Iodine for thrush

Vermeer

Vermeer

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Hi all,

Pony currently has thrush. She has been seen by the vet, who said I should scrub out her hooves with a nail brush and 10% iodine. Do I dilute it in water, or just spray it on as is? Anyone treated thrush with iodine before?

Thanks 😊
 
Vermeer said:
Hi all,

Pony currently has thrush. She has been seen by the vet, who said I should scrub out her hooves with a nail brush and 10% iodine. Do I dilute it in water, or just spray it on as is? Anyone treated thrush with iodine before?

Thanks 😊
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the important thing with thrush is cleanliness and constant cleaning. I have used iodine but I now find copper sulphate (in solution) to be the most effective way of dealing with. I would start with a copper sulphate soak, either in soaking boots if you have one or in a bucket probably for around 15 mins.
Then throughly clean the feet twice a day and scrub out with a hard brush and salt water. (or ordinary water)
use the hoof pick to clean right down to the bottom of the grooves and get the brush in to scrub them. Clean the central sulchus (the indentation at the back of the frog) with cotton wool poked in with your hoof pick. Get to the bottom until it is really clean and scrub that.
( I think a scrubbing brush better than a nail brush because the bristles will go further in)

I would then do a second soak after about 4 days and keep up the daily cleaning. Within a week you should see a lot of improvement.
 
I don't like iodine for thrush as it is very harsh. I prefer to use Teatree oil spray, which is both antibacterial and anti-fungal. Farrier once recommended Red Horse products (can't remember which), I ordered some with a 2 week lead time. By the time it had arrived, I had cleared the problem up completely with TTO.
 
My farrier tends to counsel that Iodine not the best thing you can use and actually I'm surprised to hear of vets still suggesting its use TBH; he has in the past recommended Copper Sulphate solution and/or asking for an Antibacterial (Turquoise) Spray (on prescription) from your vet.

Mine is barefoot, and as maintenance I use Milton's Steriliser (diluted) as a frog & foot spray as a preventive measure. There are also proprietory products which are good and well-recommended. And yes Tea Tree is good.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I don't like iodine for thrush as it is very harsh. I prefer to use Teatree oil spray, which is both antibacterial and anti-fungal. Farrier once recommended Red Horse products (can't remember which), I ordered some with a 2 week lead time. By the time it had arrived, I had cleared the problem up completely with TTO.
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The Swan antibac has tee tree and eucalyptus smells lovely
 
Apparently there's a shortage of iodine this year, price has shot up from our farm supplies. So I'd save your penny's and use dilute Milton in a spray bottle instead.
 
I only use iodine for thrush as a prevention and a cure .
if you have 10% I would add some water .
lt works really well and is extremely cost effective .
 
Thank you all for the great advice.

Not too sure about the iodine tbh. 30 quid at the feed store (!!!!!), needs to be diluted, potentially too harsh on hooves - I just want to scrub her hooves and then spray them with something simple and be done. I'm thinking maybe scrubbing with strong salt water, drying hooves off and then finishing off with either sole cleanse from red horse, tea tree, or swan/milton anti bac. If this isn't enough on its own, I will try soaking her hooves in copper sulphate.

Never dealt with thrush to this extent so v keen to get on top of it asap.

Thanks again 👍
 
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Ask your farrier to check the balance of the affected hooves. I struggled for years with low level thrush, and it wasn't until I changed to a barefoot trimmer who pointed out that old Dobbin wasn't weighting the back third of the hoof adequately, that I started to make some headway. Thrush is very painful, and often centres around the heels. Consequently, the horse is reluctant to weight the heel. I used boots and pads for the initial treatment phase, and we started a slow programme of taking the overgrown heel down. Once the frog was in contact with the ground and doing it's job properly, everything else fell into place.
 
Bellalily said:
I wouldn’t use iodine. My barefoot trimmer advised soaking in diluted Milton sterilising fluid twice a week for 10 mins each and that worked fine. As a prevention, apple cider vinegar sprayed on twice weekly worked perfectly.
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^^^ Yep exactly what I was advised by an EP too.
 
Mine has always got a bit of thrush in winter. He has very deep clefts (if that’s what they’re called??) down the side of his frogs. I’ve used Iodine in the past but this year I’ve used Hedgewitch Essentials Frog & Sole Saviour which has done the trick and I think is less harsh on the hoof.
 
@Boots*McGruber my pony has got deep clefts in her hooves too! & Always has a touch of thrush in winter but usually clears up, this year has been much worse than usual. Using red horse atm but will give your suggestion a try if I need to ☺️
 
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