swollen sheath

[meesha]

Very hot here over the last few days. My geldings sheath looks swollen, not sore of smelly. No discharge but def swollen. He is no more bothered than normal if I touch it. Will look again tonight and ring vet if worse but any ideas of cause or treatment? Thinking it found be nettles causing it as they have been on very edge of hay field where grass and nettles are long. All thoughts welcome!

 

[Elsbells]

There seems to be a lot of willy issues going on lately which is fairly horrific and shocking to a confirmed mare lover. Combination of heat and flies I would guess though thankfully I am only guessing, I of course have no experience.

 

[DuckToller]

Can be a side effect of cushings - is he older?

 

[JanetGeorge]

Swollen sheaths are a NIGHTMARE!! I have a young stallion who has had problems in this area for more than a year - vet has looked, poked, prodded, scanned - and we're none the wiser. Once it gets BIG it's also painful - when only twice it's normal size, not too bad. Anti-inflammatories and twice daily hosing (5-10 minutes at a time) accompanied by repeated squeezing and bouncing to help disperse the swelling) is the only thing that works. We hose inside and out! It settles down - for a few weeks (or even months) and without warning and for no apparent reason, it flares up again!

 

[barbaraNcolin]

My boy got lymphangitis a couple of years ago which made his sheath swell up a lot and caused a swelling down his belly almost to his girth area. About 5 weeks ago I feared we were going to get another bout as his sheath was starting to swell again. I had the vet out who advised 5 days of bute "just incase" with plenty of exercising and cold hosing.
I've noticed that it keeps swelling up a bit and going down since then and I've placed the blame with the flies and heat. I just give his bits a good cold hose after riding and it soon goes down again.

 

[tinap]

My boy had a very swollen sheath when we first bought him a few years ago. Vet came & said it was just a reaction to being bitten by midges. He was very mucky down there & after a good clean & 15 piriton tablets it cleared up xx

 

[glenruby]

Could be anything from fly irritation to protein losing gut disease or lymphangitis, liver disease or cancer. Best get it checked over by a vet and if it does not improve quickly, get a biochemistry blood sample run for liver/gut enzymes and protein levels. The last one I dealt with had cancer.

 

[meesha]

Thanks guys only just had chance to look at replies, he is 9 yrs old. Fit and healthy in all other ways only difference is the hot weather and new field with long nettles, grass, thistles round edge. Will hose and check tonight and call vet if not going down. Poor chap, his bits are also pretty clean.

 

[Janybyrd]

Hi, my young horse has the same problem. He's kept in Somerset as well. I am blaming the hot weather/flies for the swelling. There are a few other horses on our yard with a similar thing. Im hoping it will go down soon esp as the weathers supposed to get cooler next week!

 

[CBFan]

It'll be the flies. Bute and cold hosing for 2 or three days should take it down then apply fly spray / summer fly cream to keep them at bay

 

[meesha]

Thanks guys, spoke to vet receptionist and got a call back within the hour from a vet as thought it best to ask - she said that as long as he is peeing with willy out and it is just swollen with no other symptoms to leave it be as long as it doesnt get any worse - she said NOT to cold hose it but to exercise as normal and that it could take a month or so to go down and was probably due to the weather !!!

Still slightly swollen but def. no worse - hopefully one upside of the now rubbish weather is that it will go down !! although I need to get my flippin hay done so hoping for more glorious weather soon !

 

[JanetGeorge]

- she said that as long as he is peeing with willy out and it is just swollen with no other symptoms to leave it be as long as it doesnt get any worse - she said NOT to cold hose it but to exercise as normal and that it could take a month or so to go down and was probably due to the weather !!!

Sorry - but your vet is wrong - and even a bit negligent IMHO! There is no such thing as 'just swollen' where dangling appendages are concerned. Drainage in these areas is poor and swelling WILL get worse unless you take steps to disperse it! And 'due to the weather' - give me strength!!! I have around 40 colts and geldings - all experiencing EXACTLY the same weather, and apart from some short-lived swelling in a couple after gelding, only ONE has had a swollen sheath in the past 5 years! And his swells happily in summer or in winter! Despite a lot of investigation, we haven't managed to find the cause of this stallion's swelling - but the ONLY thing that helps (and eventually reduces it to 'normal') is cold hosing and massage!

 

[meesha]

His has actually gone down slightly since Friday when I noticed it, I will keep an eye on it and make sure it keeps going down - I actually thought it may be due to the long nettles he has been wandering through and thought I could feel some small bumps on inside of back legs- told vet who said yes it could be that or heat.

 

[CBFan]

Sorry - but your vet is wrong - and even a bit negligent IMHO! There is no such thing as 'just swollen' where dangling appendages are concerned. Drainage in these areas is poor and swelling WILL get worse unless you take steps to disperse it! And 'due to the weather' - give me strength!!! I have around 40 colts and geldings - all experiencing EXACTLY the same weather, and apart from some short-lived swelling in a couple after gelding, only ONE has had a swollen sheath in the past 5 years! And his swells happily in summer or in winter! Despite a lot of investigation, we haven't managed to find the cause of this stallion's swelling - but the ONLY thing that helps (and eventually reduces it to 'normal') is cold hosing and massage!

^^^ This!!

Cold hosing and bute are so underrated when it comes to swelling of any kind.

I was particularly worried about my boy's sheath swelling as it happened on the friday of the Jubilee bank holiday weekend and I didn't want to leave it and it get worse and end up paying for an out of hours call out. Luckily vet popped it on his way home and confirmed his original suspicions... it was 'just' a reaction to insect bites but to bute and cold hose until it went down... to do nothing is just rediculous IMO I would put money on the 'bumps' on the inside of OP's boy's legs being down to insect bites too. my boy had them last week and hey presto! Swollen sheath again. Two days of bute and cold hosing and it is once again back to normal.

 

[npage123]

I hope your horse is still improving.
Just wanted to add to the other replies that this only happened once with my horse, a few years ago. It started swelling shortly after I had to put him on boxrest. The vet put it down to fluid build-up and said just to keep an eye on it,as his sheath area was clean anyway. It gradually went back to normal even though he wasn't allowed any exercise at the time. He was on bute so this possibly helped things along.