Mites or Mud fever

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Cobalt

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About three weeks ago my piebald cob developed very itchy legs particularly behind the knees. He was stamping and rubbing his nose around the site, so I treated this as mites using hibiscrub, sudocrem and Nettex Equine Feather Mite Powder. This seemed to clear it up and he stopped stamping.

I noticed yesterday is was a bit scabby behind his knee so I cleaned it with hibiscrub and put some sudocrem on. This was obviously painful as he kicked out and tried to nip me. I'm thinking now of shaving his legs so I can see what's wrong and treat accordingly. Obviously difficult as he doesn't want me around his front legs at all. I'm wondering if there is anything I can apply to his legs that numb the soreness, so I can get on and clean them up.

Any ideas?
 
Shampooing with selenium sulphide based shampoo (such as Selsun) helps. You need almost a whole pot used on the four legs (knees to hooves) - leave on for 5/10 mins before rinsing. It helps with mites and mallenders. I used it on my cob, once every two weeks for a while when he was suffering.

If it is mites, which is highly likely I'm not sure that the options you're using will rid them totally. You could always try frontline spray, which again I've had success with.
 
Mine had mites on arrival. Nettex powder didn't really work for us but frontline spray seems to be doing the trick. She also has a mallender behind one knee and I've read that Bepanthen (nappy rash cream) works well to clear these up.
 
Thanks. In fact I did use Frontline at the start of these troubles (using the pipette) with success. I've never heard of Mallenders so I'm off to check it out. Thank you for your replies.
 
Cobalt said:
Thanks. In fact I did use Frontline at the start of these troubles (using the pipette) with success. I've never heard of Mallenders so I'm off to check it out. Thank you for your replies.
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I think the frontline spray works best, but you'll need to get it via the vet :( Whatever treatments you use, they needed to be repeated at the start to break the breeding cycle of the mite. It's usually suggested to spray all four legs...knee to hoof and repeat 10-14 days later. I found it hard to know how many sprays for each leg, but ended up find that 8-10 sprays, well rubbed in with rubber gloves works well.
 
Welshboy said:
I think the frontline spray works best, but you'll need to get it via the vet :( Whatever treatments you use, they needed to be repeated at the start to break the breeding cycle of the mite. It's usually suggested to spray all four legs...knee to hoof and repeat 10-14 days later. I found it hard to know how many sprays for each leg, but ended up find that 8-10 sprays, well rubbed in with rubber gloves works well.
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For what it's worth, any treatment containing fipronil (the active ingredient in frontline spray) should be effective against feather mite. Apparently, a pipette containing fipronil for medium sized dogs, applied around the skin of each pastern works well and fipronil pipettes are available from several manufacturers without prescription. Although I used the spray for our first round, I'm switching to pipettes for the second ��.
 
Orca said:
For what it's worth, any treatment containing fipronil (the active ingredient in frontline spray) should be effective against feather mite. Apparently, a pipette containing fipronil for medium sized dogs, applied around the skin of each pastern works well and fipronil pipettes are available from several manufacturers without prescription. Although I used the spray for our first round, I'm switching to pipettes for the second ��.
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Yes that's what I used, the pipette for medium sized dogs. I prefer it as it can used on a direct location rather than spraying it and going everywhere.

I've done a search and almost sure his condition is Mallenders. There's some shampoo and spray called "Ruggle it" which keeps cropping up and I'm looking into it.

His condition isn't as bad as some of the photos I've seen, but I don't want it to get any worse.
 
Orca said:
For what it's worth, any treatment containing fipronil (the active ingredient in frontline spray) should be effective against feather mite. Apparently, a pipette containing fipronil for medium sized dogs, applied around the skin of each pastern works well and fipronil pipettes are available from several manufacturers without prescription. Although I used the spray for our first round, I'm switching to pipettes for the second ��.
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I might give him ago next time �� do you repeat with a secon dose ?
 
Cobalt said:
Yes that's what I used, the pipette for medium sized dogs. I prefer it as it can used on a direct location rather than spraying it and going everywhere.

I've done a search and almost sure his condition is Mallenders. There's some shampoo and spray called "Ruggle it" which keeps cropping up and I'm looking into it.

His condition isn't as bad as some of the photos I've seen, but I don't want it to get any worse.
Click to expand...

Let us know how it goes! We'll have to compare notes ��

Welshboy said:
I might give him ago next time �� do you repeat with a secon dose ?
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The clinical evidence I read suggested two treatments at a 14 day interval as you said earlier but the anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that one treatment with fipronil pipettes does the trick. Orca was horribly uncomfortable with them when she arrived, so I'm doing two just to make sure!
 
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