Advice needed - Mud fever (Pic)

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xSkewbaldCob2x

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Hi, I need some advice on mud fever. The horse I share has developed bad mud fever on his back legs, it's got worse about a week ago and does not seem to be improving. His legs are being washed everyday, with warm salt water, and have been told to remove scaps and spray with iodine or sudacreme. This doesn't seem to bother him that much and he is not lame.
The picture shows his legs on wednesday, but the patches have increased in size a bit. The patches are a bit more red than they would be due to the iodine spray I have been told. He also has a patch on the inside of the left of his back leg
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Any advice much appreciated
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Thanks
 
Wash they with an antibacterial wash (mudfever's caused by bacteria). Do not pick off the scabs unless they're puss-y underneath. Let them dry as much as possible then cover with pig oil and sulphur (or mudguard stuff if notPO&S ).

Stop using the iodine ASAP - it's very irritant and CAUSES patches a bit like that on my skin

My horse got a couple of bad patches of MF that were stinking and far too sore to let me touch. After much discussion and compromise I was able to gentle wash them with warm water and hibiscrub then squirt PO&S on. Two days of that and they'd healed enough to be able to wash properly and gentle break the scabs off whilst washing. They cleared up in a week and a bit of occasinal PO&S keeps it away.
 
I swear by a product called 'muddle'...........basically I just heavily cover the infected area and keep adding daily without washing / cleaning the area.
Photos do look quite bad have you had the vet out yet.........they may advise a different course of treatment
 
Dont wash his legs every day, don't pick off the scabs, they are the worst things you can do ! Blather them in sudocreme or better still udder cream and just leave them. If possible keep him out of the mud for a few days to allow the cream to soothe and begin the healing process. If you need to wash the legs once a week to clear off the residue from the cream then use hibiscrub or iodine and then dry thoroughly before reapplying the cream. The scabs will soften natuarally with the cream and drop off in their own time. This was the old way of dealing with mud fever and I have to be honest and say I had never seen a horse with sores like this until recently because of the washing/scab removal thing that seems to be the in thing.
 
Can you keep him in for a few days just to give the skin a chance to breathe and the cream a chance to work? The more you put him out in the mud, the more the infection will spread.
 
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Tbh i'd get the vet out to look at that, but thats just my opinion.

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With all the best advise in the world, I would also call the vet out to take a look
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Antibiotioc.....then lots of barrier cream - I find protocon is great, and yes, sadly you need to pick the scabs off, so that the barrier cream can get embeddded
 
Having been battling acute Mud Fever for over a year, I'd def say be calling the vet to get some antibiotics on that.

And make sure you patch test the pig oil and sulphur for 48 hrs before using it, sulphur can have an adverse affect on skin conditions as much as it can have healing effects.

Good luck
 
Vet and antibiotics!!!!

In future - Muddy marvel descab dissolves scabs so you don't need to cause pain by picking them. then hibiscrub wash, dry thoroughly (overnight indoors). Then cover with a barrier cream for mud fever and keep applying.
 
Stop washing, smother with Sudocreme every day and leave alone.
Constant washing only weakens the skin and allows the bacteria in.
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Get the vet out pronto. And stop washing the legs, that just continues to compromise them and will prolong the issue.
 
If he was mine the vet would be out to look at that leg. You never know he could get some antibiotics or something.

Other than that stop washing the legs. I never wash my horses legs I leave to dry and brush mud off.
Smother in something like sudocrem and leave well alone.
I also like the leg shield poweders you can get for mud fever prone horses (or baby oil works just as well as a way of keeping mud off, but you will have to wait until its healed)

I would also keep him in until it starts to clear as getting it wet and muddy will only make it worse.
 
Don't wash it!, unless it's really necessary too!, mud fever is caused by WET mud, so if you use water it gets it wet.
It let's all the germs in ect ect, his body will sort it, but just put lots and lots of Vaseline on it, so It doesn't let in mud
 
Mud Fever is easy to get rid off if you treat the initial cause of the problem - a fungal infection. Bacterial comes later.

Wash with Nizerol - you can buy it from the chemist in UK - it is a human shampoo.

Dilute with hand hot water and using a face cloth lather up well over affected area and beyond. Being fungal it spreads outwards by ejecting spores.

If scabs are forcibly picked off or the horse manages to rub or nibble them off then their is a risk that a bacterial infection will develop.

The scabs you get with mudfever are not true scabs - they are exuded lymph that has come throough the skin surface - notice that they are yellow - not blood stained. As they are very sticky they trap hair in them so when you try to remove these scabs you actually pull hair out by its roots, you get blood and a cross horse.

Looking at your pics you will more than likely have great success with Nizerol. They don't yet look like they have a bacterial infection in them yet.
 
moodymare123 said:
Don't wash it!, unless it's really necessary too!, mud fever is caused by WET mud, so if you use water it gets it wet.
It let's all the germs in ect ect, his body will sort it, but just put lots and lots of Vaseline on it, so It doesn't let in mud
Click to expand...

Moody - mud fever is not caused by wet mud - it is caused by a fungus. See my post above
 
It wont get better as its not being left alone. I never wash legs in the winter and if I ever see mud fever I leave well alone.
It needs to be left to scab up and then the skin can repair its self.
Try that and see what it looks like in a weeks time.
 
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