Swollen sheath?

[wellsat]

My gelding has a swollen sheath

Its the first year I've had a boy horse so I'm still learning how to deal with his man bits. I gave it a gentle wash last week with warm water and sheath clearner but I don't think that could cause it to swell up 4 - 5 days later.

My best guess is that its fly bites because his sheath is covered in them and I haven't been putting fly spray there for fear it might sting.

Any ideas I gave it a wash down today and put some sudocream on it to act as a barrier in case it is the flies biting it.

 

[Jade&Syrah]

My friends gelding got this regularly. She washed his sheath everyday and applied fly cream, regularly and it kept it down for most part of summer

 

[Fii]

Might be a dirty sheath.
It might be fly bites.
It might be worms.

 

[Echo Bravo]

If it's fly bites, could be maggots. I'd get the vet out.

 

[silvertinsel]

This could be completely unrelated but when my boy gets OBESE (and I mean barrel like) in summer if I dont watch his weight his sheath gets bigger, looks swollen, I always panic about it, but it goes back to normal when after a week of dieting and lots of exercise =\

^^Completely random but true, doubt they are related, but just a suggestion lol !

 

[joosie]

I think it's most likely to be a reaction - flies or another kind of insect, or even to a plant/something in his field. Do you get ticks in your area? - could be one of those also.

Cold-hosing for 10mins several times a day should also help to bring the swelling down.

 

[Ali2]

There's a horse on our yard who is hugely fat and also has a swollen sheath which is abnormal for him. Could it be related to diet/weight?

I'd give the vet a call for a chat

 

[riding_high]

it could be weight related as i have a pony with the same problem at the moment so have to really watch what he eats.

my horse has a swollen sheath but that's because he had to be on box rest for a week which meant risking lymphangitis, to minimise that risk we bandaged him up on all four legs. he's been out on grass during the day the last 2 days and it's still a bit swollen, we know it's because of the lymphangitis, it just never got to travel down his legs.

 

[Cloud9]

Hi - don't want to worry you unnecessarily as it seems my horse is a strange case but please see link to the problems I have encountered very recently below. He is ok at moment - the swelling is no longer there but the lump is - he is very well in himself and for now the vet has decided to monitor him very closely.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=456932

 

[joseyjo88]

Mine had a tick on his sheath reently and it swelled massively, went down after a coule of days when the tick was removed.

 

[Marley&Me]

This is likely linked to the sugar and carbs in his diet

e.g.....rich spring grass.

If your boy is on lush grazing/ high starch or sugar feeds (any feeds more than about 10% sugar or starch combined) which is most chaff and mixes. Or on normal haylage/ unsoaked hay and looking a little portly in other areas then it is very likely linked.

In which case reducing all of the above and replacing with high fibre, low carb alternatives (Speedibeet, soaked hay, or marksway high fibre haylage) grazing over night not during the day when sugar levels are highest....increasing exercise....the sheath should go down.

Obviously worth checking for other probs but the above is very common in good doers this time of year.

 

[MrVelvet]

my young boy had a swollen sheath not long ago, it was covered in tiny fly bites so i washed it in warm water n put sudocrem on... was all sorted day after he loved the sudocrem too so it must have been itchy

 

[jeeve]

my pony had a tick on his sheath and it was extremely swollen, but lopsided as most swollen around the bite. Poor thing, it would have been very painful, but went back to normal in a day or so.

 

[tinap]

Our misters was due to fly bites. Vet gave him a couple of days dose of piriton, & I cover his sheath in a good fly gel now xx

 

[wellsat]

Thanks everyone, I've been cold hosing and covering it in sudocream and it looks much better. Not hot anymore and hardly swollen. Unless we have any more problems I'm going to assume it was probably fly bites. I can assure you he's not obese, ever so slightly heavier than he should be but he's probably the thinnest horse on our yard so I don't think its that.

 

[MagicMelon]

I had a horse who's sheath swelled up huge a few days after it had been cleaned with "sheath cleaner". Never used it again, vet thought he'd had a reaction and said to only ever use water anyway. Turned out he had a sarcoid in there so a few years on its permanently swollen I believe (he was sold).