you have access to a Theraplate, EquiVibe, Vitafloor or similar? The literature suggests vibrations helps with circulation and healing. I haven’t tried them myself, but I’ve been curious about those icevibe boots too for the vibration/circulation benefits. Scratches are tricky, good luck 😕

[CindyCRNA]

@Simkie

Why do you think that?

I only think they’ll help. Flies in the scabs are just going to make things worse. And flies chewing on the horse might have been the thing that set everything into action to start. I’ve been eyeballing those loose, open at the top ones Gamma mentions, too.

It would seem to me that in a humid environment, the boots would make their own little humid greenhouses around each leg. Air flow would be compromised. Also the flys here have been consistent so this recent blow up isn’t due to recent increase in flys. His legs were clipped all summer and towel dried after every ride/rinse.

They look better now. Scrubbing daily with chlorhex shampoo, drying and applying zinc oxide/chlorhex paste and he is on 2 weeks SMZ’s.

[J-Lu]

@CindyCRNA

It would seem to me that in a humid environment, the boots would make their own little humid greenhouses around each leg. Air flow would be compromised. Also the flys here have been consistent so this recent blow up isn’t due to recent increase in flys. His legs were clipped all summer and towel dried after every ride/rinse.

They look better now. Scrubbing daily with chlorhex shampoo, drying and applying zinc oxide/chlorhex paste and he is on 2 weeks SMZ’s.

How interesting to hear specific responses from people!

I live in NC (hot, humid), and the Shoo-fly leggings are much better than contoured leggings. Horses can be turned out in them and the very much reduce fly bites/agitation. Positive outcomes have been seen in the horses wearing these boots, and the boots seem to last a while even when on 24/7 in turnout.

I found that my fly-sensitive horse does best when shampooed with an antibiotic/antifungal shampoo. I try to minimize the area. Fly spray!

Zinc is high in my area (pasture analyzed) and copper supplementation since last November didn’t do much.

[LovieBird]

I had pretty good luck with the triple antibiotic ointment/hydrocortisone/desitin mixture. I initially cleaned her legs with dawn, dried and clipped them. I slapped more of the mixture on every time I went to the barn. Messy, but it worked!

This was for a horse who lives out in hot and humid Louisiana.

[walkinthewalk]

@LovieBird

I had pretty good luck with the triple antibiotic ointment/hydrocortisone/desitin mixture. I initially cleaned her legs with dawn, dried and clipped them. I slapped more of the mixture on every time I went to the barn. Messy, but it worked!

This was for a horse who lives out in hot and humid Louisiana.

^^^^^This has always been my topical go to, since I retired to southern Middle Tennessee. Gosh Louisiana, can’t you keep your dew points to yourself? ours seem to get more like yours with each passing year,lol

I mentioned earlier in this thread that adding an extra 3,000 IU of pure Vitamin E (no selenium) has helped immensely. I’ve seen a few Scratches outbreaks on
one horse but they have quickly dried up by themselves:). He is out on ~19 acres daily and comes in at night.

[CindyCRNA]

@LovieBird

I had pretty good luck with the triple antibiotic ointment/hydrocortisone/desitin mixture. I initially cleaned her legs with dawn, dried and clipped them. I slapped more of the mixture on every time I went to the barn. Messy, but it worked!

This was for a horse who lives out in hot and humid Louisiana.

I have heard of this formula.

Why though? Why this horse when 90% of the horses at the barn are unaffected. This horse could not be anymore cared for. My Equishield arrived today. It is a chlorhex/ketoconizole/hyrdrocortisone shampoo and a spray. I guess next year be starting in mid July using this shampoo and daily spraying of legs until Oct.

[Simkie]

@CindyCRNA

Why though? Why this horse when 90% of the horses at the barn are unaffected. This horse could not be anymore cared for. My Equishield arrived today. It is a chlorhex/ketoconizole/hyrdrocortisone shampoo and a spray. I guess next year be starting in mid July using this shampoo and daily spraying of legs until Oct.

Because there’s just so much we still don’t know or understand about equine health

I have four horses in my barn that are all pretty much the same. They are all TBs, they’re all about the same size, they all eat the same hay and the same grain. They’re pretty much treated as a unit. (And they do well that way.) So why does one keep getting cellulitis? Why does one have scratches? Why was the “cellulitis horse” last year NOT the “cellulitis horse” this year?

Because they’re different in subtle ways that we don’t really understand.

I’d bet that some of this stuff has to do with the individual horse’s microbiome. The more we learn about it, the more we see how it plays SUCH an important role in health, across all systems. But we’re just on the cusp of even beginning to understand…it’ll be a long time before we have a comprehensive view.

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[LovieBird]

@CindyCRNA

I have heard of this formula.

Why though? Why this horse when 90% of the horses at the barn are unaffected. This horse could not be anymore cared for. My Equishield arrived today. It is a chlorhex/ketoconizole/hyrdrocortisone shampoo and a spray. I guess next year be starting in mid July using this shampoo and daily spraying of legs until Oct.

Is this horse a chestnut by chance? I think they are more prone to skin conditions sometimes.

