Feather mites experiences please....

Devonshire dumpling

Devonshire dumpling

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 March 2011
Messages
3,795
Visit site
Freddie has done a fantastic job of trimming his feathers back, my husband is very impressed, looks like they have been clipped! My dear friend Katherine from here, had a look and said yep defo mites and she used Frontline... have just finished my frontline up and don't really want to buy a new bottle presently, she says this works very well on the mites....

But does anyone use anything else and had fantastic results?? Cheers.
 
once you've applied it, dust sticks to it, but if you look under the feather, close to the skin, the hair is pure white still - a sign that the stuff is doing it's job. You don't wash the legs at all, the mud just brushes off when it has dried, and doesn't go near the skin.

at first it's messy, but I soon got used to it, and now he's fully oiled up in 15 minutes, including his mane and tail :)
 
he has done a great job on trimming his feathers lol, they are perfectly short and even... very impressed buy his hairdressing skills! Have you sourced it cheap somewhere? and does it get rid of existing mites or just prevents?
 
If you go to shireoil.com you'll find oils and creams for feather mite and sweet itch.

If you go with the Dectomax shots from the vet, you want to give 3 jabs, 10 days apart.

The oils don't kill the mites. It just makes it difficult for the mites to establish. You could try Diatomaceous Earth, which is a powder that kills the mites by desiccating them. It is not a chemical, but works by mechanical action.

Hope this helps.
 
Sulphur is strong so you need to apply pig oil on its own every other week,

You need frontline as an initial treatment and the injection from the vet.

Pig oil also adds moisture into the legs as the mites live off dead skin. Clipped legs are best to be honest as you need as close to the skin as possible.
 
Have spent four years trying pig oil etc then switched to Avon Skin so Soft and within 2 weeks, no mudfever (normally its constant) and blindingly white feathers. Also smells nice! Wash feathers, massage oil in, leave. Suffocates mites, feathers clean and amazing soon. My boy had a dectomax injection, only ever needed one, not a series of three.
 
The best thing I ever used for feather mites was a shot of dectomax - I've only ever used one shot at a time, it's not licensed for horses but is widely used for mites. It's related to the ivermectin family and is marketed as a wormer in cattle so has the added advantage of worming the horse at the same time :D
 
cinnamontoast said:
Have spent four years trying pig oil etc then switched to Avon Skin so Soft and within 2 weeks, no mudfever (normally its constant) and blindingly white feathers. Also smells nice! Wash feathers, massage oil in, leave. Suffocates mites, feathers clean and amazing soon. My boy had a dectomax injection, only ever needed one, not a series of three.
Click to expand...

I got loads of skin so soft out the stables! Will try that! Where do they pick them up from?
 
Devonshire dumpling said:
Is it really messy? he has white legs? xx
Click to expand...

Oooohhh, if he's got white legs (and probably pink skin with it) then do be careful. I used Pig Oil with Sulphur on my boy's legs and they came up VERY red and hot.

However, he's fine with Pig Oil if I mix in some Tea Tree lotion and/or Neem oil (anti-parasitical) - good stuff in the winter too coz mud/wet just slides off it.

My boy had feather mites badly recently - its a bad year I think. The vet prescribed the following: Eqvalan (ivermectin) wormer: three separate doses to be taken at fortnightly intervals.

There's an awful lot of complacence re. mites: its basically a form of chorioptic mange, so not to be messed with or ignored, and can drive horses absolutely crazy with the itching.
 
A recently purchased horse had/has mites. She was an itchy beastie all over when she arrived to the extend she knocked a stable off it's footings with her manic rubbing. She also had horrible scabby sores behind her knees and on the front of her hocks.

She has had 3 jabs at 10 days apart, serious bath sessions with her legs being done in Selsun. This stopped her itching really well. I also frontlined her legs regularly and I make sure she is washed of well after work, which is most days as she is being schooled and re-educated so is working quite hard.

She is a 6yr old clyde x ID and her legs were clipped when I had her but still had a good 3inch of the most dense hair I have ever seen. I clipped her out last week, getting down to the skin and her legs are in reasonable condition but it is obvious they have been very sore in the past, she has thickened folds of skin in the pastern area.

I have treated the sores on knees/hocks with Dermisol and much improvement is to be seen, but they are still there, with one knee sore still large and painful. Can anyone suggest anything else I can use to clear them up ? I have a gallon of pig/sulpher and a small bottle of Neem oil but I have been loath to use either on open sores. Many thanks, this is the first hairy job I have had.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top