Anyone ever deal with severe rain rot? Plus weird wetness????

[Roxy's Run]

I have one particular mare who in past history when she was IN FOAL she develops severe rain rot like skin infection every year at this time. Well, I did NOT breed her this year but low and behold we now are dealing with the creepy crud again! I am on approximately week three of trying to get rid of this but am not succeeding.

Symptoms are scabs all over her body. I mean ALL OVER - down all legs with swelling and oozing in the back legs, neck, back, chest, face, belly, udder, etc. The skin where there is no hair - udder, under tail bone, anus, vulva area - the skin is just peeling off. If you scratch her anywhere, it is so scabby under her coat. It is really scabby feeling. Hair around her eyes has begun to come out in small clumps with scabs attached. She has days where she doesn't want to move at all. She takes baby steps and the only thing that relieves this pain, which seems to be all over here body, is 1/2 gram Bute once every other day. Treatment so far, Fulvacin SID (once a day) for fungal infection for five days. SMZ's 4 tabs BID (twice a day) and Bute 1/2 gram every other day. Her temperature has been anywhere 99.6 - 100.4.

The weirdest thing I have noticed and have never seen this before is that at times she is soaking wet when I touch her coat around her neck, chest, mane crest, and stifle area. I don't get this wetness. She is not outside in the rain, she has not been rolling on wet ground, it is not morning dew or frost as the other horses are all dry, no fever. But when I separate her hair to feel down to her skin, it is DRY!!! It is only the ends of her hair that are wet!!! ?????????????????? OH! :arg! Is this sweat coming through the hair shaft? I don't know what to do with her. She is eating, peeing, and pooping normally. When she has her Bute and is not taking baby steps, she is whinnying and trotting around like normal. My vet and I have been thinking it be best if I just body clip her and let air and sun get to the infection as well as giving her a good anti-fungal bath with medicated shampoo. Her winter coat is so thick right now that I haven't given her a bath yet because the weather has been crazy here, warm one day, cold and damp the next. Plus the vet and I feel that (a) the shampoo won't get through the coat well enough onto the skin and (b) she will not totally dry which will just add to the infection. So body clipping her seems to be my only option but then she will need to be blanketed. Won't that cause more problems??? UUURRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures

 

[Marty]

My good friend in Florida had a horse like that, a solid white Paint horse. He was a "walking sore" and lived on pain killers and multiple injections to no avail. He had to be kept inside a screened in stall with fans blowing on him constantly. No matter what she did, baths galore, he could not get well so she sent him up here to me in the mountains thinking it was enviormental or something grasping at straws really. In 4 weeks he was healed completely with no medicine involved. I have no idea to this day what really helped him out up here but her vets were completely amazed when I sent him back to her a few months later. Something to ponder. Enviorment?

My dog was also very pre disposed to skin problems.

Ask your vet to think in terms of the auto-immune system and start over with that in mind.

 

[Roxy's Run]

Thanks Marty. Interesting about your friend's horse - my mare is a gray! She has white socks on her hind legs and they are the only legs swollen and oozing. Could the white have something to go with this? She also has a blaze and the hair there is coming out in clumps. But the scabs are still all over her body which is the actual color of light grey and not white. I was thinking maybe it could be some kind of allergy specific to this time of year - maybe fallen leaves, etc. All I know is I want to get my girl better. I feel so bad for her.

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures

 

[Gizzmoe]

I had a stallion that was like that. What ended up working for us is to fly spray everyday and also spray him down with listerine. It helped clear whatever it was up. Took a little while but he seemed to like it.

 

[Connie Ballard]

Boy that sure sounds like allergies. Talked to a guy years ago, big horse had a bad allergic reaction to white clover...cause all kinds of sores...like what Marty was talking about. He spent 9 months in a stall trying to recover from all those sores.

Can you ask your vet about some type of allergy type treatment...antihestimines? Allergies are so hard to detect...people or animal to isolate...just wondering.

Good Luck!

 

[jayne]

Just tossing out ideas here....

My clydesdale has white legs from the knee/hock down. He also has a big blaze. I discovered that when I gave him a feed that had corn in it, he would break out in sores all over, but mostly where he was white. Do you switch to feeding grain this time of year after coming off summer pasture, and might there be something she's allergic to in it?

One summer, he also got into some red clover, and really burned the heck out of his nose. That's because the clover causes photosensitivity, so I don't think that's the issue here with a thick coat like they have now.

Additionally, I have also seen this phenomenon of hair only being wet on the ends. I am sure it is sweat, that due to body heat, has evaporated closer to the body but not on the ends yet. On mine, it is usually in the typical sweat spots of lower chest, armpits (for lack of a better word!) and flank areas. I see it on my thick coated minis when they are in the barn and it's a little warm for them, but I know it's not rain because they've been inside.

