Scratches

[RescueMini]

This summer some of my horses developed scratches, especially one of my show horses. This has never happened before to any of my horses, so it was a big surprise. Anyways, both of my show horse's hind legs have white socks, causing him to get it on both hind legs. Through a combination of a Triple Antibiotic, Desitin, and Vertricin, I was able to get the scratches off of one of his hind legs. The other leg still has it badly. This got me wondering what everyone else did when they came across it and how long it took for the treatment to work. I also found it interesting that quite a few show horses in my state got it for the first time and I was wondering if that has anything to do with my horse getting it.

 

[Carolyn R]

Prior to getting my gypsy vanner a couple of months back, I did ALOT of research on genetic disorders and other health issues that affect these hairy equines. While they are hardy, scratches are one of the issues that tens to plague this breed. Here is part of a response from a different forum, I hope it helps, it affects horses of every body and leg color, it is a fungus, it doesn't discriminiate, but can linger in a damp environment once it is introduced.

Here is what I found, which is in line with my vets thoughts too, as well as a treatment of antibiotics for severe cases. She was sure to make certain I knew how to treat it if it should ever pop up.

Background: The scratches on my mare's pasterns have suddenly gotten far worse despite treatment with tea tree oil and Hibiclens mix I tried, before that I had been using my fave Nolvasan higher up on cannons to soften and pull off months old scabs that then partially healed. Some part of the scratches problem is also exacerbated by her foal who steps on her pasterns/coronets.

 

If one enters "Frontline scratches" in the HA search engine one gets to UCDavis Horse Report Oct 2001 "Pastern Dermatitis in Shires and Clydesdales." The thinking in that article is that scratches is a complicated immune-mediated systemic disease so that different agents can set off the problem that also set off a misdirected response by the horse's own defense mechanisms. This is cited as a partial reason "why the list of failed treatments is so long."

 

But the article did have some practical recommendations that echo a lot of what people who have had success have cited in this and related threads.

 

1. Cleanliness and dryness extremely important.

 

2. Topical antimicrobial or antifungal preparations are marginally helpful because other organisms arise and they do not treat the underlying disease. If do use, best if rotate types every three days. Basically don't use toxic or irritating preps.

 

3. One topical that helps is sulfur based preps applied daily. This may explain the help some have seen with the mysterious M.T.G. The article mentions two forms for sulfur. A. Wetable sulfur dusting powder from gardening supply stores, mix with mineral oil to milk shake consistency, massage deeply, key is working it into affected areas of skin (seems problematic to me in open wound situations so prefer second suggestion). B. Sulferated lime solutions such as used for dermatitis in dogs and cats, LymDyp was cited. This calls for soaking the skin "for a sufficient period of time" but does not say how long sufficient is.

 

3. And then they get to the third approach which is what my vet recommended and what threw me for a loop. I'll just cite from the article.

 

"Additionally, mange mites definitely must be controlled as they can be both an inciting cause and a compounding stimulant to the condition. To control infestation on an individual horse, a 0.25% fipronil (Frontline) solution, the commonly used canine flea and tick agent can be used. This solution can easily be periodically sprayed on the horse's legs to prevent infestation. . . . In conjunction with the treatment of the individual horse, the stalls, wash racks, feed rooms, and other working areas of the barn should also be cleaned and sprayed periodically with a permethrin aerosol spray to remove environemental mite infestation."

 

So, maybe this info will help someone. I'm going to try the Frontline, permethrin spray and go to my dog and cat vets for some sulfur dip. And I really like the sound of Jordana's either pure desitin or desitin based mix -- they simply sound soothing and protective tho of course there is that resistance worry. I also wonder what difference fly boots might make to simply keep flies from landing/irritating/as vectors.

 

Has anyone tried Frontline or sulfur solutions on their horses? Results?

 

Hope this info is as interesting to you all as it was to me, and even more here's hoping it helps, Fiona

 

[RescueMini]

Wow, that is interesting. Luckily only one of my horses got it badly, and that was my big quarter horse gelding that I show besides the minis. Lulu did get it, but it went away really quickly, especially when compared to my quarter horse.

