Horse skin problems vet is puzzled

cptrayes

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I share the concern about sudocrem. I have had two horses who were severely allergic/responsive to it, who produced masses of serum when put on an open sore. It was great for getting scabs off, because the amount of water the wound produced pushed them off in no time.
 

Shellinch

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Hi guys got some more picked to add in a min

Sudocreme has been amazing and keeps the wounds lovely and supple and clean although someone pointed out that cornercresine or however you spell it can burn skin especially white so I'm going to lay off that as only been using it once a week anyway.

Iv asked the vet to said liver test and which he has but he said there is no point as liver would show up more serious implications by now such as jaundice or other health related issues. Liver problems will develope quickly and get worse quickly and since this has been the same for months I shouldn't worry with liver.

also carrots and apples has only been fed to her since last a month or 2 regularly and the skin has been improving last 2 weeks with the washing regualrly so I don't think it's that but thanks anyway
 

Shellinch

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Just an update. Had blood test results and she had high enzymes?

Am a little confused as vet was foreign so couldn't really understand him as my main vet was on leave. He said to re test her bloody in 3 weeks.

I'm really worried now

Can anyone explain what this can mean?
 

Miss L Toe

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Just an update. Had blood test results and she had high enzymes?

Am a little confused as vet was foreign so couldn't really understand him as my main vet was on leave. He said to re test her bloody in 3 weeks.

I'm really worried now

Can anyone explain what this can mean?
I would phone up the vet practice and ask for a written report, not just the results, if you can't understand the locum vet, ask for your vet practice to send results and all your stuff to another practice, it is high time this was all done and dusted.
 

Shellinch

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Just adding some picies

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Tnavas

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Something you can try is washing her with Nizoral very thoroughly making sure you work it well into every inch of her. Also wash any rugs and brushes she comes in contact with.

What are you feeding her when stabled - if you are feeding processed feeds change to a very basic feed such as oats, chaff and sugarbeet. Some horses are allergic to all the stuff that goes into the processed feeds.

The skin swabs may have come back clean of bacteria and fungus if you had bathed the horse a few days prior to the swabs being taken.

Nizoral can be bought from a chemist and is best diluted with hand hot water - it gets down to the skin more easily.
 

Queenbee

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Someone on here.... Can't remember who... Had something similar which was an auto immune disorder. If I were you I'd be looking to cut out all current feed, replace with fast fibre, add haemavite b + for a boost and b vitamins, and keep the oil going. Perhaps add aloe juice for healing properties and milk thistle incase the liver is under functioning. Just because liver Is compromised doesn't mean horse would be jaundice, it may not be that bad and milk thistle won't damage. I'd also ask for them to contact Liverpool vets for ideas... They will have a far better database of knowledge msm also promotes healing... Perhaps worth supplementing with this too, it seems that for now all you can do is treat the symptoms and try and feed your horse to boost immunity and healing until you find the cause. I would probably be pushing my vets by now to get a second opinion.
 

ester

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I would suggest that the blood test showed that the liver enzymes are high ie, she has liver damage which is resulting in photosensitivity, particularly as most of the problem areas appear to be on her white bits (they tend to be more prone iirc) (and they do look like photosensitivity I have seen previously).

however, it is odd that this first occurred when you brought her in for the winter.. ie presumably not exposed to much sunlight at all, it has perhaps made her more sensitive to other things not just light.

I would speak to your vet asap and get the current plan of action, it may be wise to give her some sort of liver support (various tonics are available I think)
 

magicsmum

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My daughters horse has recently been diagnosed with a staphyloccous infection which looked very similar to this.Will keep this as short as possible as its long story. It originally started back in March, treated with antibs, then in May she was behaving very stangely, was treated with steriod injection and large does of piriton, then beginning of June what appeared to be huge fly bites appreared, was treated with more steriod injections and cream. I then wasnt happy as it got alot worse (huge swellings and hundreds of scabs). After several vet visits, I got origanl vet out who was horriefied it hadnt been tested to see what it was, as soon as he saw it recognised it as a staphyloccous infection which was now deep in the skin and not ust the follicles as was in march. She was given a massive dose of antibiotic that night and for the next 7 days I had to inject her with Cobactan. Its now looking alot better and hoping when vet comes out Monday .

