Newly diagnosed liver disease & mud fever

olop

olop

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My boy was recently diagnosed with liver disease on a background of mud fever that he has never had before.

Vet is currently treating the liver disease & wants that to calm down before we treat the mud fever but it's driving me (& the boy!!) mad!!

I'm not even sure that it is mud fever, he has scabs but they are bleeding & itchy. He has had them now for 2 months :( everything I have tried is not working. I've lathered him in sudocream, tried muddy marvel, tea tree oil & e45 to no avail & each day there are more & more scabs and his back legs are swollen :(. He is not beings turned out at the moment, he goes in a very dry paddock for an hour each day & I walk him in hand for half hour each day.

As I say he is on antibiotics for liver disease & vet says she cannot treat the mud fever with anything else until the liver disease has gone.

Is mud fever itchy and does it bleed on its own?? I'm talking trickles of blood all around his pasterns & this is everyday. When I'm rubbing the cream in its clearly very soothing to him but I'm not actually sure it's even mud fever now (vet thinks it is!)

It is also only on the hind legs, fronts not affected at all. The swelling goes down once he is walked in hand but every morning they are swollen again.

Any ideas?!
 
olop said:
My boy was recently diagnosed with liver disease on a background of mud fever that he has never had before.

Vet is currently treating the liver disease & wants that to calm down before we treat the mud fever but it's driving me (& the boy!!) mad!!

I'm not even sure that it is mud fever, he has scabs but they are bleeding & itchy. He has had them now for 2 months :( everything I have tried is not working. I've lathered him in sudocream, tried muddy marvel, tea tree oil & e45 to no avail & each day there are more & more scabs and his back legs are swollen :(. He is not beings turned out at the moment, he goes in a very dry paddock for an hour each day & I walk him in hand for half hour each day.

As I say he is on antibiotics for liver disease & vet says she cannot treat the mud fever with anything else until the liver disease has gone.

Is mud fever itchy and does it bleed on its own?? I'm talking trickles of blood all around his pasterns & this is everyday. When I'm rubbing the cream in its clearly very soothing to him but I'm not actually sure it's even mud fever now (vet thinks it is!)

It is also only on the hind legs, fronts not affected at all. The swelling goes down once he is walked in hand but every morning they are swollen again.

Any ideas?!
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Betnovate steroid cream worked on my horses scabs, eventually, took three weeks twice a day. She only had one scab on each leg (pastern) though which she had had for months before I tried the betnovate, hers were due to an immune mediated reaction to doxycycline. She did have them on all four legs to start with but the fronts healed and it was her hind legs that took months.
It does not sound like your horse has mud fever, I was told that first time round with my horse. It is probably something to do with the liver disease. Are his legs white?
 
Is your horse a cob? If so, and his legs are itchy, it could be mites or Chronic Progressive Lymphedema (CPL)? Has the vet taken a skin scraping? If he's got blood running down his legs it might be that he's scratching his legs (I've known horses - usually hairies - rub their back legs together or bite at them whilst lying down to get the itches) and knocking the scabs off which makes them bleed.
Skin disease can be caused by liver dysfunction, but I'm not sure why a vet would prescribe antibiotics for liver disease? Unless she's prescribed them for the mud fever? Get some Milk Thistle Seed, it's the best thing for liver issues.
 
My mare was diagnosed with liver disease nearly 8 years ago and as a side affect of this has photo sensitivity. If your boy has pink skin this could be the problem. My girly gets it on her nose. I use Ozvet sun off its expensive but worth every penny. It might be worth a try.
 
I would be thinking about light [not tight] gauze bandaging at least for a few hours per day, agree a skin scrape essential. I always recommend 100gms micronised linseed and full minerals in diet for skin.
Id try phoning Saracen feeds for their advice in diet for liver disease, did vet mention diet?
Is it possible to get more turnout, I found two days stabling would stabilise mud fever, so am not sure about this at all.
When my foal had mites she danced with her feet, no scabs, it was mild infection
 
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Glad you mentioned leukocytoclastic vasculitis as forgot about that when I replied earlier. We've got a welsh B that got that a few years ago and it looks just like mud fever. We had never heard of it. The way to treat it is cover the area with cream sudocream or such like it doesn't really matter and then use turnout boots or stable boots or just bandages and this cooks the legs and kills the bacteria. Yes I know it sounds strange but it works.
 
Thanks for all your replies.

Biopsy confirmed the liver disease is present due to infection so that is why he is on antibiotics for it.

He is a cob but not an overly hairy one (very light feathering) and he is white on all four legs but only hind legs are affected.

Have mentioned skin scrapes to vet but she wants to knock the liver disease on the head in case it's that causing the mud fever (or whatever it is!)

Turnout isn't an option at the moment as the fields are just mud bogs and I'm sure it would agrivate it more :(

Eta he is already on milk thistle and has had a diet change but this was going on long before changes to his diet were made.
 
Standing in won't be helping his circulation, which in turn won't help the skin condition, is there any hard standing like a yard or barn he can be put in? Or an arena, just so he gets a bit more turnout time?
I'd also remove all supplements for the time being (apart from milk thistle) and processed feeds (obv keep on antibiotics for course if that's what vet recommends), and just feed hay, preferably organic/unsprayed meadow hay if you can get it. That way you're eliminating as many possible toxins and strains on his system, hopefully allowing the liver to recover.
Keep applying cream to the skin if it helps - a good one I've found is Hypercal cream (calendula and hypericum), it's very soothing and a good allround healing cream.
 
My Welsh cob mare had a liver problem a few years ago at this time of year and had to be hospitalised for two weeks, then months of convalescence and daily drugs . She also had had mud fever like problems for months. Once the liver disease was successfully treated the 'mud fever' healed up and went away. It has not been back since. I hope that helps you cope.
 
Bonkers2 said:
If you cant ride him etc can't you just send him away to a better yard, a retirement type place?
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Thanks for your helpful reply!

Borderreiver said:
My Welsh cob mare had a liver problem a few years ago at this time of year and had to be hospitalised for two weeks, then months of convalescence and daily drugs . She also had had mud fever like problems for months. Once the liver disease was successfully treated the 'mud fever' healed up and went away. It has not been back since. I hope that helps you cope.
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Thank you, I'm hoping they will disappear once the liver condition clears up, that's really reassuring :) :)
 
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