Flies and sheaths

[Shavings]

So I pretty much leave chances sheath alone, the vet cleans it once a year in April when he does booster injections for me.

however 2 days ago I noticed Chance cow kicking quiet a bit , popped in my under for a look and there was a lot of flies and some crusty looking scabs, gave it a rinse and most of the scabs slide of, applied some cream (sudoceam type but not that as the lavender doesn’t agree with him)

today this is what I have, it’s clearly annoying him as he has cut quite high up on his leg and has a swelling on his belly where trying to kick the flies away, he is only out at night, goes out at 8pm ish and is in at 6am as he burns and ideally I don’t want him in 24 hours a day as he did box rest in February and March for ligament damage!
He is weeing just fine

so what would you do??

 

[HappyHollyDays]

It almost looks like rainscald.

 

[Gloi]

Battles yellow fly cream

 

[Shavings]

It almost looks like rainscald.

Kinda but problem it is hasn’t rained here in 3 almost 4 weeks and this is 3 days old

Battles yellow fly cream

Oh that is positive to hear as I ordered it last night! Thank you

 

[Sossigpoker]

Kinda but problem it is hasn’t rained here in 3 almost 4 weeks and this is 3 days old



Oh that is positive to hear as I ordered it last night! Thank you

The yellow cream will be the best for this job.

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

Mine gets very bother by flys round his sheath, I tried putting sudocrem on but he objected to that and it seemed to come off fairly quickly anyway so I put a thick layer of filtabac on instead, it seemed to work and it stayed on for a couple of days.
I keep wanting to try battles yellow fly cream, does it stain a lot? I keep hesitating because I know I would end up getting it all over myself as well and then have to sit at work all day with yellow patches.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Rainscald isn’t caused by rain, it’s caused by a bacteria and in this heat and humidity it will take take hold quickly. Try washing in Malaseb shampoo and leave to dry. Slathering it in cream can make it worse.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

I've been finding the battles yellow cream is just being sweated off in this weather so was having to put sudocrem on to soothe the bites. No they've healed I've been using Nettex or the Phaser gel which has been working well - I didnt put it on when there was bits as I'd imagine it would sting. Also, one of mine has to have his sheath cleaned almost weekly at the moment, if it gets gunky it attracts them too regardless of what I put around it - so maybe worth doing that too.

 

[Auslander]

Rainscald isn’t caused by rain, it’s caused by a bacteria and in this heat and humidity it will take take hold quickly. Try washing in Malaseb shampoo and leave to dry. Slathering it in cream can make it worse.

It's not rainscald - it's fly bites from the little black bitey ones. Alf gets like this if I don't keep the area liberally plastered with something greasy - vaseline will do at a push, but filtabac is my go-to, with a layer of summer fly cream over the top. I also use Absorbine fly repellent which seems to put the little buggers off

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I keep wanting to try battles yellow fly cream, does it stain a lot? I keep hesitating because I know I would end up getting it all over myself as well and then have to sit at work all day with yellow patches.

It does stain.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Anything you try please patch test first. I used some cream on my boy last year fir keeping flies off his sheath area, didn't patch test as was desperately and he ended up with huge weeping sores under his tummy where the cream had been.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Anything you try please patch test first. I used some cream on my boy last year fir keeping flies off his sheath area, didn't patch test as was desperately and he ended up with huge weeping sores under his tummy where the cream had been.

This is good advice. It's one of the reasons that I have stuck with the yellow fly cream despite the fact that it does stain. My gelding has sensitive skin and this one I know is fine for him. It is designed to go on open wounds (and I first used it for that purpose on my grey and it was brilliant at keeping the flies off her wounds) and although I've never had a horse react to it, it's probably still wise to check when using it on a new horse.

 

[alexomahony]

My gelding gets terribly bitten on his sheath - I smother it in sudocream a few times a week which he loves and it keeps flies off.

we use Deosect for fly repellent and that’s doing a super job

 

[Shavings]

Just want to say thank you everyone for the advice

have been cleaning daily with warm salty watered water, pat try with towel (gets washed daily) so the scabs soften and come off, apply a whole lot of purple spray (he is currently being called smurf as his whole back end is purple as he swishes his tail at the spray) then applying the battles yellow cream on top and well I personally think it looks a whole lot better, the swelling is pretty much all gone, it’s not burning not, still warm but more I’m hot from the weather warm (if that makes sense)