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  Discussion on Problem with Ticks and a horse's reaction
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 26, 2001 - 10:23 am:

I live in Nebraska and routinely check and treat my horses for ticks. Last year they started in February. This year they are starting now and in full force. My young ones I have treated with Frontline and am very pleased. Permectrin for the others. Have a Bay and white Paint that looks poor. He is vaccinated and regularly wormed, on pasture, and receives couple lbs of corn with supplement a day. He has oozy spots all over him. In his mane, tail, forelock sides of his body..... They are huge oozy crusty. I have pulled all of those I could find before treating. He is almost a baldface. I pulled 5-10 off of his muzzle area. He has swollen marks on his nose above the nostril from rubbing. His mouth at the corner on the right side is swollen, however, doesn't look like from rubbing as there are no marks. He is crusty and oozy from tick bites and some look almost pussy. He is very sensitive to touch right now because he seems to be so sore from all of this. I plan on giving him a bath this weekend with betadine soap to fully clean these areas so they can properly heal and get rid of all the crusties - some silver dollar size others run together to cover an area the size of a dollar bill. His nose is quite warm to the touch, but doesn't seem to be sunburned. Antibiotics??? Need some help as he looks pretty pathetic and not feeling the best.

Posted on Thursday, Apr 26, 2001 - 10:17 pm:

Tammi, I live in MA and we have a qh gelding who had three large crusty sores on him. One was at his girth area, one was on his gaskin, and the third on his chest. Upon closer examination we discovered ticks at the sites. They were quarter sized, and the areas around them were swollen and puffy. We could not ride him for a week because of the one at his girth. We just sprayed them with a topical disinfectant. cant remember the name, It was purple. The vet said just let it alone and they gradually got better tho its been 3 weeks and there still is some scarring. It might be more of a worry to you as they were on his face, and i knoe they are quite ugly. Well, I wish i could help more. Good luck!

Posted on Thursday, Apr 26, 2001 - 10:18 pm:

Tammi, I live in MA and we have a qh gelding who had three large crusty sores on him. One was at his girth area, one was on his gaskin, and the third on his chest. Upon closer examination we discovered ticks at the sites. The bites were quarter sized, and the areas around them were swollen and puffy. We could not ride him for a week because of the one at his girth. We just sprayed them with a topical disinfectant. cant remember the name, It was purple. The vet said just let it alone and they gradually got better tho its been 3 weeks and there still is some scarring. It might be more of a worry to you as they were on his face, and i knoe they are quite ugly. Well, I wish i could help more. Good luck!

Posted on Thursday, Apr 26, 2001 - 10:20 pm:

Sorry bout the double post

Posted on Friday, Apr 27, 2001 - 6:47 am:

Tammi,
If your horse looks sick you should get the veterinarian out to examine the horse. The tick wounds should be treated like small open wounds, see: : Equine Diseases: Skin Diseases: Wounds: First Aid, Care, and Proud Flesh.
DrO

Posted on Monday, Apr 30, 2001 - 12:18 pm:

Called the Vet on Friday. Advised to give him antibiotic. Saturday we scrubbed his entire body down and cleaned every single oozy scabby spot this poor horse had, with the exception of his poll area - just too sore. He was covered from head to toe with these types of bite wounds. We used an antiseptic scrub along with shampoo that containted insectide (a horse shampoo). What an absolute difference this made. We have pulled him in from the pasture to get him back on his feet and again attempt to clean the poll area. I am greatly concerned about putting him back out in the pasture for fear of the same thing happening again. We will check in every couple of days and will keep him treated to prevent those little critters from attacking in the first place.

Thanks.

Dr.O - I will check out your recommendation to further treat this horse and help him heal properly as if all those areas scar he'll look like a strange spotted appy.

Posted on Tuesday, May 1, 2001 - 6:40 am:

For information on decreasing tick exposure and infestation run a search, we have had several tick experts weigh in on this subject in the past. For the sore poll, bute may help a lot. Cleaning the wounds goes a long way toward what the article recommends.
DrO
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