Mastitis cream for mud fever - t’is the season

[Feathered_Feet]

@sascha

Other than that, daily application of extra strength Desitin can work well. Smoosh it in and leave it alone. Repeat the next day. Avoid the scrubbing and scab picking we all think we need to do.

Also check threads here for diet tips - particularly copper and zinc. Knock on wood mine hasn’t had an issue since I added masses of both. The bacteria is definitely present where I board as there are several others that go through the Desitin Dance during mud seasons.

Agreed on several counts! My horse used to get all sorts of scratches (which would evolve to regular bouts of mild cellulitis), which more or less went to 0 when I started added copper and zinc (especially at opportune times of the year).

Plus, as you say - slather on some cheap zinc oxide (I got a big tub of the generic - slightly cheaper than desitin… which of course now I don’t use since the copper and zinc have worked so well). It softens the scabs perfectly, and acts as a gooey bandage to keep other grime off (which is key on pasterns during mud season). If you want to over-manage like I do, add a bit of triple antibiotic ointment (I wouldn’t add cortisone cream for this since I believe technically it can delay healing, but it’s a good triple threat for other skin irritations that are wanting to get inflammed/proud).

[theresak]

@sascha

In terms of getting close to SF, this mixture is probably as close as you find. I personally wouldn’t bother with the antifungal since scratches is bacterial and SF never had an anti-fungal component and cured scratches really well.

And I always recommend adding an antifungal just in case for stubborn or chronic scratches. My horse often wouldn’t respond until I added an antifungal to the mixture. He must have had some weird skin flora that just allowed fungus to join the scratches party. He also got cellulitis frequently.

The biggest impact to both chronic scratches and cellulitis was giving him a very good live probiotic in his feed to repopulate the good bacteria and adding copper and zinc to his diet.