Some of the patches on your horse look very similar to those our horse had. It was originally thought she had some sort of allergy but now our vet reckons it never completely cleared up in the beginning. Hope you can soon find out whats wrong.
 

ester

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The micro in me suggests that if there is a bacterial infection and the swabs didn't pick it up because of the washes used then the washes should be working (ie if this inhibited when trying to grow it in the lab it should really be doing the same on the horse) as nothing was detected (and staph is v easy to grow) I think infection is unlikely.
 

Shellinch

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My daughters horse has recently been diagnosed with a staphyloccous infection which looked very similar to this.Will keep this as short as possible as its long story. It originally started back in March, treated with antibs, then in May she was behaving very stangely, was treated with steriod injection and large does of piriton, then beginning of June what appeared to be huge fly bites appreared, was treated with more steriod injections and cream. I then wasnt happy as it got alot worse (huge swellings and hundreds of scabs). After several vet visits, I got origanl vet out who was horriefied it hadnt been tested to see what it was, as soon as he saw it recognised it as a staphyloccous infection which was now deep in the skin and not ust the follicles as was in march. She was given a massive dose of antibiotic that night and for the next 7 days I had to inject her with Cobactan. Its now looking alot better and hoping when vet comes out Monday .

Some of the patches on your horse look very similar to those our horse had. It was originally thought she had some sort of allergy but now our vet reckons it never completely cleared up in the beginning. Hope you can soon find out whats wrong.

Hi than you for your post. You say fly bites? Last year beginning of winter when we bought her in she had along her top line of her neck 2 giant swollen lumps which went up and down we thought they were allergy as they would swell and go down but literally would swell to size of golf ball at times. I then read about threadworms and ivermectin can help so we treated her with that but nothing really changed. Then this year both lumps from where she had been rubbing them burst.

Is that similar to what your horse had? Il try dig out some pictures if I can but not sure if I have any.
 

magicsmum

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hi. The swellings our horse had were golf sized when we first found them and grew to the size of a large hand, were very painful for her, she wouldnt let anyone anywhere near her back, had to be sedated for vet to examine it. Our vet told me that they could of possibly been fly bites but as the infection was so severe he is pretty sure it wasnt, the steriods didnt have much effect for long, the infection had been there all along and this was what caused the strange behaviour, we were rang one night to say she had colic but after friend removed rug she carried on eating, obviously wasnt colic but no way would she wear a rug for a few weeks, vet at this point thought it could have been a pollen allergy so we replaced all rugs which she would then wear ok.. When they first came up they were like golf balls and seemed to have a head on them. When one of the scab came off it left a huge hole, is very hard to discribe, wish i had taken photos of it as it progressed.

Hope you can get to bottom of whats up with your horse, our vet told me skin problems can often be very hard to get to botom of problem and are usually very expensive, so be prepared for a long recovery.
 

muff747

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When they first came up they were like golf balls and seemed to have a head on them. When one of the scab came off it left a huge hole, is very hard to discribe, wish i had taken photos of it as it progressed.

Just been searching for skin problems and came across your post - this description sounds just like bot flies emerging to me. Years ago my pony got a lump like you described, which ended up with a hole in the top - vet said it was a bot fly. They migrate through from the intestines and emerge thro the skin - eugh:eek:
 

Shellinch

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Hi guys so sorry for the long reply to this thread but only just had results back from vet for allergies as we have let her graze for 2 months and re did her bloods yesterday.

It turns out she is allergic to soya and rye so that means I cannot feed her well anything really lol just have to make up her feeds from scratch but at least carrots and apples are ok so she is happy mare lol

So just waiting for blood results to come back to see if her liver enzymes are still high :)

Thank you everyone for your posts!

It turns out her large swellings were down to allergy from me feeding her which makes me feel awful as it was down to me :-( but now we know :)

Will update you soon as I get results
 

hoggedmane

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Glad to hear you got to the bottom of it - Have you looked at simple systems feeds? If you email the company they are very good at giving feeding advice too.
 

popularfurball

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I have a pony with pemphigus (and multiple allergies also) and find global herbs Skratch plus really helpful.

For feeds I often just feed supplements in micronised linseed as she likes the taste and is anti inflammatory. Otherwise i use halleys Timothy chop as it is just chopped hay - no oil or mollasses or binders etc thrown in
 
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