First time mud fever..

[Chumsmum]

Looks like Toby has a spot of mud fever - small open cut in his heel about half an inch long, crusty around it, skin a bit red? Never had it before as far as I know. However electric fencing was down and dragged along a bit so he could have cut it on that but guessing best to treat as mud fever?

He lives out 24/7 in fairly muddy conditions (was like this last winter no problems) though does have an hardstanding area for a bit of relief. White legs and pink skin.. He is fairly hairy, I last trimmed up his feathers (not completely off, just to smarten him up) about November so feathers are about 2/3 inches long. They are caked with mud but still white at the roots. Only time legs are washed are when being bathed, which again was about November.

I've read about the million different ways to treat.., just trying to decide how to deal with it.

What would YOU recommend in his case?

Any replies gratefully received.

 

[ameeyal]

If its the only one cut/scab i would put some sudacream on it.

 

[Chumsmum]

Thanks for reply, that's what I've done

I think I've made myself paranoid reading up on mud fever lol, imagining it spreading up his leg cos I'm not treating it right. Will keep an eye on it and see if it clears up in next few days.

Thanks again for reply.

 

[louise8667]

I've found mixing purple spray with udder cream works brilliantly. Needs applying with gloves though lol!

 

[svallis83]

We used purple spray on one last year and it made it worse.... The vets always advise against it. I expect the udder cream acted as a barrier and kept the air out (mud fever thrives in damp environment and needs oxygen to survive), so that wouldnt do it any harm. My lad it when i got him 6 weeks ago and has so far had it on 3 of his for legs, each time i picked the scabs and i washed the area with malseb shampoo and left it on for 5 mins, then i rinsed it off and dried thouroughly after and applied a steroid cream (from my vets) it cleared up in 3 days everytime. I would suggest as yours is living out to keep an eye on it but do nothing to start with and make sure it is mud fever rather than just a cut healing. When its lower down the leg you do not want to interfere with his natural defence or you get into all sort of problems with infections etc.

If it doesnt show any improvement on its own in the next 24hrs I would make sure you keep the scabs off it and then wash it with anti bacterial shampoo and then disinfect it (sudocrem is brill unless your vet advises you otherwise as it can be a bit of a barrier too). The main thing is to keep the area as dry as you possibly can - kitchen roll works better than towels!

There are so many different ways to deal with it, mine works for me Good luck x

 

[malibooth]

Hibiscrub works wonders!

My thoroughbred was suffering really badly from mud fever when we bought him a few years back.
Every night, we washed off the mud and then scrubbed the area with hibiscrub mixed with warm water.
Make sure you dry it REALLY well before putting any cream or oil-based products on it, else it'll get worse.
Once dry, sudacrem is great.
The mudfever cleared up with a few weeks and we've never seen it since!
Click here for more details.

Buy Hibiscrub online, its FAR cheaper than getting it from your vet.

www.tipsandbits.com

 

[Rose Folly]

My mare's currently suffering from some form of dermatitis - apparently not mud fever itsel;. the lab reports confirm 3 different infections. I've been told NOT to pick the scabs off, as one of the infections is streptococcal. I have to wash her legs every day with a coal tar shampoo, and have cut (not clipped) her feathers off. She's also on antibiotics. She is recovering very slowly and is quite lame.

Really what I'm saying is be careful in your diagnosis - there are more things than just mud fever, which I think is a nice blanket name that covers all sorts.

With luck, your boy's sore bit may simply have been caused by the electric fence. Do hope so!

 

[doodleberry]

DERMOBIAN¬¬¬ but unfotunatley it has been banned probably because it worked!! i find just a good scrub with hibiscrub and drying off and then leave to let the air get to it if you can and if you have to turn out cover it up and then repeat the cleaning process i tend not to use too many creams as i like the air to get to it and find some of the creams a little gunky and they block the pores some things work on some horses some things dont if you cant cover the leg try mixing hibiscub with udder cream this is quite effective but needs to be something you can wash off easily when you do the cleaning bit !!