Feather Mites Nightmare!!

[Fincher10]

Our boy was also very touchy around his legs, the previous owners had clipped him down to his knees and just given up because he wasn?t having any of it and left all the feather on. When we finally decided we needed to clip all the feather off to see what we were doing, we had a professional mobile clipper come out to do him, and although she was very calm and kind with him he just went into orbit, because there were sores and bleeding bits hidden in the feather which must have really hurt when being clipped over, he was so distressed, in the end she twitched him, my husband was holding onto the twitch, I was holding him too, and he still dragged both of us off our feet. It was really upsetting.

Still, although it looked a bit of a mess she managed to clip enough off so we could start the Seleen shampoo followed by front line treatment, and although the first few times I could only do it lightly, as the treatment worked he was in less discomfort, and he was getting more used to it, which meant I could really work the shampoo and front line into his legs really well, which again improved it no end.

Then my husband took an old electric shaver down every time we gave in his feed bucket in the field, and just turned it on so he got used to the noise, then touched it on him so he could feel the vibration, and gradually, each day over a few weeks progressed to moving it all down his legs.
Becuase he was in his field he didn't feel trapped, and although the first few times he moved away a bit, he accepted it really well.

Then we bought our own clippers (subject of a previous thread of mine!) and we clipped him no trouble at all. He was brilliant. The clippers we have also have a plastic guard (which you can take off), so that it wouldn't actually cut him if he still had any sores, and this has helped.

So the desensitising with the old electric shaver, combined with the fact that he genuinely isn't as sore (if at all) anymore, has meant we can treat him brilliantly now, and clip him happily now.

Hi HappyNeds

What was the regime you found to work in the end?

 

[Leo Walker]

After 7yrs the OP is unlikely to reply! In my case I found clipping the legs and a wood pellet bed sorted the problem. Once the feathers grew back I had to take a nuclear approach! Dectomax injections, frontline spray, neem oil and deosect. Even then it never quite cleared it and any let up and they came back.

 

[Ceriann]

My mare (cob with feather flares) has had mite issues since we moved to current house. It got steadily worse and the usual regime of washing and using frontline started to fail. She was very difficult to wash and even worse to spray. What has worked for the last 6 months is to wash (took me hours!) with the proper medicated head and shoulders shampoo (the one with selenium sulphide ) and then applying frontline but mixed into aqueous cream. She doesn’t bat an eyelid. 7-10 days later re apply the front line mixed into aqueous cream. Since doing this I’ve been able to re apply the cream and wash her feathers without issue. If you have problems washing the legs, I would suggest you try the aqueous cream with your choice of mite busting topical treatment. It’s water based so doesn’t clog up skin or feathers, leave a few days and then try washing.

Mine hasn’t had mite issues for 6 months now and she’s been stabled all winter.