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  Discussion on Persistent hives and now flaking skin
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Member:
Paintluv

Posted on Friday, Jul 9, 2004 - 11:32 pm:

We have had my daughter's QH pony for 2 years now. Out of the blue she developed hives all over her body June 13th. Vet came out and gave her a shot of antihistimine and dex. By next day hives were down. In the meantime, we kept her in her stall in case the irritants were outside. 2 days later the hives were back. Vet came again and gave her more shots and left me with Trihist to give her twice daily. A couple days later they started coming back but not as bad. I gave her an iodine bath and that seemed to help. She was still confined to her stall but starting to develop edema so I started letting her out at night after the daytime bugs went to bed. This regime seems to be helping. She only develops a swelling here and there and no more all over hives. But a few days ago, her skin started flaking off. It started on the underside of her neck and on her chest and now its in her girth area and on the side of her neck. There are no scabs and no bare patches. The skin and hair underneath seem fine.

Is this flaking anything to worry about? I started using that new marigold fly spray on her because its supposed to be gentle for sensitive skin. Could this be causing the flaking or did the hives damage her skin? Dr. O., any advice?

Thanks,
Randi
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 10, 2004 - 6:09 am:

As long as the hair stays in place and the skin is not irritated it is not a problem and could have several causes. Unfortunately I do not know its cause and yes the hives, the iodine bath, or anything else you have placed on the skin could be causing or at least contributing to the flakiness. A mild shampoo using human baby shampoo and let's quit putting anything on the horse until this goes away then you can begin back the fly repellants if you think they are helping.
DrO
Member:
Paintluv

Posted on Saturday, Jul 10, 2004 - 7:02 am:

Thank you!

Randi
Member:
Ribbons

Posted on Saturday, Jul 10, 2004 - 3:15 pm:

Randi, my one of my horses is having the exact same problem as yours. One mare had hives, dex, and then started with scaliness in the same regions you stated. My other mare had no hives, but she has a little bit of scaliness just like my other mare, so I don't think the hives or dex caused it. My daughter maintains it is just sweat which they are sweating just standing the in their stalls with their fans on! The only thing they have both had on was fly spray and Vetrolin.
We will discontinue both and see what happens!
Member:
Paintluv

Posted on Saturday, Jul 10, 2004 - 5:32 pm:

Hi Teresa,

Thanks for your reply. So you don't think its related to the hives? I am just having an aweful time with the girls this summer. My paint mare has had thrush. First the vet thought it could be navicular so we x-rayed her but those showed nothing. When the blacksmith came, he said she had the kind of thrush that begins inside the frog so you can't see it. By the time he saw her, the pus pockets broke open and the frog was all cratered. She is still tender on her one foot but so sick of me messing with it, I can't pick it up anymore.

My other girl has been giving us such a time with the skin problems. I am going to take Dr. O's advice and not put anything on her. I may turn her out tonight with a fly sheet on. I started her on an antioxident supplement. I read in a John Lyons mag. article that it was good for the immune system and could help with the allergies. The article also said to try a flax supplement for the skin. Has your horse ever had hives before?

Randi
Member:
Ribbons

Posted on Sunday, Jul 11, 2004 - 10:37 pm:

I hope this isn't repeat. I just lost the post I was writing.

Today,it is definitely her skin that is peeling. Just like a person's sunburn. Hair is not coming off and the skin underneath looks healthy, so I feel that's a good sign. If this is not a reaction to the dex, it maybe one to the wasp killer I sprayed to kill the mud daubers that have invaded by barn. I sprayed around the frame of her outside window, and maybe when she stuck her head out to see, she came in contact with the residue and the peeling is a reaction to that.I am stumped and can't seem to win the war for losing. I was thinking her multiple bumps were from stings. The other mare just a had a bit of peeling which looks mostly gone today, so maybe a bit of spray drifted over to her stall.

I have been down the allergy testing route with this mare and come to the conclusion that she is basically "allergic" to summer. Over the four or so years we have owned her, I have tried many, many supplements and regretfully none have worked.I just give her a premium feed which does make her coat and skin glow and that seems to be the best I can do.

I'll check my mare in the morning and call my vet if it doesn't look better. Dr. O, have you ever heard of dexamethazone causing or being correlated to peeling skin?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jul 12, 2004 - 9:42 am:

No dex would not cause the skin flaking.
DrO
Member:
Cowgrl

Posted on Monday, Jul 12, 2004 - 4:52 pm:

What is a mud dauber?
Member:
Ribbons

Posted on Monday, Jul 12, 2004 - 11:17 pm:

Mud daubers are huge, black, waspy like insects.The ones in my barn are about two to three inches long. They don't sting exactly but bite and take out little chunks of skin. They probably get that name around here because their nest look like tunnels made up of red clay mud. Sorry the description is so unscientific, but I haven't done an internet search on them yet. I was stung/bitten by one years ago and broke out in hives all over and that's why I figured maybe they were attacking my horse. The last two years I've only a had a few here and there, but in the past couple of weeks, they have infested my barn.If anyone knows how to get rid of the beasts, let me know. My spraying doesn't seem to be working any way.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 13, 2004 - 11:24 pm:

Hi Teresa-do you live in Texas? Everyone I know/knew in East Texas had mud-daubers in their barns, under the house eaves, etc. What pests!

The only way I know to get rid of them is to wait until night, or when there's a cool spell, when they are all in their nests and spray like crazy with Black Flag or another spray made for wasps. (I believe they are a member of the wasp family btw) When you spray, be really careful. Better yet, hire someone like an exterminator to do it for you. (Here we have paper wasps instead of daubers.)
Member:
Ribbons

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 14, 2004 - 5:15 pm:

Sara, I live in West Central Georgia, but I bet the climate ect., is pretty similar and I bet the bugs are just as big. I did a little researach on the devils, and they lay eggs in the nests and then pack the nest with spiders to feed the developing larvae. If they hold down my spider population and don't eat my wood barn like the carpenter bees, they can stay! Apparently, they don't swarm, so it wasn't them stinging my horse all over, but maybe she was reacting to a single sting. My spraying isn't working because the mature wasps don't stay in the nest-they sleep out in the bushes at night. I must have inadvertantly contributed to the situation when I had my stall floors and adjoining paddocks redone with clay. I am now running a Home Depot for mud-daubers! And toads, but that's another story. You just gotta love summer in the Deep South.

Randi, to give you an update: I did call my vet who felt that the peeling was due to the damage done to the skin by the hives.WhenI stopped doing anything at all, however, the skin started peeling like crazy and my other horse started with whopping case. Therfore, I believe it is a fungus and am treating as such, and the hives were just something else going on simultaneously.
Member:
Paintluv

Posted on Thursday, Jul 15, 2004 - 7:30 am:

Thanks for the update, Teresa. My horse seems to be stabilized. There doesn't seem to be any new patches of peeling skin, but the old patches are still a bit flakey. I gave her a bath with very gentle shampoo on Saturday and haven't put anything on her since. I turn her out after it is completely dark and put her in her stall in the morning which seems to have removed the cause of her hives. She hasn't had any bumps. Besides her Trihist, I am giving her Bioquench antioxident supplement and Missing Link Omega 6 supplement for her skin. Hopefully they will do the trick.

Randi
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