Fullers earth and mud fever

[CrazyCob]

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has used Fullers earth cream to treat mud fever.
I was using flamazine to treat my pony's mud feaver but I think his skin may be too sensitive for it as it made him incredibly itchy and caused his legs to swell even more than they had already.
At the moment I'm using sudocrem, but annother livery said it might be worth trying fullers earth on it as its compleetly natural and will also help to take the itch away. I had never heard of it so I did a google search and it seems to be used either to absorb mud and oil or treat nappy rash (which is similar to what sudocrem is used for and everyone was describing it as "magic cream").
I'd be interested to know if anyone had tryed using fullers earth for mud fever, and if so how would you rate it?
Thanks
Becca

 

[Mike007]

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has used Fullers earth cream to treat mud fever.
I was using flamazine to treat my pony's mud feaver but I think his skin may be too sensitive for it as it made him incredibly itchy and caused his legs to swell even more than they had already.
At the moment I'm using sudocrem, but annother livery said it might be worth trying fullers earth on it as its compleetly natural and will also help to take the itch away. I had never heard of it so I did a google search and it seems to be used either to absorb mud and oil or treat nappy rash (which is similar to what sudocrem is used for and everyone was describing it as "magic cream").
I'd be interested to know if anyone had tryed using fullers earth for mud fever, and if so how would you rate it?
Thanks
Becca

Fullers earth is strange stuff. It consists of incredibvly fine clay particles whose most obvious role is that of a charged partacle on an atomic scale ,and to imobilise counter charged ionic partcles . For this reason it is used in chemical warfare. I can see sod all use for it against mud fever.

 

[MozartK]

If Fullers earth, is as you say a charged particle and its role is to immobilise counter charged particles, then it could possibly work by attracting bacteria towards it and immobilising it. Mudfever is caused by bacteria and bacteria particles carry a charge.

Activated carbon works in a similar manner. It has a permanent electrostatic force due to the Van der Waals forces associated with the microporous structure. It is this force of attraction that leads to the adsorption of molecules for which activated carbons are famous. Activated carbon fabric is commonly used in military clothing and personal protective devices for protection against chemical warfare agents.

As it happens a company called Fabtek are launching a brand new product this year called the Mudtek Range. These are a range of stable boots, pastern wraps and bandage pads that are manufactured utilising activated carbon fabric technology with silver. These are antibacterial products that have been scientifically proven to show antibacterial action against the mud borne bacteria Dermatophilus congolensis. These products really work! They will be launched at the BETA Exhibition next month so we should see these products commercially available some time soon.

 

[fuffy]

The best cure I have found for very longstanding mudfever having tried all the usual treatments was just to bring my horses in at night, leave his legs alone entirely but in the morning rub off the dried mud and use zinc and castor oil cream to cover the whole infected area, he is a horse that has had to have anti b's before now as he got so bad.

 

[Tnavas]

Best treatment for mudfever is Nizeral shampoo. You can buy it from the chemist. Dilute with hand hot water and lather up well with a face cloth. Wash well beyond the affected area too. No need to rinse just allow to dry. Repeat each day - generally takes about a week to have the legs clean of scabs and further infection.

 

[herring]

Fullers Earth does work for some reason, also Flowers of sulphur powder works well too, with both of em you have to use it after descabbing legs & it helps dry up any remaining bacteria & help skin to heal. Feeding Brewers Yeast & Linseed will also be a great help to body to fight infection or even just a good broad spec vits & mins supplement. Mud fever often seems to occur when goodness has gone from grass & horses are in transitional nutrition status & also changing their coats so require sufficient additional vits & mins at a time when they are not naturally so present in restricted pasture: paying close attention to diet will help prevent reoccurrance, or at least minimize effects.