dumb question about sweating

[abowls]

Nate's legs are covered in fungus again . I'm thinking of sweating him with fura free while he's in his stall overnight this weekend. His legs are quite fuzzy. Do I have to clip them before I can sweat him? Also I've never actually put on sweats. I know very well how to do standing bandages and I've taken off sweats that were put on at the hospital so I have a general idea but just so I don't screw up. I would just put the fura free, cover with saran wrap and then do a standing bandage over it and leave on for no greater than 12 hours?

[BoyleHeightsKid]

I do a quilt or no bow over what you use to sweat, then saran wrap then the standing wrap.

[Big Tee©]

If it were me, I would use glycerine and alcohol or Listerine. But do put cottons over the leg before you plastic the leg - save youself a case of heel cracks from the sweat running down as the cotton will absorb it.

[niaru]

Try Muck-itch. I swear by it. Just rub it in, rinse the next day (or not...I usually forget to) and repeat. No wrapping needed.
It got rid of Charm's cannon crud in 2 or 3 days and it didn't come back.
You can find it online.

[abowls]

niaru I actually have muck itch. I've used it on his body and you're right it's wonderful. I'm just concerned about getting it to penetrate through all that hair. Maybe I'll try that first...

[jenarby]

Does he have scratches or just the crud on his hind shins?

If it's scratches I've found the Muck-Itch won't cure it. I've had lots of success mixing up a tube of creamy desitan, a half can of furazone and 10ml deximethizone (the injectible kind). I wash and thoroughly dry the leg, slather the mix on and rub it in well. Each day you wash and pick scabs and then dry. Drying is the key. Once the skin heal and isn't so red, THEN clip all the hair off the legs. Having long hair allows moisture to stay against the skin and then the process will start all over again. Once the skin is healed you can put plain desitan on if you think he's starting to get sores again. But make sure the kind you use is the creamy white stuff.

[Einstein]

When I do sweats, I do furazone (sometimes mixed with DMSO depending on what I was sweating) and then a layer of thin sheet cotton, a layer of saran wrap, then the pillow wrap, then the standing wrap. This is how I was taught in the barns at the track.

If his legs are really hairy that's OK, the sweat will still work, but it's going to be so cold this weekend, will you be able to wash it off? That would be my only concern. Can't wait until spring!!!

[abowls]

It's all over his canon bones but the worst is around his fetlocks. I'm not sure if it's rainrot or scratches or some other type of infection but it's making his skin fall off in massive clumps. The weird thing is that it doesn't seem very sore. Usually it's sore. I was picking at it last weekend b/c his legs were COVERED in mud and I thought I was picking at mud. Then I noticed that the "mud" clumps that I was picking off were actually huge clumps of dead skin with hair attached to them.

This barn has some weird fungal stuff in the fields. Some of the horses have had skin infections that my trainer says only SSD will fix. When he had this before I just coated the crap out of his legs with furafree but it's SO muddy out that if I do that it's just going to make mudpies out his legs and that doesn't seem very healthy. I wish it would dry up a bit out. Our area flooded with water coming off the mountain from the last storm and his field is NASTY.

[laughalittle1]

Dottie gets the fungus on her hind legs also. I use the chlorhexi (nolvasan) cream. Put a thick layer on and then do standing wraps with no-Bows. The scabs and clumped hair start getting soft and fall/ pull of easily. Then I also use Malseb (which you cant get anymore) or another K9 ear clean that I get at the Vets I work at. Since most K9 ear cleaners contain and anti-fungel. I usually put this on the legs and scrub a bit with guaze 4x4's about 3 times a week. It keeps it from coming back as bad. Once in awhile I still need to do the cream still.

[hfhopper]

Sounds like a case of scratches that is getting out of control. I had this problem with Riley a few years ago and had to do a number of things to get it taken care of.

First, I scrubbed his legs with Malaseb shampoo (chlorhexadine will work too), let it soak for a good 10 mins, rinsed, and then dried thoroughly (I used a hair dryer). Then I clipped the worst of the hair off that wasn't matted/scabbed tight. Put on a furazone sweat like Einstein described for 12 hours. Removed the sweat, rewashed with the shampoo, dried, and then applied Jen's mixture. I continued to apply the mixture everyday. I used baby wipes to get the old cream/mud off between shampooing every other day.

Second, my vet gave Riley 2 different antibiotics IV. Albon sulfa and sodium iodide. This helped heal from the inside out.

Third, I put him on a good free-choice mineral to help balance out his copper and zinc levels. Once he got that balanced the scratches never came back.

I made sure to clip his legs in the spring, fall, and winter and just kept a very vigilant eye on them for any new infection.

Good luck as this can be a real PITA to get healed.

[Einstein]

Some of the leg crud/fungus loves an anaerobic environment, so if that's what it is, don't cover the sores with just fuarzone, it kind of seals it all shut and lets the fungus grow. Jen's mixture works well because of anti-fungal properties that go to work. I've had really good luck using scrub, Chlorhexidine diluted in water, and scrub the legs in that, make sure they are very dry, and then apply what you are going to. I think the Chlorhexidine scrub is great too, IIRC it's a bactericide.

At least with the freezing temps coming in all the mud will freeze! But I read we might get more snow. Yippee Skippy. And here I thought I moved away from Colorado so I could have more mild winters, silly me!

I'm glad he doesn't seem painful and hope you get it cleared up fast. If something works, will you let us know?