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Discussion on Can we get rain-rot?
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 10:34 am:
Dr.O,
I have read your article about rain-rot, I am sorry if I missed it, but can I get rain-rot?
My filly appears to have bare large areas (although healthy skin is exposed) and I assumed it was her gelding buddy who was bugging her, although this is not his typical behavior.
I know have discovered identical looking scabs (as per your articles) along one side of her spine, top-flank, and randomly some on the side of her neck (no mane side).
I have tried to remove all the scabs, in most areas the skin is just bare looking, in a view areas hair has started to re-grow, and in 2 spots I found remnants of a 'crusty-like'' substance. She only displayed “itchiness” on the bare-healthy looking skin (I am assuming it is healing), and in pain in most others (her evading my action to pull off the scabs).
I have read that someone used a spray from the company FARNAM, called Furall – unfortunately this is not available in Canada. Do you have any other winter-treatment suggestions?
Our average temperature these days is -20C, today is milder.
My local supply store does have a liquid furazol (I believe it is called/spelled) but it is not the same ingredient as the FURALL.
Thank you.
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 12:13 pm:
The solution at my local supply store is: Nitrofurazon Solution USP 0.2%
Thank you
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 1:19 pm:
Hi Miriam
I battled this on Pumpkin this winter... I used providone solution on the spots. for the first few days...then I switched to a ummm human antifungal jock itch spray  on her. She looked like an APPY as I sprayed her legs and everywhere else. It was way easier to spray her with the jock itch stuff and it immediately turns to a powdery spot, so it seemed warmer for her. I haven't had it come back.
Periodically I 'paint' her blanket with the Povidone solution. Or if Im in a hurry with spray it with the jock itch stuff. LOL
got both things at the corner drug store.
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Member:
36541
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 1:59 pm:
Hi Miriam, no you aren't likely to get "rain-rot" from your horse, but humans are susceptible to a number of tinea infections of the skin that include jock itch, athlete's foot and sun spots to use the laymen's terms. Good hand-washing and cleaning under your nails after grooming your horse is a good habit that should keep you safe from the various inhabitants of your horse's skin. Stacy Upshaw MD
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 5:25 pm:
Hello Leslie thank you for your suggestion, I will start with the Nitrofurazon and if that doesn't work out jock-itch cream it is
Thank you Dr.Upshaw, I wasn't sure since it is bacteria and I am scratching her all over in order to remove the scabs I needed to know (I tend to have skin issues myself easily, eczema and seasonal fungus once in a while)
Thank you very much  
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 5:50 pm:
Mir
I used the 'spray' as it goes on 'dry'. And my first application I used 2 cans. I reaaaallly sprayed the lesions so that it would get into the scabs. I never picked the scabs off. Some of the lesions were painful to my mare so I really couldnt pick them off so I improvised: I just had rubber gloves on and sorta rubbed the scab to kinda scratch it open a little and then pinched the lesion between finger and thumb and then I just coated them thickly. It worked like a charm in the super cold weather we were having at the time.
Good luck
LeslieC
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2009 - 8:11 am:
MMh Leslie, I like the sound of this jock itch spray, because I tried applying the solution yesterday and it wasn't much fun for any of us - it also took forever to do as I was trying to remove all the scabs.
I think I will be looking into that after all
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2009 - 8:42 am:
Thanks for fielding that DrU. I would add that dermatophilus has been very rarely reported in humans but experience suggests this is not typical and following DrU's recommndations should protect all but the immune suppressed individual.
The article is filled with other treatment suggestions Miriam. However we do not recommend "Jock Itch" sprays as Dermatophilus is a bacteria and these sprays are antifungals. We do have one member that swears antifungals works for her however. With LeslieC's treatment above simply removing the lesions, abit of betadine, and then drying out the skin would have been enough to turn the disease around once the horses immune system kicks in.
DrO
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Member:
warthog
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Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2009 - 11:37 am:
we've had very good luck using dilute clorox solution on both bacterial and fungal problems.
the "cures everything" though is lime sulfur liquid fruit tree spray at a 20 parts water to 1 part lime sulfur. This recipe was given to us by our cat vet who found it when researching treatment for mites. A mite was going through the show community and cats were being put down because noone could find a cure for it. We tried the lime sulfur and used it successfully on our persian cats, passed it on and the other breeders also had success with it. You do avoid the eyes and the genital region and you wear rubber gloves, sponge it on the animal, let it dry and tolerate the rotten agg odor for a week or more. One of my vets told us his mother used to use it for head lice on the kids but they were forced to sleep in the barn for a week. an article I read yesterday mentioned lime sulfur also as a treatment for fungus and bacteria as well as mites so I guess it is still used but not often since is is unpleasant.
