This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Discussions on Skin Diseases not covered by above »
  Discussion on Ear mites or Ear ticks?
Author Message
Member:
Cmora

Posted on Monday, Jan 1, 2007 - 7:08 pm:

Dr O~
Is there a spot you can send me where I might view a picture of ear ticks and ear mites. My poor gelding has one or the other and I'm not sure which. I can sort of scoop out black gook from his ear and in there are these creepy critters. Some rather LARGE! Some are whitish and others look black and are full of black stuff when I pop them to kill them. Gross, I know. Looking to determine what exactly they are and the best thing to do to get rid of them and keep them from coming back. thnx and happy new year
Member:
Erika

Posted on Monday, Jan 1, 2007 - 7:44 pm:

Eeeeew!
Member:
Erika

Posted on Monday, Jan 1, 2007 - 7:51 pm:

Ooops, forgot to add that when I searched for pictures, most articles said ear mites are microscopic. So yours are probably lice or ticks, no?
I also read that dewormers can help with some parasites. Good luck, sounds like your horse will be happy to have you get to the bottom of this problem.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 6:54 am:

Cheryl, we don't have any pictures of ticks but do have images of lice and mites. Lice can be seen with the naked eye but I would not call them large. For more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Hair and Coat Problems / Itching / Irritated Skin » Lice and Mites of Horses. Note the sizes carefully.

If you will take a photo I would be glad to tell you what I think. Important is to put the bug on a nonreflective surface and place a small scale ruler, or easily recognized object, next to the bug so that we can judge size. Does your horse have any symptoms?
DrO
Member:
Cmora

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 7:32 am:

I will get a picture today. NO, he does not appear to be bothered (symptoms) by them. although he does have this crazy habit that may be related although I doubt it. He often will DrOp his head between his legs and stay like that. He has done that for some time though. Also, one day & only one day I saw him walk about 10 feet and then walk backwards 10 feet and repeated 1/2 dozen times. I figured he's just wacky but who knows. Maybe they are driving him INSANE!
Member:
Cmora

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 6:57 pm:

Dr O
I got a picture! yukear bugs
Member:
Ilona

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 7:46 pm:

Those look like ticks to me, but I may be quite wrong.

Kudos to you for for doing this for your horse because it has to be a DISGUSTING undertaking.
Member:
Jojo15

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 8:22 pm:

In the ears? do you shave the inside of the ears?

ugh... ticks.. and there are a lot of them if this is what you found in one ear.

any of the pyretherins? (spelling), should help. supposedly that will take care of them in dogs. and over the counter. Other things in the ear of the dog (not saying the same as a horse) but oils nasty smelling all natural ear oils you get at the health store. Used it once, (smelled awful and fishy) and it worked though...

Isn't he shaking his head? like alot? very odd.
Member:
Vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 9:02 pm:

Sure looks like ticks to me! YIKES -- how miserable.
Member:
Cmora

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007 - 9:40 pm:

They are in the ears.... I do not clip the ears of this horse.
No head shaking or tossing.
Dr O should be responding with his suggestion for treatment so I cant wait to hear what to do so I can help this poor guy. Even though he's not visibly disturbed it HAS to be awful.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 - 7:57 am:

If those are not ticks they are doing a good job of imitating them by their size, shape, and the eight legs. Since you can see mouth parts that would make it a "hard" tick but other than that I cannot say much: perhaps a photo with a little better focus. Are any of these guys attached to the skin? If not preserve a few in alcohol and submit to your local entomologist as it may mean it is some bug I do not recognize and I like to study bugs.

But ticks are ticks and can be treated in a number or ways. I would suggest sedating this horse and first thoroughly cleaning the ears, so that you don't have all those dead ticks in there, then administer a few DrOps of liquid ivermectin dewormer in each ear, recheck in 21 days. Are you giving ivermectin dewormer?
DrO
Member:
Cmora

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 - 9:51 am:

I paste worm with Ivermectic every 6 weeks. Often enough??

I do not see any of them attached to skin on his body and I'm having to basically dig them out of his inner ear so I dont know if they are "attached" in there. Suppose so though....

Thanks for the advice on how to treat them. I'll have to call the vet in for the sedation part and will do so now.

What about prevention? Any thoughts?

Do I have to worry that I will be pushing these ticks further into his ear canal when we do the thorough cleaning?
Member:
Cmora

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 - 2:32 pm:

cowboy remedy...
ok, everyone has their "fix" when it comes to horse health. My farrier just told me to pour mineral oil in his ears.....
any ever really done that - and been successful in killing ticks? Just wondering! I'm still going the vet route!
Member:
Scooter

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 - 3:31 pm:

Hmmmm yes I have heard of it, don't think I would want to tho. When my horses get those blood sucking nats in their ears I have put swat in them and that worked. It would probably work on ticks also as it contains pyrthreins(sp).

I know of a vet who put the ivermectin right in the ear of a horse for mites and that worked.
Member:
Juliem

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 - 3:53 pm:

If those are ticks like I'm familiar with, fly spray with a high concentration o pyretherins will kill them. Don't try to spray it in their ears--saturate a cloth and just rub it in there. You might want to wear latex gloves. Get the inside of the ears damp with the stuff and try to wipe toward the tip. They should die almost immediately and then you can wipe them out. Strange they aren't attached and getting larger though. Maybe a variety I'm not familiar with.
Member:
Jgordo03

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 - 5:37 pm:

If you want a natural approach I use this on my horses and dogs between worming. This is a repellent it won't kill the ticks. They will smell good too. Be sure to check their manes and the tips of their tails. Icky ticks like those places too!

2 tablespoons vegetable or nut oil (almond oil contains sulfur, a repellent in its own right)
10 to 25 DrOps Rose Geranium essential oil.
Mix oils together and dab a few DrOps around and on the the ears. (not down into them)

Palmerosa is a sister essential oil to Rose Geranium, and also repels ticks. It is cheaper, and sometimes easier to find than Rose Geranium
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jan 4, 2007 - 6:59 am:

If they are not attached then I question our identification. To get an idea on prevention we need them identified accurately: take some to the vets office and let us know what he says.
DrO
Member:
Liliana

Posted on Friday, Jan 5, 2007 - 12:24 pm:

Mmm when the blind guys arrived their ears looked like grape vines I had never seen so many huge ticks on one animal. I used Frontline directly in the ear you know the ones for a 15kg dog and got rid of them.

I do worm them with invermecticin every 5 weeks or so. And neither horses nor dogs have any ticks, also a good way to keep them at bay is to have a couple of gens or ducks which incidentally also eat the larva from the manure hip

IMO oil just makes matters worse; the ticks could lodge near the inner ear causing infection, and other illness. I am against using chemicals but when it comes to worms or ticks I am afraid there is no option.

Liliana
Member:
Jgordo03

Posted on Friday, Jan 5, 2007 - 2:43 pm:

Dr O.
Do you know if any studies or clinical trials are going on for a Frontline type of product for Horses?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jan 7, 2007 - 9:56 am:

No Judith I don't.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC