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  Discussion on Serious case of thrush
Author Message
New Member:
roseb

Posted on Friday, Feb 2, 2007 - 3:34 am:

Dr. Rob,
I have had horses for years and have never had one come down with thrush. My older mare started to limp on her left front leg yesterday. I found her frog to be blackened with thrush and seemingly almost flush with her sole. I live in NW oregon and it is very wet. I know I have to keep her in a clean dry stall instead of letting her be pastured. I picked her hoof, rinsed it, trimmed what dead frog I could. I soaked it in warm saltwater. I am very concerned because her pastern and 1/2 way up the cannon has edema. After cleansing I put tea tree oil on it, but I don't see how it can reach the deeper anaerobic bacteria. I have started her on IM procaine penicillin. 30,000Units/ml, I gave her 12 ml, in two divided spots on her rump. Dose is 1 ml/100lbs. She probally weighs about 900 lb. I wanted a bit of a of loading dose. I have been an LPN for 5 years and in 4 months I will graduate as an RN. What would be the most effective and economic way to treat this? Should I do the PCN for 4-5 days, or another broad spectrum ATB? I also am not sure I can get those ingredients in your recipe around here. What would be the next best topical med to use? I am very worried about her. Also, I have some Banamine left from 10 years ago, it would not be effective now for pain control would it? Should I pack it if I get Coppertox or Thrush Buster. Thanks so much, Rose B
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Feb 2, 2007 - 6:51 am:

Welcome roseb,
Without an exam I am unable to know what the best way to treat your horse is. I can tell you the best way to treat thrush however and that pretty much is what is in the article. In general systemic antibiotics are not needed with good local treatment.

With swelling and lameness present, if it is the thrush it has reached down to sensitive (bleeding) tissue and should be treated as such or is it possible a pocket of infection has created a subsolar abscess, which may need further attention (see the article on foot abscesses for more on this).
DrO
Member:
ramonah

Posted on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - 2:44 pm:

I bought a horse three years ago with severe thrush. We live in Western Washington, so I totally understand the 'very wet environment'. The area between the bulbs of his heels were about 1 1/2" deep. The thrush inbetween the soles and frog were very deep and painful. I tried the recommendations of both my farrier and vet. Neither worked, some 'remedies' made it worse. That is when I turned to horseadvice.com. Dr. O's thrush remedies and treatment work! I totally recommend you read all the articles and his responses to questions. Daily I would clean him from the fetlock down, and wait till he was dry. Then in the deep tissue damaged areas, I would apply diluted providone iodine, then packed in strips of 100% cotton. On the non-deep thrush, I would apply Thrushbuster (I chose that product because at the time, it was the only one on the market to contain formaldehye) to those areas 2-3x a week. The process took about 3 months from start to finish, for the deepest areas to heal from the inside out.
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