Sheath issues - any ideas?

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samlf

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This is also posted in vet, but no replies and we are completely stumped

I have posted about this before but it is still ongoing.

Started 3 weeks ago.

Horse was kicking violently at sheath/belly. Diagnosed UTI but it wasn't. Still just as bad a few days later (and a few vet visits!), sedated and discovered fly strike. Thought we had resolved it.

Kicking and tail swishing continued at a very low level for the past few weeks, thought it was just due to a little soreness. It then got much worse the past few days, almost as bad as originally. Vet back and sedated again, no fly strike and everything looked good.

When on bute he is 100% fine.

Vet stumped. Took videos and sent to vet at big equine hospital. Vet said it was an allergy to the environment, he'd have to stay on bute long term.

Does this sound like an allergy? There are no lumps/bumps, raised areas, itchiness. I believe in an allergy the white blood cell count would be slightly raised, but his is actually slightly low.

Ideas appreciated.

Have done a lot of googling this morning and nothing conclusive comes up.
 
Have you tried antihistamines ? if it is an allergic reaction to something in his surroundings this may help.

Also look for any long unusual plants that could be coming into contact with that area, I am sure you have already but I would stop using any products/feed/rugs/hay/haylage/flyspray/shampoo/rugs on him to see if that helps then gradually reintroduce if it clears.

I would also check his water supply and make sure his field hasn't been sprayed with anything recently.

Hope you get to the bottom of it ... poor chap !
 
The vet only informed us yesterday evening that it was thought to be an allergic reaction so we will be trying antihistamines asap. Do you know what the dosage would be? Probably best to ask the vet I suppose.

He doesn't have any unusual plants and we have changed hay supply too. Doesn't have rugs, or haylage. No feed.

Field was sprayed in may, and they were fine going on the fields from mid june/early july.

What would you check about water supply? We have troughs. Also the other horse is fine.

thanks for your suggestions
 
I would ask vet about antihistamine dosage - . Water was only a thought but if nothing has changed there you can probably rule out. To help with the discomfort aloe vera is really good.

Just a thought ! are there buttercups in the field - I know these can irritate horses mouths - not sure about other areas but if he is lying down in them it may be worth investigating. also check he isn't walking through stinging nettles - mine have done this before and been irritated.

not even sure if this is possible but could his urine be irritating him, maybe he is not drinking enough and with the discomfort from the flystrike it is sore ! Not sure what the solution would be - maybe thirst quenchers to encourage more drinking - although you would need to check they aren't going to make it worse !
 
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He doesn't have any lumps on his belly. He does have a large lump that came up a couple of days ago inside his left hind leg, it isn't a fly bite though (confirmed by vet), vet thinks its not related either though.

Aloe vera is a good idea - but where to put it?? I would be reluctant to put anything in his sheath at the moment.

Nope no buttercups, there are a couple of nettles around muck heap but that's fenced off.
 
sorry for me editing my last response so much - just read your first post properly again and realised no lumps. !! I would have thought aloe vera would be ok around sheath but double check ! flippin horses ... if only they could talk !
 
nix123 said:
I'm sorry i can't be of any help to you but i have never heard of fly strike. What is it?
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Here's a link talking about rabbits with fly strike.

https://atthevets.wordpress.com/tag/fly-strike/

When on bute he is 100% fine.
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So he's in pain. I wonder if it's the anti-inflammatory properties of bute that are helping?

'Like other NSAIDs, it acts directly on musculoskeletal tissue to control inflammation, thereby reducing secondary inflammatory damage, alleviating pain, and restoring range of motion. It does not cure musculoskeletal ailments or work well on colic pain.'

What about doing an ultrasound of his sheath? Or getting a thermal imaging scan to try to find inflamed areas?
 
Has the urethra been cleaned and checked? A horse I knew once had this same sort of problem and it turned out it had grit stuck in its urethra.....very uncomfortable I would imagine :s
 
I'm pretty sure he checked for a bean but will check when either of us ring him later.

Yes exactly, he must be in pain. The vet just said that although bute clears it up it cant be that painful or bute wouldn't work. I really don't understand how bute would mask the effects of an allergic reaction, I have allergies myself and taking an ibuprofen wouldn't work!!

We have spoken about scans but he says that he wouldn't know what he was looking for, as he honestly has no idea.

Would normal urination not remove the grit? How was the grit discovered?

Many thanks for your replies
 
no, the urine didn't remove it. They tried lots of things and last resort he went into hospital. I am not sure how they discovered the grit but it was there and when it came out (albeit a few days later) he was soooooo much better. Could've been a small/tiny camera I suppose......? Not sure, will try and find out. x
 
Did the fly strike leave behind some soreness or even a maggot or two in the sheath folds? I know when my sheep got fly strike it was in some discomfort for days after treatment
 
Thankyou, if you could find out how it was discovered that would be really helpful.

When the fly strike was discovered there was some ulceration. He had antibiotics for this and when it got worse again the vet sedated and checked for fly strike again but everything looked great and healthy and healed! It has been 3 weeks and he has got worse again so we think that whatever is going on, the fly strike was probably a symptom rather than cause.
 
no he didn't. will suggest it.

Spoke to him earlier - going to trial piriton, over weekend. Presumably if it doesn't work then its not an allergic reaction.

If it doesn't work we may take him to the vet hospital for a week to see if its anything in the environment.

The other suggestion was it was auto immune and that wouldn't be good news.
 
samlf said:
no he didn't. will suggest it.

Spoke to him earlier - going to trial piriton, over weekend. Presumably if it doesn't work then its not an allergic reaction.

If it doesn't work we may take him to the vet hospital for a week to see if its anything in the environment.

The other suggestion was it was auto immune and that wouldn't be good news.
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Is he peeing normally, but I'm pretty sure you would have said so if not. It is unusual, but horses can have kidney stones which can cause irritation. I would expect that the vet would have checked this and generally there would be more symptoms. I do hope you get him sorted.
 
For what its worth my gelding has a similar problem. He has always been an over producer of smegma but apart from the unpleasant duty of wiping around the sheath and washing out with just plain water (never any product) it didn't cause problems until recently. The inside of the sheath became super itchy and you could see the horse lying down and rocking back and forth in an attempt to scratch. The vet took a swab and discovered a bacterial infection so he was on topical antibiotics and steroids to cut the itch. This seemed to do the trick for awhile but it returned and a second swab showed a different pseudomonas infection. It is though he picks these up from lying on ground where he might have piddled or pooped before. A different cream, no steroids, and the itch went. But now its back and we are at a loss to know what to do. The warm weather doesn't help either does it? I think we will go for a third swab and see what that grows. I wondered if it could be lice or mites something like human scabies but I don't want to put anything onto the delicate skin without really being sure what it is and if it will help and I'm not sure if you could find them amongst the smegma!. We are on sandy soil but the horse wee's OK and doesn't appear to be in pain so don't think we have a sand in the urethra problem. If it was autoimmune, why would it only show in his sheath area? Anyway, his blood test would show a specific patter of immunoglobulin levels I think.
 
Perhaps with all the fiddling around the natural bacteria are out of kilter. Liphook Equine Hospital can supply a bacterial sheath wash which you slosh around the sheath twice a day for several days. It isn't a wash as in cleanser, you just literally slosh it around the inside of the sheath and it helps to establish healthy bacteria. It was about £30. Might be worth a go?
 
A couple of thoughts / questions
Does he pull his willy out to wee? A friend's cob is too lazy so just wees with it still in and he's had problems due to urine collecting in his sheath.
I was about to ask if horses can get kidney stones, but see someone else has said they can, so could it be that? I would think that it would cause a lot of pain quite suddenly and without any external signs?
 
My old gelding had a problem with his sheath and the only thing that sorted it was natural yoghurt - the live stuff, at room temperature to get the live bit live - smeared inside the sheath to restore the balance of the flora and stop the itching.
 
He is peeing normally yes, so probably couldn't be a kidney stone.

Happyhooves - sounds like a swab would be a good idea if the antihistamines don't work. Sorry to hear you are still having problems. With this horse, it doesn't appear to be itchy - he has not been trying to scratch it all, and if you have a feel of his sheath he doesn't appear to want you to scratch it or anything.

Perissa - Sounds like it could be worth a go, do the vets have to order it from them? Or can we get it?

Yes he does pull it out to wee, he has also had it out a lot recently for no apparent reason (not usual).

RebelRebel - Will bear that in mind if we try the wash from liphook and that doesn't work.

Here are some videos of what he does:

http://youtu.be/XOLpxu5tHEw
http://youtu.be/J-XrGNEwSC4
 
samlf said:
Yes he does pull it out to wee, he has also had it out a lot recently for no apparent reason (not usual).
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My old boy did this when he had a UTI. I know the vet said it wasn't (assume he took a urine sample as well as bloods?) but maybe if it was low level it didn't get picked up and now it's got worse? Although it would lead to a high white blood cell count, not a low one, it could be that he has a naturally low white cell count though. There are variations in all norms so if he's got a naturally low white cell count, a normal or low reading might be high for him?

Slightly off topic but a good illustration - when my sister was a baby she had campylobacta and her temperature went up to about 100. Doctors weren't too worried as it wasn't very high, but she started having febral convulsions and nearly died. They were very puzzled by this and it was only after she got better, but was still being monitored closely that they discovered after that her natural body temperature is much lower than normal so 100 for her is dangerously high.

Hope you get tot the bottom of soon
 
No he didn't take a urine sample because he had two lots of IV antibiotics by another vet, out of hours so he said it would have meant it didn't show anything.

He had another course of antibiotics too, so if it was UTI it should have cleared up by now

Thankyou
 
annagain no horse is too lazy to drop their penis to wee, please get in touch with your friend possibly her horse has an issue that needs dealing with.
 
have watched vids and wondered if he always kicks with his near hind. I have seen action like that in a horse with leg troubles ( locking joints etc) rather than sheath problems!
 
putasocinit said:
annagain no horse is too lazy to drop their penis to wee, please get in touch with your friend possibly her horse has an issue that needs dealing with.
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He's had everything checked three or four times and is perfectly healthy. Two different vets have come to this conclusion - he drops it sometimes but most of the time doesn't bother.
 
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