Scald from Furacin/glycerin... gallop boot left on

[Cathbad]

So, my horse needed to be wrapped — per vet orders — with furacin/glycerin, with sheet cotton, for two nights; unwrapped during the day. For turnout, he wore his usual Woof boot. Turnout is anywhere from two to five hours/day.

About 4 days later, he had three distinct, weepy scabs on the wrapped leg, where the fur./gly. would have been applied.

It is my expectation (this is a full-service barn) that the leg would have been thoroughly washed in the AM, prior to being booted for turnout. It’s my suspicion the leg wasn’t washed well enough, or maybe not at all, and the neoprene boot on top of the fur./gly. for several hours created a “sweat” and, subsequently, this scalding. Is this possible?

Thoughts on this? Anything I should do to facilitate healing of these scald areas — any ointments, or keep it wrapped/unwrapped for cleanliness?

(The horse, most importantly, is comfortable, altho he keeps trying to itch the patches.)

Thanks for any input!

[NancyM]

Furacin is an irritant, that is it’s function, to bring blood to the area. Sweating it with plastic further enhances the action. So, if your horse has sensitive skin, it is not too surprising that the skin has blistered, whether or not it was washed off after the bandage was removed. Since both water and furacin are water soluable, best plan is simply to wash it all off with water, dry the skin. If you want to put something on the skin to relieve the irritation/itch/pain, a water soluable steroid cream might be an option you could consider. You could consult your vet about that. Basically, time will heal the blistering. And you keep the information in your brain that your horse’s skin will blister with the application this type of sweat. Not all horses will, and nobody knows which horse will react this way to this sort of treatment. It’s an individual thing.

A horse with sensitive skin can blister under a bandage from something as innocuous as rubbing alcohol.

[Highflyer]

Yes, it basically blistered the horse. Just keep the legs unwrapped/ unbooted and it will likely heal with no intervention. Chalk it up to a minor accident/ miscommunication and move on.

[IPEsq]

My horse can be sensitive to furacin sweats especially in areas of friction, and he’s gotten some sores from these bandages before. To cover/keep it from crusting or itching I’ve used something fairly mild like novalsan / equiderma if they seem sensitive or itchy. Keep the legs unbooted and dry until healed.