Hoof packing rec for thrush

[Warmblood1]

Tomorrow Dry Cow is still available OTC. I get mine from Amazon. It’s my go to treatment for thrush in the central sulcus but I don’t feel it stays well enough to treat the collateral grooves. I haven’t had success there.

I looked at the Red Horse products and because it was late on a Friday, I was looking at about 2 weeks before I’d receive it. Not ideal so I did a bit more research and found an article by AFA about using poultice to treat thrush. I have plenty of Icetight and boric acid, an active ingredient in IceTight, does treat thrush. I’d say other ingredients do as well. So experiment I did and I treated 2 horses with it. I used Tomorrow Dry Cow in the central sulcus of one horse and disinfected all hooves with chlorhexidine prior to applying the poultice. Of course, it rained that day and the next day but I still had poultice present in the collateral grooves 3 days later. I do think it’s a combination of all products but the feet were much improved. There wasn’t any thrushy gunk in the collateral grooves. I was also happy I tried the poultice because it made me realize just how much mud you can go through in just a few treatments. The mud specifically for hooves is not cheap and I think this may be a cheaper, still effective method. Not sure how great poultice would be to treat thrush in the central sulcus but for the collateral grooves and as a preventative, I think it’s very good. I’d probably stick to applying the poultice once to twice a week but so far I’m very pleased with the results. I do think the mud specifically for hooves is a little thicker but with poultice being much more cost effective, I can be more liberal with application and still make it work.

[barnesthenoble]

@Warmblood1

Tomorrow Dry Cow is still available OTC. I get mine from Amazon.

If you’re in the US, they are either selling this illegally, or more likely selling through old stock. It has been labeled prescription only since June 2023.

Are you ready? Antibiotics for livestock will be prescription only in 2023

[SmlHpy1]

I like all Red Horse products.
I order mine from EDSS usually
https://shopedss.com/brands/Red-Horse-Products.html
I’ve used the sole cleanse, artimud and also hoof stuff (which I don’t see at that link currently).

[teatime0714]

Supposedly tractor supply in my area is still selling over the counter. But even if prescription required it’s not that hard to get. I order from valley vet, put my vet info in, valley vet contacts them and they just authorize it. All the vets I’ve spoken with know their clients are using it for thrush so don’t think twice about approving it.

[barnesthenoble]

If so, TSC is in flagrant violation of the FDA, but shrugs.

Vets in my area are reluctant to prescribe it for thrush because it is ultimately contributing to antibiotic resistance, plus we have other tools that work well without that concern. I’m sure there are some who are still fine with it though, and yes if they’re willing to approve the prescription online then it would be pretty straightforward.

[evntr95]

I make my own DIY mud- French green clay and bentonite clay powders, zinc oxide powder, raw honey (I’m lucky enough to know someone with bees), and eucalyptus oil with a little hot water to help bind. Everything but the honey comes from Amazon. This is MUCH cheaper than Artimud and seems to work just as well.

For really bad thrush, though, I’ve done White Lightning soaks followed by a few days of packing, like making a proper cotton/vetrap/duct tape hoof pack, with Tomorrow and Wonder Dust applied to the problem areas. Clears it up quickly so then I can apply mud as a preventative.

[Samondel]

What proportions do you use for your DIY? I’d like to try it!

[evntr95]

Someone posted this recipe in response to a question on the Glue-On Composite Shoe Group on FB. It’s been a while since I’ve made a batch (it lasts me for months) but I think I use a 50/50 mix of French green and bentonite clays; the first time I used 100% French green and it was more expensive and the consistency was off. Sometimes I’ll also add a teaspoon or so of “Germ Fighter” essential oil, which has cloves, cinnamon, rosemary, etc, in addition to the straight eucalyptus oil called for in the recipe. I don’t know if it does anything but it smells nice.

[Samondel]

Thank you! I already make my own Coat Defence powder, and bit butter, so I’m excited to add a third thing to my recipe collection.

