Over producing grease

[jojoebony]

Wondered if anyone else had a similar problem and could offer advice.
My youngster started getting very greasey back legs about a month ago, from the canon bone up to his stifle with particular issues on the front of his hocks. The grease has caused scabbing.
It did get infected and he got cellulitus, this was treated (he's now on another course of antibiotics) and whilst the infection has cleared the grease production hasn't.
He's fed chaff, a little bit of sugarbeet and a youngstock supplement.
He's been washed in Malaseb once - this seemed to lessen the scabbing for a few days but then it's flared up again.
The vet has no idea what is causing it.
So far we haven't used any creams, etc as we're thinking that would worsen the condition.
Any one have any suggestions - would be greatly appreciated???

 

[fairhill]

What breed is your youngster?

 

[jojoebony]

FriesianXTBxTrak but he is not overly feathered and has a fairly fine coat. Also, it is all occuring above the feathered areas???

 

[fairhill]

Is he rubbing his hocks together to cause the scabbing?

Could be a lot of things causing it so I'd be tempted to frontline his legs just in case it is mites. Use a mild shampoo, such as a baby one from the supermarket to remove as much grease as you can, and dry them well.

Then use a soothing cream, such as sudocrem, zinc/castor oil or tea tree based lotion on the scabs.

If the skin is flaky then it could be too dry, so try theresa_f's pig oil and sulfur mix on them.

As he's had some problems with his skin in the past then you could also try a supplement especially for skin, such as equidermis, or feelgood 30 skin one.

 

[Theresa_F]

Try frontline and then use pig oil and sulphur - if you want the long PM I do about this for prevention of mites and also mud fever, PM me and I'll send you it.

 

[merlinsquest]

Probably on the wrong line here but is the grease deffo coming from the skin... saw a horse once that had terrible irritation to the fronts of his hind legs and it was caused by 'stuff' dribbling out of the sheath and sticking to the hair on his legs. EEEEWWWW

 

[jojoebony]

Well actually this started just after he was gelded. The wound became infected and was rather unpleasant and I had to wash his legs down regularly as things weren't very nice (just used a very weak solution of hibiscrub).

I'm almost certain the grease is being produced from his skin now but do think the two are related. When you pluck the hair out (not with force I might add) there is dandruffy white flakes at the bottom of the hair. It also smells like frying pan grease.

It is mainly affecting the fronts of his legs (which would also tie in with your suggestion), but I hope not as going near his sheath at the moment is not an easy thing! He does need cleaned but will have to be sedated I think as I would like to see Xmas!

It is also worse on the leg where he had a puncture wound to his SDFT tendon about 3 months ago, which also became very infected. Poor thing, he's only 18 months old.

I'm worried mainly about the fact that he has probably been on antibiotics for about 2 months of the 3 I've had him. He's just come off the Danilon for his tendon injury. He also had a mild bout of colic last Tuesday - which I think was pain related but I do worry about what all these drugs are doing to his system!

I'll ring the vet again today and have another chat through and see if he can send me some Sedalin out so I can clean his sheath and also enquire about mite treatments.

Thanks everyone

 

[Lotty]

My daughters gelding has this grease all down the front of both hinds. Its looks awful as his legs are white and its really hard to remove.

My farrier said it was smegma.