Thinking outside the box for feather mites

alexomahony

alexomahony

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I'm asking on behalf of a friend, who's horse suffers terribly from feather mites. She's had injections and creams / washes from the vet to no avail, mite powder, hibiscrub bathing, sudocrem and pretty much everything else. Problem is the weather isn't cooling down which isn't helping at all and poor Flossy seems really uncomfortable and itchy.

I was looking into itch relief and cooling creams/gels to ease the itching till we find a cure (improbable I know) and to make the lovely Flossy feel a bit more comfortable.

Does anyone have any 'outside the box' ideas that have helped your hairy cobs in the past?

Thanks in advance!
 
Is it definitely mites? My big hairy draft is forever chewing on his legs and I religiously blamed mites and went through various treatments which never worked.

I then had his bad leg x-rayed to see the progression of the ringbone and was completely horrified to see thickened skin appear on the x-ray. He has chronic progressive lymphedema, which leads to thick folds of skins which get irritated, sweaty, damaged etc. Its a bit of a vicious circle really because the thickened skin leads to dermatitis type problems, which leads to infections, which makes him scratch, which makes the skin thicken even more.

His is pretty bad, but my friend has a 6 year old gypsy cob mare and after my boy's diagnosis we stripped the feathers off the mare and got stuck in to all the scabs, scratches and other horrors that appeared. She was already showing signs of thickened skin in places and is another one that is constantly scratching her legs and stamping. She is washed weekly in a dandruff shampoo, and then PO&S mix. Steroid creams can also work. We thought she had mites, but there was no sign when the feathers came off - she did have 2 dectomax injections this year.

So I would probably advise taking the feathers off and seeing what's going on underneath just in case you aren't actually dealing with mites.
 
Hi SEL,

Thank you so much for that - he skin is thickening, which we thought was maybe just from it constantly going through the cycle of healing, and then being broken again - CPL is a definite possibility to look into and mention to the vet on Wednesday.

Her feathers are clipped short to make sure we can treat it as effectively as possible (which isn't working great atm!) I'll mention steroid based creams too... it's so hard to know what to do for the best as it's such an awful cycle.
 
My friend uses nit shampoo for hers and she's also used frontline spray.
My old mare had dectomax jabs and her feathers clipped. Pig oil and sulphur is also supposed to help but I think you need to get rid of the mites first.
It's really horrible and uncomfortable for them, I'd clip the feathers as short as possible.
 
I've got two feathery types who both suffer. Unfortunately you cannot rid them completely of mites. 90% of feathery horses are born with mites, just not all are affected by them so you just never know.

I've tried the jabs from the vets with no luck! I now keep legs clipped every four weeks, wash in aloe and oatmeal shampoo and spray every two weeks with frontline. So far *touch wood* this combination has worked well for both of mine.

Also bed on shavings and not straw as this irritates their legs.
 
Just a point regarding the washes in case anyone doesn't know. You have to really drench them right down to the skin from hoof to elbow and stifle, go along the belly too. What happens, is the mites can find themselves on the belly when the horse lies down, then they make their way back onto the legs again. If you don't get them all you will never get rid of them. Bloody horrible things.
 
alexomahony said:
Hi SEL,

Thank you so much for that - he skin is thickening, which we thought was maybe just from it constantly going through the cycle of healing, and then being broken again - CPL is a definite possibility to look into and mention to the vet on Wednesday.

Her feathers are clipped short to make sure we can treat it as effectively as possible (which isn't working great atm!) I'll mention steroid based creams too... it's so hard to know what to do for the best as it's such an awful cycle.
Click to expand...

I was going to say clip them out first and foremost... next I was going to say research rock sulphur - put it in her drinking water... it is great for cooling itchy skin
 
I'm impressed with dermoline insecticide shampoo and once dry (must be bone dry) then diatomaceous earth all over the legs. Just another thing to possibly try or think about.
My vet made me have 3 injections 10 days apart for the mite jab, was a complete waste of £170 as hasn't helped and its mallenders not mites but anyhoo who needs money ;)
 
SEL said:
Is it definitely mites? My big hairy draft is forever chewing on his legs and I religiously blamed mites and went through various treatments which never worked.

I then had his bad leg x-rayed to see the progression of the ringbone and was completely horrified to see thickened skin appear on the x-ray. He has chronic progressive lymphedema, which leads to thick folds of skins which get irritated, sweaty, damaged etc. Its a bit of a vicious circle really because the thickened skin leads to dermatitis type problems, which leads to infections, which makes him scratch, which makes the skin thicken even more.

His is pretty bad, but my friend has a 6 year old gypsy cob mare and after my boy's diagnosis we stripped the feathers off the mare and got stuck in to all the scabs, scratches and other horrors that appeared. She was already showing signs of thickened skin in places and is another one that is constantly scratching her legs and stamping. She is washed weekly in a dandruff shampoo, and then PO&S mix. Steroid creams can also work. We thought she had mites, but there was no sign when the feathers came off - she did have 2 dectomax injections this year.

So I would probably advise taking the feathers off and seeing what's going on underneath just in case you aren't actually dealing with mites.
Click to expand...

I had a shire and a gypsy cob who both suffered really badly with itchy, scabby legs and I religiously treated for mites and clipped their legs. I tried dectomax injections, neem oil, pig oil and sulphur, de-itch, sudocrem, steroids and even calomine lotion over the years. Sadly it wasn't until after they'd died (6 months apart - they were both ancient) that the vet read something about chronic skin conditions in heavily feathered horses that people often mistake for feather mites. Possibly the same as your horse SEL?

For my 2, I found keeping the legs clipped essential and then the apparently most effective thing for them was a varying combination of german chamomile, peppermint and red thyme oils mixed in with dead sea mineral mud. I trained in applied Zoopharmacognosy with Caroline Ingraham in desperation when nothing else worked. It never sorted the problem, but it did seem to bring it more under control.
 
I was also going to say are you sure it's mites, my cob rubbed her hocks all the time. We thought it was mites but turns out she has arthritis and her hocks then started fusing
 
Thank you all so much with your suggestions :) I'll forward this link over to Helen so she can read through and give them all a go! Vet is coming on Wednesday so hopefully he can shed some light.

Thank you all again guys - hugely helpful to hear people's potential fixes / management processes.
xx
 
Wash well with Nizoral, when dry apply a drop of Ivermectin liquid to each leg. Use an eye dropper or small syringe. The Nizoral will treat the damaged skin and the Ivermectin will kill the mites.
 
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