[endlessclimb]

Can you share these recipes? Maybe a whole new thread with “DIY” stuff?

[Warmblood1]

Thanks for sharing. I love anything DIY like this. I’m not sure if you saw upthread but I have been using IceTight poultice to pack hooves since Artimud was going to take weeks to get. It has ingredients that kill thrush annd I’ve had very good results. It’s also a much cheaper alternative.

[Buddy0227]

Is that zinc oxide powder . if so, where can you get it from ?

[mvp]

@KendraLW

I was told by a vet that Tomorrow mastitis ointment works great. It comes with a soft syringe tip so you can squirt it deep in there. I haven’t tried it personally but she swears by it.

Yes, ma’am! And for the OP: “Today” and “Tomorrow” are two versions of the same drug used to treat cow mastitis. It comes in a little tube— like the size of clipper oil. I believe it recently became available only by prescription, but you can buy it in boxes from the big vet/ag supply places.

It is amazingly effective. Lay a little ribbon of it in the (picked/brushed out) crevices of the hoof and expect it to kill anything in there. Re-check in 2-3 days. You can re-apply as necessary, but I don’t think you will have to.

The only problem is buying it-- It might cost about $8/tube, but I recall finding it hard to find single tubes for a reasonable price on-line. I would not be opposed to owning a whole box; I plan to buy a box and split it with friends… because everyone should have a tube of Today/Tomorrow around. And I can say from experience-- it still works after the expiration date.

Hope this helps!

[fivestrideline]

@mvp

I recall finding it hard to find single tubes for a reasonable price on-line. I would not be opposed to owning a whole box; I plan to buy a box and split it with friends…

This is a VERY GOOD way to contribute heavily to antibiotic resistance. That’s why the products were made prescription-only. Just like taking antibiotics for yourself, if you don’t complete the course and kill all the nasties that aren’t completely resistant already, you cull the population down to those organisms with some resistance- they’re the ones that breed and multiply and WHAM you have a whole strain that antibiotics won’t touch. Using just a tube or two will leave behind the just-slightly-resistant strains and soon it won’t work.

This doesn’t just apply to thrush - this crosses over into other organisms in the environment or the body that also get exposed to the antibiotics along with the thrush, creating resistant strains that cause much worse infections.

Just a general PSA, we do not have ANY new antibiotics in the research stage that look promising to replace the ones currently in use. Not for ANYTHING. If we create a bunch of resistant strains out there to where the basic antibiotics don’t work, we will be left with one or two “powerful” antibiotics that we save for bad cases. If that happens, then we are staring at making a bunch of nasties that are resistant to THOSE, and we will be right back into pre-penicillin days. This isn’t fear-mongering, this is REAL.

Right now there’s no money in new antibiotics so no funding is coming down for the research. This is the same issue we have for dewormer resistance - no new drugs in the pipeline, a lot of drug abuse (ie improper use), and resistance skyrocketing.

Please please please do not use antibiotics haphazardly for things that have other effective treatments. Today and Tomorrow are script-only for a reason, legally.

Off my soapbox now.

[IPEsq]

I had to use some Tomorrow (when the change was in process and old stock was not expired yet) on a case of central sulcus thrush that my farrier and I had tried to heal for the better part of a year. It did clear it up finally.

But on topic, I really like Rebound hoof packing. You just dampen your hand and it sticks to the foot and not your hand. Nothing nasty in it. Will stay in the collateral grooves for some time if you don’t pick it out. Seems to improve the sole more than just one of the mud products (which I’ve also used), as the mud is ok at keeping other stuff out of the foot but doesn’t infuse much into the foot. And then also doubles as normal hoof packing for ouchy feet or after a day on unforgiving footing.

Does work better if you can store it at room temp. In colder weather, the mud stuff is easier to use. I tend to slightly prefer Pure Sole over Artimud. Haven’t tried some of the others.

[Samondel]

Will do!