Update: help with small hard nodules - bug bites, neck threadworms?

[Jeito]

I posted an update. Thanks for all the ideas

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Here are pictures. Every year my poor mare gets these ugly hard bumps under her belly. I had a vet look at them last year and diagnose them as “a mystery.” They don’t hurt. They feel like a cluster of hard lumps that I can move around. When I scratch them, it makes her happy. What can this be ? Should I get my new vet to come out to see if if she can figure it out?

[inca]

I think the mare is allergic to something - bugs bites, most likely. I battle bumps on my gelding continually. We haven’t figured out an exact cause but vet thinks allergy induced and probably as a result of bug bites.

Is this horse prone to skin fungus? My gelding is so we have 2 things going on - bumps and fungus. It’s a constant battle and enough to drive me insane.

Have you ever tried Dex to see if the bumps go away?

I bathe him with EquiShield CK several times a week. They also make a spray for between baths. I use MTG sometimes because he does NOT have an adverse reaction to it (some horses do.) Also use DermaCloth.

But, I haven’t found anything to prevent bumps (he gets them mostly on his neck and belly.) I just try to manage as best I can.

My vet recommended Platinum Performance and then adding the PP Skin and Allergy. My guy won’t eat the regular PP. I used just the Skin and Allergy last year and it seemed to help but might have just been a combination of everything else I was doing. It’s super expensive. Used 1 jar on the Skin and Allergy earlier this year but now am just treating with topical products.

[Jeito]

She isn’t prone to fungus, and I do think it’s allergies. I should have specified (but I think you figured it out) that she gets them only in summer. They went away over the winter. Do you mean Platinum Skin & Allergy? Maybe it’s worth a try.

[keysfins]

Habronema? Aka summer sores or threadworms? The midline is typical location. Do they ever open and ooze serum, crud or blood? Does she kick at her belly because they are itchy? Have you de-wormed with ivermectin? That should cover threadworms (NOT found in fecal test/GI system).

[Jeito]

I just googled habronema. I think that is different than neck threadworms which are called onchocerca. We do deworm with invermectin along with other things. Might be worth doing again. They don’t ooze at all.

Thanks Please keep the suggestions coming.

[Marla_100]

I also thought it sounds like Habronema, it’s a type of fly that lays an egg in the skin and a larva develops and grows until it erupts. They’re dormant in the winter and come back each summer.

[Jeito]

I should clarify that the barn does the deworming so I would need to check what they last used. They might not have done her at all since her fecals are always negative. This only happens in late spring & early summer, but that would be consistent with neck threadworms and habronema, I believe.

[keysfins]

If it is Habronema, it wouldn’t show up in fecals, since it isn’t a parasite of the gut. All it takes is a nick or small lesion, and them a fly to land and lay eggs.

My older horse got one for the first time this spring. It was firm, and got to be the size of a large marble. I kept it clean, hot packed it and expected an abscess to open, and considered having my vet lance it, but that wasn’t necessary.

When it did open, I flushed it with dilute chlorhexidine. It has been about six weeks and the lesion is almost fully healed, from the inside out. I use SWAT to keep any flies away.

SWAT may be useful, applied down the midline, even if the bump is something different, since you won’t want flies to further aggravate your mare.

And Ivermevtin is considered very safe, so doing an extra de-worming with an Ivermectin product might be worth considering. (YMMV, I am not a vet!)

[inca]

Yes, I have used Platinum Skin and Allergy. A tech at my vet’s office has had great success with it on one of her horses.

[Jeito]

Shamelessly bumping this up, hoping I get more input. I’m still debating whether to have the vet take a look. Other people at the barn think it’s unnecessary. Barn manager says, “But she gets them every year.”

I’m dosing with ivermectin, but after a lot of internet research my gut tells me it isn’t habronema. These bumps aren’t ulcerated. They don’t look like sores.

This might be a case of this bothering me more than it bothers the horse. This mare is a thin-skinned redhead but seems totally affected by these invaders. It’s driving me crazy.

[mkevent]

Say hi to the sensitive red head for me!!

I have an embarrassing PSA dealing with skin issues. The one and only time I decided to body clip my gelding without shampooing him first led him to a horrible case of folliculitis. He had hard and maybe itchy(?) bumps all over his body. It looked like something between scratches and hives. It happened to be everywhere I had body clipped him but not on the legs, where he wasn’t clipped.

The vet said the folliculitis came from the clipping which caused the follicles of the hair to become inflamed. Hence the bumps. Some of the areas then developed a secondary infection which progressed to rainrot. Some horses have really sensitive skin, and I guess he is one of them.

I was told to use Chlorhexadine scrub daily until the bumps where gone. Leave the scrub on for 5 minutes and then rinse thoroughly.

It has definitely helped with clearing the bumps and itching. Now if I see any bumps, he gets bathed in the scrub. I treat the rainrot differently because that area needs to be kept dry.

Just my .02.

[JBD]

My gelding is sensitive to insect bites and being itchy in general. He’s on Omega Horses which really helps. I also make sure he is fly sprayed at least once a day

He has been itchy enough in the past that he got some sort of steroid shot.

I agree with you OP, it doesn’t sound like summer sores. Those turn into open, hard to heal areas. Yuk

[newhorsemommy]

My mare got bumps like that on her stomach one year. The vet was out for shots and I asked her about it, and she said they were horn fly bites and that there must be cattle kept somewhere in the area. I was only at that barn for a few months, and since moving she hasn’t had them again.

[Jeito]

Just an update. Most likely these are Equine Eosinophilic Collagenolytic Granulomas, probably from hypersensitivity to bug bites. They’re more common in the neck & back, but my mare is special Only way to confirm is with biopsy, but since they aren’t bothering her it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Everything else was ruled out. I started putting Ichthammol on them, and they are smaller, but it’s probably just coincidence :o (or I may have discovered a new cure, lol)