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Discussion on Hair loss on TWH
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Member:
irvincd
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 4, 2007 - 12:17 pm:
Our TWH started loosing his hair under his tail after having him on Bahia hay for a bit.
Under the hair loss was mild irritation some scab. We blamed it on the hay although none of the other horses had sign of any problems.
After being back on coastal Bermuda for a couple weeks his bald spots began to appear in other places on his body and he lost most of his hair on his butt as well.
Under this hair loss spots appear minor scabs, dry flaky skin and it seems to be getting worse. No exudates or pain seems to be associated.
The horses are all a little late on worming as I have been out of country for one month. Worming is to be done Monday (Zimectrin Gold) by the Ferrier as we have trouble with one of our horses taking it.
I will attempt to attach Pictures
Any help would be appreciated before we hall him to a Vet.
Thanks
Carl And Debbie
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 4, 2007 - 1:19 pm:
IMO this looks like a fungus of some kind. Are those white patchy areas kind of crusty/flakey? Have you looked on this site under diseases ->skin diseases ->hair loss?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Mar 5, 2007 - 7:36 am:
Carl we can see many of the features you mention above. One of the most remarkable things is the bilateral symmetry of the hair loss on the back of the thighs. Is this same symmetry carried through out the body? What is happening on the left does it occur on the corresponding side on the right?
Also do the scabs on the margins come out with the hair embedded?
What treatments have you attempted so far and for how long?
DrO
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Member:
irvincd
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Posted on Monday, Mar 5, 2007 - 2:51 pm:
Sara
Yes this looks like a fungus, the areas are a little crusty. Under the main it looks like a bad case of dandruff. Some very small scabs, no itching or pain is apparent.
Yes we read the articals but cant quit pin it down to one of the noted problems.
Thanks Carl
Dr O
The same symmetry is not carried throughout the body.
What is happening on the left does NOT occur on the corresponding side on the right.
The hair is not imbedded in the scabs as far as I can see. There are few scabs.
Note that we live four miles from the horses and cant see where he is at all times.
I just haven’t seen any clumps of hair with scabs around. He could be rubbing on a tree when we aren’t there but we haven’t seen this and we stay around for hours at a time.
The hair seems to be just missing and then the ruff, dry look appears. Not that many scabs actually but some to be noted.
At first it was just around is hinny hole and Debbie said O my God it must be the new hay, because it started right there. It has slowly grown as the picture you see.
Our other horses had no problem with the hay. I feed rolls so they get all they want.
I ruled the hay out now of course after seeing the other spots and he didn’t improve on the coastal.
Any way Debbie put some baby oil on what was just a small area, that’s the only treatment.
Next couple of days I seen her pull of a scab about one inch that was ready to fall of, it already had the white dry skin under it. We also separated him and put him back on coastal hay and thought this would take care of it.
I was sent to Japan for a month and what you see is what I came back to. No other treatment has been done.
Again we never see him scratching or itching and no pain seems apparent.
Any recommended treatment would be appreciated. I will take him to the Vet on Saturday if I have to.
I am all ears at this point.
Any other pictures can be provided.
Thank you very much
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 6, 2007 - 6:47 am:
The problem Carl is that many diseases have similar lesions and on the other hand the same disease may look different on different horses.
I think the appearance, lack of symmetry, and that the scabbing is not a prominent feature agrees this might be a fungus with ring worm being most common but staph folliculitis cannot be ruled out and is about as common. There are dozens of rare diseases that would present as above.
I think a reasonable plan is to take samples for a DTM (ringworm) test, do culture on any sores, and start treating with a mixture of chlorhexidine shampoos once weekly and daily spray application of a 2% chlorhexidine solution spray. This would treat both staph and ringworm. If the cultures reveal a more definitive cause treatment can be switched to something more specific. If it continues to spread I would then biopsy a fresh untreated lesion.
DrO
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Member:
irvincd
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 6, 2007 - 9:20 am:
Thank you Dr O
I will begin this immediately.
It seems the hair is growing back where it first started.
Thanks
Sara
Thanks for you help as well.
I will let you know how it turns out.
Thanks
Carl & Debbie
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