leukocytoclastic vasculitis Peeps! I need you! LV or Mud fever?!

Jim bob

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My horse has had LV for some time, since may 2015. Finally! After spending more then 4.5k on treatments that didn't work for my boy. Steroids didn't work for him as he didn't respond to them. He did for the first 2 months then after that he didn't and he was on a high amount.

Finally. After not touching them all this summer they really cleared up! It was literally his last chance. The vet said the only thing left to try is to not touch them and keep them out of sunlight ( spoke to the retired chap at Liverpool) I said but what if that doesn't work my vet said ' We don't like to talk about them cases':(

Thankfully his legs improved greatly and after it affected his full hind legs. By the end on the summer he just had a small amount around his heels and pasterns on both hinds and a small one of his left fore. I was hoping they would be gone by winter yet there still here sadly. Not bothering him though.
However the person who brings him in said they knock one and pulled a scab off and when they smelt it, it did smell. I am now debating whether he has mud fever. Though when pull the scabs, there quite dry and cracked( the actual scabs) You do get the paint brush effect, though. It certainly feels like mud fever but were he has it is exactly were the lv scabs are.
So I aren't sure if its the scabs from the LV that maybe have got infected? Or its just the LV scabs and it smells as its muddy and wet.. Or if its mud fever.
I think its LV though he does get mud fever in the winter. Last year he was ok if I brushed the mud off completely when it was dried but if I left it or slacked a little that's when he got mud fever. Though I have been brushing his legs every morning (I have only seen one other scab ( pea size) on just one of his legs) and he does go out in turnout boots on his hinds though the wet and mud still do get his legs a little.
Their so so similar and I aren't sure what it is. As if its just the LV I will leave alone and just keep it as clean and dry as possible yet if its mud fever then I need the scabs off...
 
The latest advice for mud fever is to let the scabs fall off naturally, so keep leaving the legs alone.

I really feel for you with the LV though. My boy had it and it really is hell. However his skin has been so, so much better since I also left his legs well alone, but also cut alfalfa from his diet and got the buttercups under control.
 
Interestingly we have a new horse on the yard who seems to have got a very severe couple of patches of mud fever quite high up his cannon bone, they appeared in the space of a few hours, despite us not having any mud. He came in with these sudden mud fever looking lesions on his white hind leg, despite his legs being completely dry and clean.

The next morning it seemed to have spread to an area about two inches above the initial area. Im convinced it's LV rather than mud fever, due to its positioning and how it appeared.
 
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Healing LV. This horse has been a nightmare with LV. Three summers running now. He is an older boy and cushinoid.

I treated it with Filta Bac and massive doses of Karidox. I am now holding my breath the skin does not break down again. I put a thin smear of sudocrem on as a water barrier. He lives out in his own paddocks and stays in his barn when it is wet and always puts himself to bed as it gets dark, but the door cannot be shut.

LV is a dreadful condition.
 
AA I would be very wary about putting sudocrem on him. It's not recommended for burns (despite what it says on the packaging) and LV is essentially sunburn due to photosensitization.
 
AA I would be very wary about putting sudocrem on him. It's not recommended for burns (despite what it says on the packaging) and LV is essentially sunburn due to photosensitization.

I know, the pictures were taken in September. There is no inflammation now so just need to achieve a water barrier. His treatment is vet led. I can recommend filta bac for raging LV through the summer months. It has really helped him.
 
I cant decide/ don't know if its mud fever or LV. My boys legs cleared up mostly this summer the only bits left was around his heels etc. But apparently the scab one of the girls took off smelt... I cant decide they both look very similar
 
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