Itchy foal

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ems_123

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Hi guys, just wondering if this is anything I should be concerned about.... I've had my 7 month old colt for just over a month now and noticed some dry scabby bald patches in between his back legs at the top last week which were very itchy ( he was lifting his leg up with top lip right out when I was touching the area absolutely loving it) but not sore or weeping etc at all. I washed with hibiscrub and put some aloe Vera on the area and left it but have noticed a few more small scabs appearing on his neck and back, I picked a few scabs and the hair just came off with scab and left a bald patch underneath, again he was very itchy in the area... What does this sound like to everyone? His coat is extremely extremely thick and he is wearing a lightweight rug so do you think it could just be because of his thick coat? Or does it sound like some sort of fungal infection? The vet is coming out on the 11th feb for his second lot of jabs so if its not cleared up I can ask them, I just wondered whether there was anything I could be using/ doing in the meantime so it doesn't get worse? It's going to be hard to bath in this weather as well...

Thanks in advance :)
 
My first guess would be lice - they seem to LOVE weanlings (and older horses who live out in a rug!) I'd take his rug off (foals with woolly coats don't need them and they just provide protection from the weather to lice.) If you have FAR better eyesight than I do, you might be able to spot the little bleeders - I never can and have to call one of my young members of staff with good eyesight! If it IS lice, Coopers Fly Repellent Plus is excellent!
 
Thankyou for replying! :) I'm not sure if it is lice, that was my first thought but ever since I've got him I always keep an eye out and have a good look through his coat everytime I groom and have never spotted any! He only seems to be itchy in the scabby areas as well, not all over...

The rug I've got on him has no fill, it's mainly to keep him dry as the weather has been so wet around here I don't want him getting rain scald... Speaking of which that has been another thought but the scabs have started in between his back legs and not sure that's the right area for that?!
 
I'd speak to the vet but I wouldn't be worried about giving mine one to make sure bugs were killed. Lice & mites can be very hard to spot and it doesn't take many to get them itching. If there are parts that look like a possible fungal infection a skin scraping taken when he is injected could be tested to confirm it. Don't be too worried though because hairy weanlings are often a bit itchy and scurfy and when he loses his coat in spring he'll likely be tons better.
 
don't know if this will help or not but will tell you of our experience.
I put a thread up on here a few weeks ago about my friend's mare who was extremely itchy. The vet came out 3 times and insisted it was lice, she was treated 3 times with liquid from the vet and just got worse and worse. The vet said liquid wasn't working due to her long coat so said she should be clipped right out and retreated. This was done and the poor mare became frantic within a couple of days, rolling and kicking at herself. Vet came again and took skin and hair samples. Another week of torture and they said she has a bacterial infection which has now spread across her body because of being clipped. She now has to be washed down everyday with hibiscrub and has 2 weeks worth of oral antibiotic. Someone on the thread said it could be bacterial and vets don't always pick up on it,
We think it started because she got too warm in her rug but the poor thing has been suffering for weeks as a result of the vet refusing to look further than lice :-(
 
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