Feather mites and scabby knees!

[allthatjazz]

Hi guys

After some advice. My horse has feather mites and I've opted to treat him with Frontline. Has anyone had any success with this? Do you need to reapply after a certain period for maximum effect?

He also has hard white scabs behind his knees. These scabs arent bloody or yellowy from pus, its just hard white scabs! But there are some deep ruts in the scabs too. So far I have been treating with aqueos and pulling the scabs off when they have softened but does anyone know what they are (dont think its mud fever or anything like that) and does anyone have any advice on how to treat? As I say, aqueos does get rid of them and does soften the skin but the damn things always come back!

Many thanks in advance

 

[hayley.t]

My horse suffers with feather mites and I have tried most treatments at one point or another, however haven't used frontline pipettes so can't really help with that, I have used the frontline spray but found that it only lasted about a week. I have been using products containing permethrin this summer and have had some success also you could try the ivermectin wash which Derek Knottenbelt (sp?) at Leahurst has been working on. Let me know if the frontline pipettes work please.With regards to the scabs it sounds like a build up of sebum-ie stuff I think, mine also gets this sometimes. I believe it can be caused by the skin in response to allergy/ irritation. I used a shampoo with something in that the name of escapes me (sorry I am really not being helpful) but I think it was recommended on another post on here, it is found in human medicated/ dandruff shampoo, I used voseen or the cheap version from wilkos.Hope you can make sense of my ramblings...

 

[CazD]

Scabs at the back of the knees = mallenders. Very common in cobs - and a complete pain. Try searching on here for it. There are loads of threads.

 

[FairyLights]

Have you consulted your vet? I find clipping away the feathers helps a lot in eradicating mites, you can at least treat topically more easily.

 

[sheilhs]

I use pig oil and sulphur on my coloured cob's legs - works a treat and keeps the feather in lovely condition. For shampoo I use head and shoulders - recommended by a vet, as it removes the dandruff that hides the mites. For the back of the knees as well as the pig oil and sulphur mix I sometimes use sudocreme again suggested by the vet. Hope this helps.

 

[CazD]

I use pig oil and sulphur on my coloured cob's legs - works a treat and keeps the feather in lovely condition. For shampoo I use head and shoulders - recommended by a vet, as it removes the dandruff that hides the mites. For the back of the knees as well as the pig oil and sulphur mix I sometimes use sudocreme again suggested by the vet. Hope this helps.

I used pig oil and sulphur on the backs of our cob's knees. Worked well to start with but eventually she became reluctant to allow me to apply it and the dryness spread from just the back of her knees down her legs. I now clip her lower legs and apply emulsifying cream which seems to be working well. Sudocreme didn't help - nor did the million other lotions and potions I tried LOL.

 

[suestowford]

I wonder if your cob was allergic to pig oil or sulphur cazD? Some are.

I think I've used almost every mite treatment there is (except Dectomax as our vet won't give that). This year I've been using pig oil & sulphur & it's worked a treat. Before that I've used a dog shampoo that I got from the vet, which worked short term. I tried Frontline, I used the spray but that is no good unless you clip off all the feathers as otherwise it's almost impossible to get it down to the skin.

But everything is only temporary, if your horse is prone to mites you have to keep on treating them. At least with pig oil & sulphur mine likes the treatment, he goes into a sort of trance while I'm rubbing the stuff in. And it's cheaper than anything else I tried.

 

[CazD]

I assume she did develop an allergy to the pig oil as it was OK for a year and then started to upset her. She did have the Dectomax injections to start with, but mallenders isn't caused by mites so it didn't make any difference. She'll never be free of the mallenders, its just a case of keeping it at bay as much as possible.