Treating Feather Mites

[GGMM09]

Hello!

I had my mare treated with Dectomax back at the end of September and she has started stamping again but I wanted to try and treat her without injecting her every few months, and its also very costly so if I can find a successful way of doing it 'at home' I will.

I washed her legs with Dermoline and when they were dry, covered in PO & Sulphur to the skin also and then the next day and the following day I have applied Nettex Mite Powder but she was stamping in the field again the other night.

What do people here with heavies and heavily feathered horses do to treat mites or keep them at bay?

Any tips on keeping or getting her feathers in good condition would be very gratefully received also!!

Thanks for reading

 

[SEL]

The only way I've managed is to get the feathers off so you can really get in there & treat it. You'll probably also find lots of sore patches sadly. My Ardennes got a trim about 6 weeks ago (clipping leads to a meltdown) & he's pretty sore under all the hair.

Once the hair is off I wash in a human coal tar shampoo. Rinse well. If there are lots of sore bits then you might need a steroid cream but otherwise I'm then into pig oil / sulphur. Rubber gloves to really get it into the skin.

You may well need another injection to kill the mites from the inside but often the stamping is due to the irritation from sore patches. I do find the feathers grow back quickly & once you've got it under control hopefully it will be easier to manage.

Good luck!

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

My trad was really suffering back in the autumn; so much so that I asked my vet.

He said to get some Frontline and spray it into the bulb of his heels every week, one squirt in each "bulb".

I clip my boy's legs out, simply because it is so much easier to manage and you can actually SEE what you've got going on.

Another suggestion (from my farrier) is to smear some kind of salve such as Vaseline around the bulb of the heel and around the fetlocks, this is supposed to work by suffocating any mites that are already there and discouraging any others from coming on as they can't make any kind of progress on this kind of surface. So I do this as well. No feather mites at present!

If yours is really bad OP I'd suggest vet advice in the first instance........ there may be lots of reasons why your horse is getting this and there are solutions that only vets are able to offer.

Not wishing to criticise anyone's advice, but please do exercise extreme caution if you're using pig oil & sulphur - make sure you do a 48 hr patch test on a small area first. It can cause very nasty redness and soreness especially on pink skin with white hair

 

[GGMM09]

My trad was really suffering back in the autumn; so much so that I asked my vet.

He said to get some Frontline and spray it into the bulb of his heels every week, one squirt in each "bulb".

I clip my boy's legs out, simply because it is so much easier to manage and you can actually SEE what you've got going on.

Another suggestion (from my farrier) is to smear some kind of salve such as Vaseline around the bulb of the heel and around the fetlocks, this is supposed to work by suffocating any mites that are already there and discouraging any others from coming on as they can't make any kind of progress on this kind of surface. So I do this as well. No feather mites at present!

If yours is really bad OP I'd suggest vet advice in the first instance........ there may be lots of reasons why your horse is getting this and there are solutions that only vets are able to offer.

Not wishing to criticise anyone's advice, but please do exercise extreme caution if you're using pig oil & sulphur - make sure you do a 48 hr patch test on a small area first. It can cause very nasty redness and soreness especially on pink skin with white hair

Thanks for the suggestions

She isn't very very bad my any standard but she is stamping a fair bit recently. She isn't rubbing on anything though and doesn't appear to be biting. The skin underneath doesn't look sore or inflamed even after applying the PO&S.

I will deffo try the vaseline suggestion and look into the frontline!! thank you

I didn't want to have to take her feathers off but I think I might have to in the first instance to help me keep them medicated with the dermoline and any topical treatments I do put on!

 

[GGMM09]

The only way I've managed is to get the feathers off so you can really get in there & treat it. You'll probably also find lots of sore patches sadly. My Ardennes got a trim about 6 weeks ago (clipping leads to a meltdown) & he's pretty sore under all the hair.

Once the hair is off I wash in a human coal tar shampoo. Rinse well. If there are lots of sore bits then you might need a steroid cream but otherwise I'm then into pig oil / sulphur. Rubber gloves to really get it into the skin.

You may well need another injection to kill the mites from the inside but often the stamping is due to the irritation from sore patches. I do find the feathers grow back quickly & once you've got it under control hopefully it will be easier to manage.

Good luck!

Thanks, I didn't want to have to clip the feathers off if I have to I will i dont show her so it's not a big deal! Thanks for the suggestions and advice

 

[Snuffles]

Frontline apparently does not work any more. I spent £50 on a deosect? wash, which some people use but saw horse stamping again this morning !

 

[GGMM09]

Frontline apparently does not work any more. I spent £50 on a deosect? wash, which some people use but saw horse stamping again this morning !

I had heard about that also, the Deosect.

She was only jabbed end of September so I am reluctant to get her done again so soon

 

[fabbydo]

Frontline works for mine. I leave her feathers on now but when I got her I took them off as her skin was sore and it made it easier to treat the sore bits. OP, if yours hasn't got sore skin I would leave them on.

 

[MochaDun]

In my experience it's always worth checking there isn't another horse on the yard that is also carrying mites - once they're treated it also helps to clear it up.