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Discussion on Questions on Hoof Protectant & Thrush
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 18, 2010 - 6:56 am:
DrO,
When I placed an order for horse & dog vaccines & wormers last weekend I also ordered a hoof protectant product that claims to be a dual action solution that repels moisture and contaminates, plus kills fungus and bacteria. I thought is might be a good idea to treat the hoofs with something to prevent thrush as we have a very early soggy spring going here.
Good idea! A bit late though; I have some thrush in some hoofs already.
The ingredients are:
methydyne-b, captek, isopropanol, and natural carnauba emulsions.
My questions:
Are those ingredients anti-fungal, anti-bacteria?
Would it be harmful to treat the thrush areas with Betadine first, then later apply the above product as a waterproof sealant?
I am not a chemist, and don't want to combine anything that is harmful.
It's dry for another day here, then rain & snow for the next week.
Thanks!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 18, 2010 - 7:16 am:
Angie, you got Sav-a hoof didn't you I had good luck with that for Hanks WLD. Captek I believe is the same ingredient as what is in the Tomorrow cow stuff... never did figure out what the methadyne-b was. I am getting some thrush too, have been using thrush buster..but I am out, that stuff is expensive when treating 10 hooves. Went back to the tomorrow stuff and it is working well so far.
I'll be curious what Dr.O. says too. Betadine wasn't cutting it for my horses.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 18, 2010 - 9:11 am:
Ha ha, should have known that with Hank's hoofs I could have just gotten input from you!
Yes, that is the protect. I can't find anything on the methydyne either. And captek is used in dentistry? Isopropanol would be like rubbing alcohol I guess.
Interesting that it is so hard to find the ingredients online? Now I am 2nd guessing the safety of the product.
DrO?
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 18, 2010 - 3:48 pm:
Angie I used it quite a few years ago... I don't think captek was an ingredient then.. I think it was cepharin, that's where I got the dry cow stuff comment from. I'll have to see if I still have the bottle around here. I did like the sav-a-hoof gel on the WL under Hanks shoes his WL looked really good after shoe removal wasn't all thrushy like it usually was.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Mar 19, 2010 - 9:18 am:
DrO...where are you??
'Nways, Diane, did you notice if things didn't stick to the hoof as much when you used the Sav-a-hoof? It claims to repel mud and snow, but so far, I am not buying that. Maybe I have to keep building the stuff up on the hoof? I am treating Tango, all 4, and Cody & Gem each have one thrushy frog.
I really hosed and scrubbed everyone's hoofs outside yesterday, and then cut away bad stuff and treated them.
Online searches seem to point to White Lightening mixed with vinegar being good; Dry Cow, and tea tree oil mixed with either benzolyl peroxide or hyDrOgen peroxide.
I want to try PR's idea of 50/50 Athletes Foot Cream and Triple Antibiotic cream, just need to go shopping for it.
Interestingly, I read that thrush may clear up just by keeping the hoofs dry, and maybe we don't need to buy all the products?
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Friday, Mar 19, 2010 - 9:32 am:
I find a copper sulphate solution pretty good at controlling thrush. I buy the blue crystals (so pretty!) at a plant nursery, put them in an empty plastic water bottle, add warm water and do lots of shaking. It has to be a plastic bottle, never glass, according to the plant nursery guys.
Quite often I soak a small piece of cotton in some of the solution and tamp it into a thrushy frog with my hoofpick. It may or may not stay there very long but it's effective either way.
Maybe it's the same thing as Thrushbuster, which we don't have here.
Just keeping the hooves dry ... hmmm, that's a great IDEA, but .....
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Friday, Mar 19, 2010 - 10:18 am:
My take on this. 35+ years, very few thrush problems, no founders( I am knocking on my head( wood)as I say this).
We do entirely too much to our horses feet in an attempt to do what nature does naturally. My horses have spent the entire winter in mud, rain and snow, in other words a lot of moisture. I have not touched their feet. When they were trimmed, I had no thrush issues, I had soft feet which was to be expected, but since none of them were doing much of anything, it didn't make much sense to even clean their feet when they were going right back into the same wet environment.
