Has habronemiasis been ruled out (aka summer sores, swamp cancer)?
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I had to google that one, but the symptoms donât fit (location of sores, and her sores are flat and not pus), and I donât think we get that here. There are some benefits to living where we get a lot of cold!
Sent pictures and spoke to vet today - New treatment - tomorrow I am treating her with Cylence in case it is mites. Then in three or so days I am bathing her with a medicated antibacterial shampoo the vet is ordering in. it is supposed to be more gentle on the skin then Hibitaine.
The original spots are not getting worse, and are dry and flaking, although not sure if the flakes are skin or dry anti fungal cream. The skin underneath the flakes seems healthy enough and a normal colour. The old spots are also no longer itchy. She has new itchy/balding areas developing on her croup and flank though.
I skipped the anti fungal today and massaged with Triple Acting Polysporin, and put a different blanket on her.
@StormyDay it is very wintery here. Her paddock is completely snow covered and there are no trees in it. Definitely no insects. I guess it is good that it is winter as it does reduce the potential causes. The sores are only on her torso/where the ticks were staying warm.
I was wondering if you were considering this. Someone on another board got a new horse that came with mites, and if I remember correctly one of her other horses picked them up and had a reaction similar to what youâre seeing.
I got in rescues with them. Yuck. It was nasty. Luckily they didnât spread.
I did treat her with Cylence this morning, but I think we have turned a corner - no new oozing spots, and she is no longer frantically itchyâŠjust moderately so (from a 10/10 to a 5/10), and she wasnât leaving patches of hair behind her as she itched. Her skin on the bare spots was not crusty. I am not sure if it has just run its course, or if the Polysporin helped or? I will still do the antibacterial bath, but I am not going to clip her if it continues to improve.
I let her hang out in the ring while i rode her sister, and I noticed she was significantly more playful and curious today than she has been for the last week or so.
fingers crossed she is on the mend.
Meanwhile her sister is still showing no issues.
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Unfortunately, although she has stopped oozing, she is back to about a 9 on the itch scale. Some of the early bald spots seem to be resolved, but others are getting bigger again. Unfortunately the anti-bacterial soap my vet ordered wonât be here for a while. Going to bath in Hibitaine again tomorrow, and might do some clipping of the âActiveâ areas. Put the anti-fungal cream on again.
I wish my catâs dermatologist did horses too. From my catâs experience, once they get on a cycle of skin issues it can be very hard to resolve as they can get hyper sensitive to any possible irritation and that may be what is happening now.
Waiting to hear back from my vet - unfortunately vets here are swamped, and the roads have been atrocious, so they are working extra hard - my horse is not a high priority.
Damn, I was hoping for a really good update.
Can you strong arm your derm vet into doing horses? Happened here and the small animal dermatologist does appointments at a farm where horses can ship in.
Oh, also another suggestion until the shampoo comes in - can you get your hands on tubes of mastitis medication? Iâm not sure whatâs best since Special Formula is no longer being made, but maybe Cefa-Lak? I think thatâs what I switched to for a corneal ulcer in a cow after we used our last tube of SF in her eyeball.
A friend also recommended a mastitis medication. Perhaps I will look for it tomorrow - bad couple road days here.
I bathed her in a mild Hibitaine solution this morning, and then clipped a bit around the areas. She loved being clipped - I am hoping it helps me ensure the treatments get to her skin rather than just on the hair. Lots of little hard scabby bumps on her hind quarters made it hard to clip.
It seems that new spots appear whenever we have a warm spell (which lately is just an hour or two mid day), which would make sense for bacteria or fungus. She never gets sweaty, but maybe just warm enough to allow for things to grow. She is a wimp about cold though, so it is a fine balance.
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I switched to Miconozole (not sure of spelling). It is a different over the counter anti-fungal. We had a very warm afternoon yesterday, before going back to below freezing - she had one new patch of scabs on her croup, but not oozing.
The Miconozole seems to be less drying. Putting Diaper Rash cream on her bald, but no longer âactiveâ spots seemed to help, but is very messy, so looking for a different option - trying Calomine lotion. Hoping the anti-bacterial shampoo comes in this week - will bathe and then clip more of her.
Not sure how long I need to wait to start riding her again - it has been good being able to focus on her sister who is close to being useful.
I donât know if you itch relief shampoo came in, but this is what I use; on my animals and personally on myself (Iâm highly allergic to mosquito and most bug bites and this is one of the few products out there that stop them from feeling like someone is stabbing me under my skin. It even works better than the Benadryl stuff).
It works really well.
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Oh my, that looks sooooo painful. It reminded me of my dogs skin when she had an allergy to Purina One. For the longest time, I thought flea allergies and just could not find a cure. Then I switched dog foods and her skin cleared immediately. Food allergy could possibly be the case for your mare. It looks raw, oozing like my dogs back , sides and stomach. She was miserable! I sure hope you find some answers.
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I hauled my above pony to Cornell University to see the dermatologist on Friday. He was intradermal allergy tested and has confirmed severe allergies to a multitude of things (pine, a multitude of mites, some weeds, humans 
). They definitely think he had a major allergy outbreak - why it was randomly triggered they arenât sure. It took nearly 30 days of oral antibiotics to clean up his skin infection. Doing much better now, will start on immunotherapy injections as soon as theyâre created.
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That sounds like our cat Casper who fortunately responded well to care: I hope it is the same for your horse.
Picked up a new antifungal shampoo with Ketoconazol to use tomorrow, but she is overall doing better. A few spots still developing, but they are not oozing, and he itch score is back down to maybe a 3.
Allergies are a possibility, but the spots are only where the ticks had been, so seems more likely that the ticks damaged the skin barrier, allowing a fungal or bacterial infection to develop once it got warmer.
Not sure when I should feel ok riding her again, but it has allowed me to focus on her sister, who is ready to start jumping.
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Hello, being that its been quite a bit of time, has the vet come up with a solution? My mustang has very similar marks. It has been two months and now it is growing up his stomach and a patch on his hid leg. My vet has never seen anything like this before. She keeps telling me to keep it clean and apply wound cream.(that hasnât worked) My horse had SCC removed and was on Chemo for a bit. She(Vet) wants me to put him back onto chemo, but I do not believe its his cancer that is back. My guy is not in any pain just very itchy in his sheath and sore areas.
Could it be pemphigus? Rare in horses, but one in my barn has it: triggered by vaccines.
My horse ended up having allergies to the ticks, but it was much different than your horse.
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