 

[NickelsChram]

Scratches is nasty. Ive only had my big horse for two years but he has gotten scratches on his hind legs both years, and only where he has white. And he only has a little bit of white. The first time he got it I was pretty new to horses and ended up making it worse instead of better, and I had to call the vet and get him on antibiotics. Now this year when he got it I knew what to do. antibiotic cream and desitin do work well and that whats recommended most for treatment. But I ended up using corona ointment, it comes in a yellow tube and reading the back of it, it says its a ointment for just about anything. Burns, cuts, rain rot, hoofs, and about 20 other things. And it is very very thick like desitin, so i figured I would try it. The corona ointment worked well at first but then it seemed to stop so I used a antiseptic powder which only helped a little then went back to the corona got rid of it. So I think that rotating what you use is the key

 

[Minimor]

I had a Morgan gelding that came to me with scratches. That time--his first bout of it, he was 3 1/2 years old at the time--I did get him cleared up fairly soon. The next time he had a bout of it, it was much more stubborn. It started at the heel and as that healed up, the scratches just kept moving up the leg--he had a full stocking--thank goodness he had only the one white leg! I kept rotating products but nothing really stopped it--as I said, the lower area would heal just as a new area was breaking out higher up. When winter arrived, his leg finally healed completely--once it turned cold and there was snow on the ground I quit doing anything to treat it & it healed up quickly after that.

I believe that time around I did try sulfur--I mixed some into his grain (have done that before for fungal conditions, it seems to help) and I think I also tried rubbing it into the affected part of the leg. I didn't notice that the topical application did anything much for him.

Now I'm told that Fiske's ointment works wonders on scratches. I haven't needed to use it so cannot give it any personal endorsement, but several different people have told me how well it works for scratches. If I were to have to deal with the problem again now I would certainly give it a try.

 

[RescueMini]

It seems like rotating is the key then.

That's what I have been doing with the ointments and that's probably what cured his other leg. Today when I was brushing him a ton of the scabs fell off (I just ran a brush over his leg like usual, so there was no pressure or anything) and his leg started bleeding. Poor boy.

I'll have to try that Fiske's ointment on him next, but I will probably have to wait until spring. It's good to know that I'm not the only one dealing with it!

 

[disneyhorse]

I don't necessarily feel its a fungus... But rotating treatments does help because you never know what your case will respond to. I've seen the effects of:

Lymdyp, grape balm, mtg, miconosol 1%, betagen, nustock, desitin, fungisan, sulfur powder, animax, blukote, malaseb shampoo, coal tar shampoo, benzoyl peroxide shampoo, betadine, krudbuster, zymox, micro-tek.... Well you get the idea. There are about a billion different things to try because there isn't an easy way to get rid of it. Just be sure to stay in top of it, because once the keratin of the skin is damaged, it is recurring.

Good luck...

Andrea

 

[mydaddysjag]

Ive read a lot of information that supplementing with vitamin A will help treat and prevent it. My pasture and paddock are such a mud mess, id almost guarantee my guys get it.

 

[RescueMini]

I don't necessarily feel its a fungus... But rotating treatments does help because you never know what your case will respond to. I've seen the effects of:

Lymdyp, grape balm, mtg, miconosol 1%, betagen, nustock, desitin, fungisan, sulfur powder, animax, blukote, malaseb shampoo, coal tar shampoo, benzoyl peroxide shampoo, betadine, krudbuster, zymox, micro-tek.... Well you get the idea. There are about a billion different things to try because there isn't an easy way to get rid of it. Just be sure to stay in top of it, because once the keratin of the skin is damaged, it is recurring.

Good luck...

Andrea

How do I tell if the damage has been done? So far it just looks like every other case of scratches that I have seen. I have never heard that it is recurring though, everyone has just told me that once it is over, it won't appear again unless the conditions are right. Thanks for everyone's input! This will be a great future reference in the case that it (hopefully doesn't) happens again.