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Discussion on Help! VERY Dirty, Smelly, Itchy Sheath
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Member:
silver
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2011 - 8:24 am:
A friend of mine has a horse with a very dirty, smelly, itchy sheath which is causing some concern.
The horse is a 15.2hh Belgian Draft X Gelding, bought aged 9, owned now for 18mths (now aged 10). When he was bought, a vetting was completed and she was told that the horse had a very mucky sheath and would need cleaning on a weekly basis at first, then monthly, then as normal - twice a year or thereabouts. The discharge from the sheath is smelly, grey, greasy and difficult to remove - as you'll see in the photos, it has dripped onto his legs and is hard to remove.
She has tried cleaning as suggested by the first vet, finding a large bean as expected (and she has removed any subsequent beans). She then consulted the vet again to be told 'he's just a dirty boy' and that she should try hibiscrub.
None of this has helped. Cleaning was done with a sheath cleaner - but the grease is so persistent, she has had to use baby wipes as a sponge/ cloth/ sock gets covered in it from the start, and it won't rinse off.
She has also tried (at the suggestion of many) cleaning with just water, salt water, ky jelly, baby oil and vaseline (petroleum jelly). All have led to no success. Recent advice is to leave it well alone as this will all irritate it - she has now left it alone for three months.
The horse is kept at grass all year round, no stabling. His diet is grass during the summer, hay and a handfull of chaff with his vitamin and mineral supplement during the winter.
He shares his field with another horse who doesn't display any of the same symptoms.
He is able to urinate easily, the penis fully DrOp outs to do this and he doesn't seem in any pain. The dirt is in his sheath and her horse enjoys sheath cleaning time a little too much - he will position himself directly over my friend in order to satisfy the itch! He was also witnessed in the field giving himself a good scratch on a traffic cone.
Someone has suggested that his sheath looks inflamed - my friend, not having much experience of how this should look, says the inside of the sheath is lumpy - like oversized tastebuds?!
Sorry for the following photos...Any help/ suggestions greatly appreciated (I think my friend is at her wits end with vets telling her its normal!)
Having a good itch -
The black smegma oozing out -
His legs should be creamy coloured - not black -
A swab of the gunk!
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2011 - 5:48 pm:
Sadly, some geldings are especially messy. I've seen quite a few whose legs get like this guys. That being said, has the vet actually looked at him and checked him out to make sure he doesn't have an infection or fungus of any kind? If he has a clean bill of health, I don't know what can be done other than a daily cleaning with warm water. In my opinion and experience, using lots of oils and other stuff seems to make the condition worse. I use a sheath cleaner on my guys a couple of times a year, and KY then warm water on the stallions before breeding. The itching is a little worrisome; makes me wonder about yeast or fungal infection. Has a swab and culture ever been done?
I'm sure no vet; just have had a lot of horses - more stallions than geldings.
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2011 - 6:34 pm:
Sara is right about the oils. They just attract more dirt.
One can overdo the sheath cleaning sometimes so that they just keep making more gunk, it seems.
One must monitor each horse and clean at the point where the nastiness looks to be creating a problem.
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 2, 2011 - 9:22 am:
Hi,
I own one of those "icky" boys. At least once every 2 months his legs get all covered in smegma (the smell is just plain nasty). When I first got him I cleaned his sheath frequently (~ 2months) with KY jelly and warm water. I've never used any oil product that might make it worse. Now, I give it a good cleaning about every 4-6 months, and when things get yucky I just gently wipe the very outside with warm water and it stops in a few days. I use "fast orange cream hand cleaner" that mechanics use to clean off his legs and it works great. My theory is that he DrOps when he is sleeping and hence the gunk on the legs. Along with that theory is that he is picking stuff up into his sheath when he wakes up and retracts it, thereby resulting in more smegma than might be there otherwise (just a thought).
However, my guy is not itchy like this one. I agree with the others that the itchiness warrants further investigation. It could be fungal or bacterial or he could have a little piece of something irritating him up there. I used to find straw up there when we bedded with it.
Good luck
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Member:
silver
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Posted on Friday, Feb 4, 2011 - 6:14 pm:
Thanks for the replies - my mate feels comforted knowing others out there have come across this before! She had the vet out on Wednesday and they have finally agreed to take swabs and she needs to get a urine sample to rule out anything untoward - previously they have refused to even bother looking at his sheath, telling her the horse is 'just a dirty boy'.
If it was just the dirt then that would be manageable, although it does reappear within two days of being cleaned. Its the obvious discomfort of the horse that is upsetting.
I appreciate overcleaning might not be helping and my friend has only been able to clean using baby wipes and sheath cleaner, or ky jelly to loosen off the smegma, but none of it seems to help. She has now left him alone over the winter for the last three months and there's been no improvement.
I will let you know what the vet says, they did suggest something like a sarcoid or other lump might be stimulating the overproduction of smegma but they doubted that it would be anything other than just whats normal for him.
Someone suggested she try yoghurt?!!
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Friday, Feb 4, 2011 - 6:26 pm:
A lot of people think yogurt will help a yeast infection. So, his problems would have to yeast for it to help, and personally, I'm doubtful of it helping even then. I think swab and culture is a good idea. Let us know.
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