The mechanism is supposed to be the production of minute amounts of hyDrOgen sulfide, a very deadly poison, but the amount produced is very very tiny. It will kill mites, fungus and bacteria but will not have any affect on allergy. I don't know if it will cure the tiny worms that go under the skin to produce "sweet itch" but I would think it would work on them also. the scabs do need to be removed and we allow the area to dry out a bit before applying the solution.
Before we try this though we try a dilute clorox solution. Clorox works for both bacterial and fungal but will not cure mites or the tiny worms or of course allergy. notice that some clorox is 3% and some is 6 %. we use a 20 to 1 solution in a spray bottle in very small quantity for fungus and wet all the surrounding areas of hair with the solution. This concentration is also cytotoxic so we dilute much more if the area is quite raw for application on these areas. according to a study I read yesterday .005% clorox will kill bacteria but will not injure the tissue. I don't know about it killing fungus at that dilution though. what we had been doing was wetting a terry cloth rag with water and spraying it lightly with the .3% or a .15% solution for application on wounds or adding a few DrOps of clorox to a hair color applicator bottle filled with water if the wound is too painful to touch and we have had outstanding success with using this for cleaning areas with both fungus and bacterial infections. a .005% can be made by adding one ml (use a syringe) of 6% clorox to one liter or a little more than one quart of water in a spray bottle and shaking it well before using it. the reason we use the .3% on the coat surround the area is that it doesn't seem to cause any irritation where the skin is not broken and seems to prevent the fungus from spreading.
be careful not to inhale the .3% solution as even at this dilution it is irritating to the lungs so keep the sprayer close to the skin and stay upwind.
we have not had good success with betadine. we had a goat with a very bad case of fungus and oddly enough a combination of betadine and dilute clorox worked the best. betadine had no effect. dilute clorox helped but the combination worked the best. I would ask a vet or a chemist about combining these two although our goat had no problems with it. we had tried all the human fungus rememdies and she was old so we were reluctant to try the oral meds and lime sulfur but the dilute clorox and betadine cleared it up.
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Member:
warthog
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Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2009 - 2:42 pm:
Forgot to mention that we spray our hands and clean under our nails with the dilute clorox solution to prevent any possible transfer of whatever is causing the skin problem in the horse or cat for that matter.
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 - 2:28 pm:
Thank you Dr.O, I will give the Betadine a try.
My gelding has it also, on him I found one larger bare-skinned area with a bit of blood, but again no puss, or other obvious discharge. I have curry-combed him to try and remove all the small scabs, his is mostly along the spine and on top of the rump.
Thank you everyone else for your suggestions, I really appreciated it
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - 10:04 am:
Dr.O,
I have disinfected all my brushes over the weekend as per your bleach/water recipe.
I just have one question, now I have been vigilant to keep the snow off their backs and use 3 different brushes for my 3 horses. I decided to leave the brushes outdoors since our temps DrOpped below -30C - would that be sufficient to kill any remaining bacteria on the brushes?
Thank you.
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - 10:13 am:
Sorry, I have additional questions:
I see that you mention that the bleach evaporates quickly, what is quickly, 20 mins, 2 hours, 2 days?
I also made a slightly stronger solution in a spray-bottle with which I spray the brushes with and my trimming tools - how long will that solution last since it is bottled? (the sprayer-head has a cap in order to lock the sprayer)
Or would be a water/alcohol solution better to use in the sprayer bottle?
Thank you
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - 12:07 pm:
Chemically disinfecting the brushes after they have been thoroughly cleaned is better. As to how long the chlorine stays in solution is entirely dependent on many factors like how it is stored, temperature, and perhaps light. If you can't smell it it is gone. Best is to make a fresh solution each time you are going to use. Otherwise tightly capped in a opaque container will preserve it for a good time.
DrO
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Member:
huf5
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Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - 2:54 pm:
Thank you.
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