[LovieBird]

@CindyCRNA

I have heard of this formula.

Why though? Why this horse when 90% of the horses at the barn are unaffected. This horse could not be anymore cared for. My Equishield arrived today. It is a chlorhex/ketoconizole/hyrdrocortisone shampoo and a spray. I guess next year be starting in mid July using this shampoo and daily spraying of legs until Oct.

Is this horse a chestnut by chance? I’ve found they are more susceptible to skin conditions.

[ChestnutArabianMare]

I’ve had amazing luck with Hay Where’s That Blue Stuff on my mare’s extremely stubborn case of scratches and now swear by it. It had lasted several months but was gone within a couple of weeks once I started applying it. She’s had a couple of mild reoccurrences since then and they’ve cleared up within a few days of applications.

https://www.thatbluestuff.com/produc…hat-blue-stuff

It’s a topical lotion, and the active ingredient is chlorhexidine gluconate (used as a presurgical scrub). Reapply once a day, no wiping off messy ointment necessary since it rubs in so well. I don’t clip or pick at scabs, and I know it doesn’t hurt because Ms. Fussy Mare doesn’t care about me putting it on. Bonus: If she starts rubbing her itchy tail, I apply some and it also seems to soothe the itching.

[gertie06]

RE: wrapping, I have a question about this. If you’ve got a horse on turnout, isn’t wrapping going to make it worse? In our area, it gets very dewy overnight. Those wraps are going to get wet. Wetness on scratches does not seem like a good idea. But maybe I’m wrong? Obviously all the concoctions we apply are wet. Guess I’m a bit confused.

[MissCoco]

My lease mare had nasty scratches this spring. We did betadene scrubs + thorough towel drying + furazone, but what really improved her very quickly was that her owner has one of those light therapy devices? They are near-infrared light emitters that you wrap around the limb and treat for I think about 10 mins at a time. She did that 3 times a day for 4 days, and the improvement was very rapid.

I was impressed with it, and when her owner left on vacation for a long weekend before the scratches were entirely healed, they regressed some in just a few days.

[EventingLady]

My gelding gets super bad scratches on his white socks… and my mare has a terrible fungus every summer all over her back. After years of trying literally everything above… I found a winning combo. For my gelding: keep his back legs shaved/trimmed at all times. Wash with the clorohexidine shampoo… let dry… put MTG all over those puppies. Its straight sulfur and gets rid of it like a charm. Once the scratches are under control, then for maintenance I wash and scrub his legs with betadine and Hey Whats That Blue Stuff shampoo 3x weekly, then put Hey What’s That Blue Stuff cream all over his legs. I haven’t had any scratches since. The same treatment worked for my mares back after years of trying everything else. I didn’t shave/trim her back fur because she basically lost all of it from the fungus. The MTG to kill the initial bad bout of it… then upkeep with Hey Whats That Blue Stuff has been magic. You can buy it on SmartPack.

[Laurierace]

Are you sure it isn’t photosensitivity? Nothing you put on it will completely clear it up if so.

[Laurierace]

Are you sure it isn’t photosensitivity? Nothing you put on it will completely clear it up if so.

[Gamma]

@gertie06

RE: wrapping, I have a question about this. If you’ve got a horse on turnout, isn’t wrapping going to make it worse? In our area, it gets very dewy overnight. Those wraps are going to get wet. Wetness on scratches does not seem like a good idea. But maybe I’m wrong? Obviously all the concoctions we apply are wet. Guess I’m a bit confused.

Fly boots aren’t really like wrapping at all…especially the open top ones. The material is plastic mesh so it’s not absorbent, from completely hosed-em-down soaked to dry is very quick. The open top ones also barely touch the leg, and they’re loose even where they do touch so normal movement keeps the air flowing.

Keeps the gnats off and also keeps my horse from destroying his own legs scratching–especially hind leg with the opposite hoof–he can still scratch but it’s like scratching through clothing. Mine seems to get into a cycle of minor irritation, gnats, scratching until skin is ripped open, more gnats, more scratching, more gnats, more scratching… (Yes, he is mildly allergic to gnats, no surprise there.)

My previous go-to was Alushield in large quantities…keep it dry, toughen up the skin, keep the gnats off.

[BayBondGirl]

I tried tea tree oil on a stubborn case and it made a huge difference very quickly!

[aascvt]

The equishield CK shampoo & sprays are WONDERFUL. I’ll add one more suggestion to your arsenal: Equifit silver powder. I wash with the CK shampoo, then dry and apply the powder. Works wonders for my mare… literally ANY skin funk goes away within days of applying the powder. It just makes sense if you think about it. Scratches WANTS moisture. The powder is both antomicrobial & a drying agent. There is a daily strength & treatment strength. The treatment strength is well worth the money. It’s pricey but lasts a long time and is worth its weight in gold for me.

[CindyCRNA]

He looks 1000% better today! Skin has quit sloughing ,most scabs are gone except for the largest ones but they are not draining and are much smaller. He continues the SMZ’s another week. Poor bubba. Next year mid July is going to be getting all the guns out !