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  Discussion on Hives that ooze
Author Message
Member:
Kelly81

Posted on Monday, Aug 2, 2004 - 9:17 pm:

My 5 year old QH mare has recently developed hive-appearing areas to her right abdomen/flank area and on her right hindquarters but no where else. They look like whelps or bee stings but there are too many of them to be that.

I've had her for about 7 months now and haven't had any other problems from her except some rain rot that she had when I bought her. I treated the rain rot and it went away without further incidence. I wouldn't think the two are related. She hasn't been exposed to any new allergens/environmental factors(that I'm aware of). I haven't changed fly spray, grain, hay, and she isn't on any medications. Her "hives" vary from pea-sized to dollar-sized. She's had them about 2 days now and I noticed today that one of the larger ones is open and oozing blood-tinged drainage. I've washed the areas and applied some topical anti-microbial and aloe vera gel. They don't seem to be painful to her. My question is do hives have open areas that drain, and usually how long do they last?

My paint gelding doesn't have any on him so that makes me think even more that it's some type of reaction/hives that she's having. Do you think I should call my vet if they haven't gone away in 1-2 weeks?

I've read your article on hives and would like to hear some input from others with this problem.
Thanks.
Member:
Kelly81

Posted on Monday, Aug 2, 2004 - 9:20 pm:

Sorry guys. That heading was from a previous post. It was supposed to say...Do Hives have open areas that ooze?....I bet you all wondered where that topic came from. Ha.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 3, 2004 - 6:33 am:

Hives that weap serum indicate a ongoing allergic inflammatory (histimine based) reaction or possibly a disease process that has a irritant as well as allergic component. The fact you have not changed anything does not argue against the things you expose your horse to being the cause: allergies develop to those things we are chronically exposed to. You should immediately discontinue anything you are putting on the skin and give the horse a good bath in baby shampoo, rinse well, then run cool water over the hives until they go down. If that does not work you should get your vet out to look at this and consider a course of prednisolone.
DrO
Member:
Kelly81

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 3, 2004 - 4:11 pm:

DrO,
Thanks for the advice. The places look a little better today. I'm getting ready to bathe her and see how things look tomorrow.
Member:
Bucky

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 4, 2004 - 3:36 pm:

Hi Kelly,

I had a horse that did the same sort of thing. It started in one spot but he ended up with patches on his back, flanks, neck. The oozing actually kind of smelled like horse sweat but very strong and it felt like he had pimples all over. It was like his whole body was full of pus. Amazingly he didn't loose any hair. I have still not figured out what caused it but it hasn't happened again. It has been two years in Sept since he had it. Like you-only the one horse was afflicted-the other didn't get it.

My vet had me give him penicillin twice a day and wash him with a betadine/warm water rinse. Once I started giving him the penicillin he started getting better within a day or two. I can't remember the dosage but it was a big amount twice a day for about a week. I also waited a bit before I did anything but he got progressivly sicker. I hope your horse gets better on her own! This is what my vet had me do-of course I can't tell if our horses have the same thing or not(if she is better i'd say they don't)--best to consult your vet first in any case. Good Luck!
Member:
Kelly81

Posted on Thursday, Aug 5, 2004 - 11:37 am:

Thanks Mandy. I washed her good with baby shampoo and ran cold water over the places for about 10 minutes yesterday and they appeared to look a little better however, they are still very noticeable. I'm gonna give her until tomorrow to see how they look. She acts like they don't bother her right now. I'm like you about calling the vet out. I don't like to call over every little thing that comes up because with horses it's always something! I've given this about a week now and they're still there so I think I'll give him a call today to see what he thinks we should do. Thanks for your response. I'll post again after the vet comes out. Take care.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Aug 5, 2004 - 5:18 pm:

The important clinical fact in Many's case is the presence of pimples: a subdermal infection, staph or strep most likely.
DrO
New Member:
sonador

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010 - 9:57 am:

I am having a similar problem with two horses that are on a certain pasture. No other horses are effected and other horses on this particular pasture were effected so it seems to be something specific to this pasture area. The horses were fine until I turned them out on this pasture. They do start as hive looking and then break open and ooze so have crusty dried serum. They are itchy and there was some swelling involved on lower legs that had numerous spots. Does anyone know of perhaps a plant that might cause this that I can look for. I wondered too if it could be bee stings or fire ant attack which I'm not too interested in finding that out the hard way by walking around in the pasture looking.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010 - 10:39 am:

Karen,

One of my horses and others that I know of develop this condition due to walking through the plant called Hairy Indigo, which in some places was planted as a source of forage but is also a weed in some pastures and along various horse trails.

If you go to the site below there is a description and also a picture if you scroll down.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ag156

Kelly,

One of my horses was covered with hives of varying sizes after the sudden arrival of mosquitoes on my farm. This arrival followed some consecutive rains. Some of the lesions did break open and eventually left a central scab. I kind of suspect the combination of the bites and the rain. I began fly spraying the boys every evening and my horse, though not yet cleared up, has not been getting any new hives but we have also had very little rain recently, which may be a factor.
Member:
cometrdr

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010 - 6:31 pm:

I have been having the same undefinable problem with my horse Comet. Small patches - no where in particular, that ooze over and then crust then the fur falls off the crusting stops an they heal over in about a week. I keep them as clean as possible. They first showed up after moving to Arizona about 3 months after we moved here. talked to the vet about it & he recommended the Betadine wash - 10 minutes lite rubbing of that on the site, then rinsing and dry. he also gave him a shot of pennecillian. one shot. they cleared up for about a month then came back - not a lot, just one every once in a while. not worth constant shots of pennicillian as other than being itchy they do not bother him in any way, and only one horse ever gets them. so any one know what this is?
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010 - 7:58 pm:

muffi, Don't know what it is but I too have had that problem and also good luck simply handling such problems topically.

Giving antibiotics never seemed to clear the problem up any faster.

If you can keep the problem fairly local without excessive swelling it works to handle it as a skin problem.

If cultured, these things tend to show staff and strep, in my experience.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010 - 8:01 pm:

The rescue mare we took in had something similar to what you are talking about Muffi. I used hyDrOgen peroxide mixed with betadine and sprayed the spots then rubbed it in 2x/day. It all cleared up; but I don't know if it was my treatment that did it or not. It might be worth a try.
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