Ouchy iodine!

[Scribbler]

I’ve said on a couple of thrush posts that I don’t use iodine for deep seated thrush. Just as a preventative on wet looking hooves.

Well, yesterday I got out the extra strong iodine for my mare who is super co operative about her feet and most care things. I thought the heel bulbs were looking a little rubbed and her frog getting a bit deep in the middle. She was fine with three of her feet but snatched away the left front.

Today I started with the right front and it was ok. But then she took a good look at the spray bottle and started turning around so I couldn’t get to her left side and then went out to the runout walking away from her mash which is serious.

So I put away the spray bottle, showed her my empty hands, and proceeded with using thrush-x which is iodine and gentian violet (and way way more expensive). I guess it must be milder because she was fine with that. Gentian violet doesn’t sting.

I can only assume she has some minor invisible actual broken skin on that foot.

[ChocoMare]

Thrush-x, Thrushbuster etc are all expensive ways to damage good tissue, while you’re trying to kill the yeast that is Thrush. Ultimately, they don’t work.

Instead, get thee to Home Depot - cleaning products aisle, usually at the bottom.
Simple Green PRO-3 (MUST BE Pro 3). It is anti-bacterial, anti-virucidal and anti-microbial.

Once a week during the worst of the thrush, make a soak of 1 part SGP3 and 20 parts water. It does not burn, sting or hurt the skin. Heck, I clean my whole house with it. Soak for 15 minutes, more if they’ll tolerate it.

Then get a can of el-cheapo Athlete’s Foot Spray Powder. On non-soak days, pick/brush/dry and spray into every nook and cranny.

This way, you stop the cycle of Yeast moving in, creating dead tissue, Bacteria moving in to eat said dead tissue and they allll keep feeding each other round n round in an endless circle of happy microbes chowing down at the Hoof Buffet.

It’s time to shut down the Buffet and evict the microbes

[Simkie]

@ChocoMare

yeast that is Thrush.

@ChocoMare

This way, you stop the cycle of Yeast moving in, creating dead tissue,

Thrush in equines is caused by anaerobic bacteria, Fusobacterium necrophorum. Not yeast.

[Scribbler]

It’s true that many kinds of broad spectrum antimicrobial agents will work on both early-stage hoof funk and actual thrush. That’s why there’s such a range of home remedies and OTC products.

I would be happy to use BluKote gentian violet but it’s no longer sold in Canada.

I find that early-stage hoof funk responds well to iodine when there’s no vulnerable soft tissue.

[cnd8]

Oh goodness, that must’ve really burned!
I have had good results with Tomorrow Dry Cow, which I now believe we have to get a script for. I bought several tubes before this happened though, so I am stocked up. Use it a couple days in a row and that’s all it takes.

[Scribbler]

I felt bad because I try hard to cultivate her compliance with care routines by not causing unnecessary discomfort. She’s never flinched from iodine on her hooves before. I need to take a look at that foot in daylight and see if there’s anything happening near the hairline that needs a soothing treatment.

When she had proper deep sulcus thrush one wet summer I used the goo of zinc ointment, athletes foot and polysporin in a syringe which was painless and effective. She doesn’t have that now, just early stage wet feet which usually responds well to iodine.

[TWH_Girl]

@cnd8

I have had good results with Tomorrow Dry Cow, which I now believe we have to get a script for

What?! When did this occur? I haven’t bought this in a while but I last ordered off Amazon and it wasn’t an issue.

[Simkie]

@TWH_Girl

What?! When did this occur? I haven’t bought this in a while but I last ordered off Amazon and it wasn’t an issue.

Gawd, last year I think? Last summer…?

https://www.oregonvma.org/care-health/equine-and-livestock/health-safety/otc-sales-of-livestock-antibiotics-end-in-june-2023-how-to-prepare

There’s still stock labeled OTC floating around out there for sale, and that’s all permitted to be sold OTC, but once it’s gone, it’s gone. Everything post June 2023 is labeled RX and needs a script.

[TWH_Girl]

Thanks! Good to know so I’m not caught off guard in spring.

[Pehsness]

Get thee some hoof doctor. It is expensive but it is THE cure for feet that look like their heading to funky town.

[Ghazzu]

@Simkie

Thrush in equines is caused by anaerobic bacteria, Fusobacterium necrophorum. Not yeast.

I miss the old name–Spherophorus necrophorus. It was so mellifluous.

[sascha]

@Scribbler

So I put away the spray bottle

After years of trial and error, I ditched the spray bottle (because a little overspray in the wrong area is a bad thing, and, it’s easier to inhale the fumes, get the fumes in my eyes.

I now take the tiniest little snip off the pointy part so I get just a drop at a time. It’s way easier to aim it, get good coverage, get enough to soak a cotton ball for squishing in, etc. Any excess will dribble off the front of the foot and onto the floor and not onto any fleshy part of the horse. Bonus, you can aim a few drops into deep areas and then sort of swirl the foot to make sure of good coverage. Learnt that with a club-footed horse I was looking after a while back and it really made a difference. Swirl, add cotton, soak cotton, tamp in as much as possible with pointy hoof pick and good to go for 2 days even in mud.

Always do mind the fumes though - I have a bad tendency to get up close to inspect, “f@÷±«&¡¡¡§ Yup, dumbass, that’s the same 16.9% stuff that was in the bottle last time too. Maybe you could be smrtr NEXT time?”