Eeek, Help, Mites?????

[Caritas]

My horse has been rubbing his heel on the wall of his stable so bad that he has torn it quite badly so that he cannot be turned out or ridden on a surface. It bleeds quite badly and I have treated it and covered it up over night. i have notices a few small bites and i do mean only a few on his pastern at the back and was wondering if he had mites!! Now what I would like to know is, people who have had horses with mites, how many different mites do or can they get? Are they all treated with the same medication? How long do they take to go once treated and how long before he will stop itching? If you guys have used frontline did you use the spray or spot on, and how much and where did you apply it? What other treatments have people use? Do you think that this is the problem I have? Many thanks

 

[Guinness]

its probably best to get the vet out and do a skin scraping, then they will be able to tell you if its mites and what type of mites they are. if its mites then i would use frontline-the spray not the spot on. im assuming its the horse in the photo? as hes not got feathers then i think just put enough on to wet the skin (i think it might actually have guidelines on the bottle) its harder with feathered horses to get the frontline onto the actual skin! if the front line doesnt work there is an ivermectin based injection (which i think is used as a cattle wormer) than can be used, but i would talk to your vet about it first.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

I have a hairy boy who suddenly picked up mites in his feathers. Sprayed with Frontline but no dramatic improvement, possibly as so hairy! Vet came out and gave 2 injections 10 days apart (life cycle of the mites) and he is fine now (horse, not vet!). If your horsey-o has badly scraped his itchy heels, he might welcome a hibiscrb wash of the sore bits while the vet gets rid of the mites. Good luck!

 

[Kat1e]

Dectomex/dectomax (sp?) injection from my vets 3 times at 10 day intervals cleared them up for my mare.

 

[Guinness]

just wanted to add, prob not best to put frontline on sore bits-maybe the injection would be best?

 

[Theresa_F]

If you want to receive a long PM about mites and prevention, PM me and I will send it to you.

 

[dunthing]

My highland had leg mites earlier this year. One injection of Dectomax on clipped legs got rid of them.

 

[Harlequin_Ro]

There's no point getting a skin scrap done the liklenes of the vet getting a bit of skin that the mite is just so happening to be on is very slim. Is he on straw? If so I'd move him onto shavings. Do you have a sick paddock that you can turn him out into 24/7 because if you are on shavings the mites can stay in there for up to 21 days. And if you treat the horse and not get rid of the bed you're just wasting your time. I clipped the feathers of my mare had the injection at a 7 day iterval twise and frontlined every week for a month. Frontline might not be an idea if the horse's skin is inflammed and keeping horse in would just lead to further rubbing and out he'd be more occupied. You have to treat it from both angles; inside out by the injection and then outside in by the frontline. I use frontline spot on every 6 weeks as a prevention. Also if you have other horses on your yard with mites and thats prob where he's gotten them from. Again there's no point treating your boy and the others not bothering as you'll just get them again. They can live in grass too. HTH