They seemed to take care of themselves as all the horses found dry areas to stand in during the day to dry out their own feet.
When in full work, I rarely use hoof dressing, and if I do, it is a non-petroleum based product and after my horses are trimmed I use Tuff-stuff to seal the periople from whatever rasping was done. It is the intact periople that helps maintain the right moisture balance in most situations. As far as the thrushy frogs go, making sure the central sulcus is open to air and having a somewhat dry environment at least for part of the day is the best treatment, the next is packing with Tomorrow (or Today) if there is a problem.
This next thing is conjecture on my part. In cases where I did have a thrush problem, the problem seem to originate from something else happening to the horse months earlier. I.e. leg infection from a cut or otherwise that traveled down and exited out the frog ( gravity and path of least resistance). This is why, I can see using a product called Clean Trax as it treats the entire leg and kills any microbes that may migrate to an area where you don't want them ( frogs).
Anyway, just my thoughts.
Rachelle
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Mar 19, 2010 - 12:35 pm:
Thanks Rachelle,
I've never had problems before this year. I've thought there might be something developing in the past, and treated the frogs most every year, for a few days, but this year I do see some more serious issues.
And like you, my horses stood in manure/mud/slush for months it seemed like, and the only difference this year is they had movement on the "track" then I locked them off it to keep it from getting all rutted up.
If what you suspect is correct, maybe the fact that Tango had some laminitis issues from my trimming mistakes last summer and the hoof is still not in good enough form? I do believe everything is connected; form, environment, and health issues such as thrush.
Funny, after digging out the "bad stuff" he doesn't have much frog for support at his heels on fronts...oh oh! I am curious to see how quickly nature grows that back in. And I am thankful that the ground is soft, I think that may be easier on him for now?
He is sure teaching me a lot! Challenges me on training, hoofs, and now this!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Mar 19, 2010 - 2:37 pm:
Hello Angie,
I am not familiar with methydyne or captek (not what is in the mastitis medicine unless they are making up a new name for it) so really don't know. Isopropyl is both antifungal and antibacterial but evaporate away quickly. I don't think the carnaba is antimicrobial.
DrO
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Friday, Mar 19, 2010 - 7:12 pm:
Angie I used thrushbuster on my 3 for 3 applications spaced about 5 days apart and they are clear of any thrush.. this is the first year Hanks has had thrush, just really wet and mucky this year. Now his hooves are almost too dry.. is anything ever easy??? I know you hate to go with out a week of looking at Hanks hoof
I took this tonight and thrush free as you can see! It was stinky, black, gooey and soggy in his CG's
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 20, 2010 - 10:50 am:
Yes, Diane, I was dreaming of Hank's hoof last night I missed my fix this week, lol!
Seriously, nice looking frog!
We are FROZEN here now, so this morning I did a quick check of the thrushy hoofs. All were free of all mud and dry looking. I noticed previously they were all packed every day when I brought them in. I took that as a good thing, the packed mud (manure not so good) was keeping contact/pressure on the low spots of the frog.
I sprayed with Banixx. Easiest to do in the paddock.
I think the sav a hoof stuff may be best as a protectant before thrush sets in maybe? I was not impressed if DrO couldn't find much about the ingredients. (Thanks DrO)
Maybe this stuff is just a high dollar coating? And the fact that it dries as a protectant maybe keeps the anti bacterial, anti fungal ingredient from evaporating? I dunno.
BTW,
If a treatment is working, the first thing would be the frog staying dry & firm looking, right?
How long before it grows back in?
FYI, what I noticed with Tango is he'd been leaving his stall at a slow jog to the hay; before I trimmed the black goo out of his frogs.
Since taking all that out, he's been bucking, racing and having a blast running laps around the feeders!
Good just be he has spring fever I guess.
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 20, 2010 - 11:14 am:
I don't know how long it takes them to grow back, he may be shedding his frog right now too, they look pretty funky when they do that. I would think you should see improvement and growth within 2 weeks?
Spring fever has hit my herd with a vengeance!
Today they are standing in the lean-to refusing to leave because of the wind and snow... big babies
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