I know how frustrating it can be to deal with a chronic issue like this. You feel like you've exhausted every possibility but yet you're not seeing any improvement. I've got that same problem with a little mare of mine with diarrhea and it's driving me nuts. I'll be watching this thread to see what others have to say and if you see any improvement. Good luck!

Jayne

 

[Shaladar]

I had a mare ( 4 yr. old) with the same exact symptoms. Even though we are in California and you are far away, this happened to her also the end of October. We did skin biopsies,(which showed nothing unusual) blood work up, etc. The vets prescribed Antihistamines in addition to SMZ and Banamine. (orally) The scabs were almost all gone and the sweating had stopped when she foundered in all 4 and was on her way to rotating through the soles. (we tried everything we could think of, but she was put down)

Don't know if the founder had anything to do with the rash.

They (or I ) have no idea why this happened. Metabolic imbalance of some sort.

But, the Antihistamines were key in getting the rash (which caused small pustuals (sp) which then scabbed over) cleared up. I didn't bathe her in anything, but I did clip her where she was sweating. (chest, armpits, flanks, stifles, behind her ears)

Since yours does this every year, she maybe is allergic to something...pollen, etc. Ask your Vet about antihistamines for her.

Hope she's better soon

Sue

 

[SHANA]

I had a arabian mare with rain scald all over her body. I used Zinc Oxide cream(what you out on a babies bum) and MTG. Cleared it right up.

 

[Minimor]

I would have a skin biopsy done (an actual plug of skin taken, not just a scraping) and specifically test for horse pemphigus. It's an auto immune disorder.

 

[whitney]

Does the horse itch?

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Linda, it is kinda late to shave her but I do see your point. I think it has to be allergies also. Something very seasonal, poor darlin. If you shave her I have a nice warm big red badger blanket she can use/have to keep her warm. You may have to rehome her, as Marty said to get her well. What do you feed? Feeds do change as the seasons do with some. I never use a feed with corn or alfalfa but that's just me. that said, I do think it is enviromental. Antihists, check that immune system..maybe some red cell? The fulvicin didn't help? Sometimes you have to keep on that a long time! Hope you figure it out, light and prayers coming...

Just one more thought...what trees surround her area?

 

[Lisa Strass]

I would have a skin biopsy done (an actual plug of skin taken, not just a scraping) and specifically test for horse pemphigus. It's an auto immune disorder.

Ditto this comment. I would have her tested for pemphigus foliaceous.

 

[Shari]

Dyfra is a grey. She had very bad rain rot when I first got her...her whole back, sides of legs and so on.

Since then I really haven't had any problems.

I do know many horses that are bay or black that have had rain rot as bad as she did...so it is not a color thing.

Keeping her clean and dry was bit of a problem. Used Eqyuss medicated spray and put a breathable rain sheet on her. Problem went away in a few months.

For horse just being wet on the tips of the hair... I find that it could be sweating which is not unheard of this time of year with the coat our horses have... or she is rolling in her own pee,, or could be something as simple as condensation.

Hope you can find what is wrong with your mare.

 

[Roxy's Run]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I really appreciate it. To answer some of your questions . . . No, she does not itch. She has not been rubbing or biting at herself or rolling. If try to scratch her, she moves away from me so I know these scabs hurt. As for her environment, I don't have grass anymore and she is basically in a dry lot situation. There are large oak trees, pines trees on one side of her paddock. I was thinking maybe she is eating those leaves and is having an allergic reaction to them. On the other side of her paddock is a swampy area which feeds into my acre size pond. There are a lot of what I could call "cat tails" in this swampy area which comes right up to the fence but in her paddock. She cannot access this swamp or the oak and pine trees because of the fence but the oak leaves and pine needles do fall into her paddock. As for her feed, she gets 2 cups Purina Strategy and Purina Ultium mixed 50/50 together twice a day plus timothy hay. I will be seeing my vet tomorrow morning and will speak to him about maybe treating her with "anti-hist" and skin biopsy and see what he says. Can't hurt, right? Otherwise, I will clip her and take it from there.

Debbie, you are so sweet!

Thank you so much for the blanket offer. I do have one that is a winter full size foal blanket which should fit her nicely once she is clipped. But I will let you know if it doesn't fit her for some reason. Thank you again.

She has been in a stall since early Sunday morning because of rainy weather and so far, she has not needed Bute!

So I am really starting to lean towards an allergy in her paddock. Hhhhhmmmm!!!!!

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures

 

[Boinky]

i now rain rot can be very bad.. but USUALLY rain rot does not happen all over the body..it happens where moisture from rain/snow ect hit the horse and sit (back, haunches, tail, mane, neck ect). It also typically will clear up with some vigilant care of antifungal creams or other "tonics". It truly sounds like some sort of allergy to me. It could be an AIR allergy and not just something she's eating or drinking. I would ask the vet if maybe he could treat her with some Azium (prescription antihistimine) at least temporarily and see if that helps! If it helps it might be a step in the right direction as it show's that it's not fungal if it takes care of it at least.