Hello all! Similar to most of the country we have had an abnormally wet winter. The place we keep two of our horses does not have stalls, just lean-tos. Despite our best efforts to keep the lean-tos clean and dry and to rotate where we place the round bales, they both appear to be suffering from thrush. The barefoot horse has quite sore heels currently. My FIL suggested the original brown Listerine as a treatment. Is this an effective thrush treatment?
I’ve heard of people using listerine for fungus, but I’ve always stuck with chlorohexidine. ime with thrush, no matter what lotions and potions you use, it won’t go away unless the environment changes (same with stooooopid scratches, which was the bane of my existence last year)
While it might not hurt and it might help, if you know the horse has thrush, I would just choose a product designed thrush.
Bleach will work but it can also be damaging to tissue, so it’s not something my farrier would ever recommend.
I think thrush is much more likely to thrive in horses that need farrier care. Horses can stand around in mud all year and never get thrush - it doesn’t “cause” thrush, but can make it hard to treat.
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Listerine has 4 essential oils and some alcohol. It has Eucalypto, Menthol, Thymol and methl salicylate.
Wouldn’t hurt to try it as there’s some evidence it has helped thrush from other online.
Agree with others, you need to keep feet dry, properly trimmed and balanced and cleaned of manure daily.
If hooves are overgrown it’s difficult to treat or cure. Same w/ wetness. Same w/ cleanliness.
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Reasonably priced and VERY EFFECTIVE = 1 Part Simple Green Pro-3 (must be that version, since it’s Anti-Bacterial/Fungicidal/Virucidal) to 20 parts water. Soak 15 minutes once a week.
On non-soak days, pick/brush/dry well and liberally spray Athlete’s Foot Spray into all cracks & crevices.
Why not use a preparation specifically designed to treat thrush rather than a mix of other things!
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I used a chlorhexidine scrub I got over-the-counter at my pharmacy. I like it because it is syrupy. I used a gauze square to work it into the affected areas, then treated with a ready-made product. I tried a few different ones but still like Thrush Buster the best.
This was for his hind feet in the central sulcus of the frog extending into the groove between the heel bulbs. He hasn’t had much thrush over the years but I think I got lazy with the weekly Thrush Buster. He has front shoes with a 2 degree pad. The farrier uses a medicated packing and adds powdered copper sulfate and a fiber of some sort (hemp?). He rarely has any problems in front. .BTW, farrier has never liked KoperTox - too messy.
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For what It’s worth, here’s what I’ve been doing for thrush and it seems to be working VERY well. I spray cleaned feet with a 50/50 mix of ACV and water, then using a cotton pad (for removing makeup) I use the hoof pick to scrub out the black ick. I follow up with Q-tips in any hard to reach or deep spots. Then I use a mix of 8 oz 40% zinc oxide diaper rash cream (generic from WalMart) with 2 tsp copper sulfate powder (Amazon) You can use a syringe or just your finger. I find it easier to get curved-tip dental syringes and cut off a bit of the tip so you can get it into the deep pockets. The diaper rash cream will stay in the hoof at least for a little while and kill the thrush. I do the feet three times/week. It’s a bit labor intensive at first, but as the thrush is cured it becomes much easier and less work. This recipe is from Pete Ramey’s web site. I actually got the info from a facebook group calle Hoof Care and Rehabilitation, fyi. The scrubbing with the cotton came from an Equus article but I modified it a bit to make it easier.
Because I’ve never found a product that works as well as my mix- which has been okayed by the vet and the farrier, works and is inexpensive. I do chlorhexidine solution, copper sulfate powder and tea tree oil mixed in a spray bottle
To answer OPs question, yes Listerine works if that’s all you have, also sometimes helps scratches and creeping crud. If that’s all you have, and that’s all we had back then, besides bleach and something called Coppertox that stained everything green
Today’s Thrush specific products work better. But the best treatment is get the horse out of the muck as much as you can, clean the clefts thoroughly, use a hose if you can, let them dry completely ( bring your phone or a book and a chair) and only when dry, apply a product. Then let that dry before returning them to the mud. At least twice a week, 3 times would be better.
Need to eliminate the cause or all the treatments out there combined won’t make it go away.
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I’ve had very good results from using the original formula LIsterine on mild thrush. I’ve put it in a spray bottle and used it almost every day (5 days a week) from one trimming appointment to another (so about 5 or 6 weeks). It worked very well.
It’s the alcohol content in Listerine that kills things.
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Hydrogen peroxide and later vinegar. Hooves must be really, really clean, makes no sense to use any product on some remaining dirt.
