CharmedMinis
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I've been meaning to share this with you all for a while now, but I've been working too much.
I've had horses now for almost 20 years and never knew this could happen, so I think it's important for everyone to know.
In August I noticed my 14 year old Stallion Peppy, was a little limpy with his back legs. So I went to investigate and found a very hard mass on one of his testicles. About the size of a ping pong ball. The vet came out the next day and decided to first clean his sheath. I normally keep him very clean, but since stopping breeding I've let it go a little bit.
Well my vet started swearing under his breath during the process and I asked what was wrong. He replied that Peppy had Summer Sores. What the heck is a summer sore, I've never heard of it and neither had the Vet Tech that was with him. So here is what I learned...........
Summer Sores can happen on any male horse. On any and most male horses at some point in their life, fly larva gets layed right inside the opening of their urethra. Most of the time it just gets peed out or dies when it attaches to an uninhabitable environment. But in some cases horses are allergic to the fly larva and the horses immune system violently attacks it, which also attacks it's own skin. Which causes small open ulcer like sores. YUCK!!!
My vet had to scrape out the inside of Peppy's urethra with a curet.....OUCH!!! And for three days I had to put steroids up inside, good thing Peppy doesn't mind being handled.
:
The next week I took Peppy in to the clinic to have the mass removed from his testicle, which we had pathology done on. Turns out it was a granuloma caused by the allergic reaction from the fly larva. His body had basically attacked itself from the inside out and formed a granuloma for protection.
So from now on every fly season Peppy will be on once monthly steroid shots, or daily prednisone to prevent his body's allergic reaction to the larva. I also have to use swat all around his sheath as another preventitive measure.
Thanks for letting me share, hope it helps somebody someday
:
I've had horses now for almost 20 years and never knew this could happen, so I think it's important for everyone to know.
In August I noticed my 14 year old Stallion Peppy, was a little limpy with his back legs. So I went to investigate and found a very hard mass on one of his testicles. About the size of a ping pong ball. The vet came out the next day and decided to first clean his sheath. I normally keep him very clean, but since stopping breeding I've let it go a little bit.
Well my vet started swearing under his breath during the process and I asked what was wrong. He replied that Peppy had Summer Sores. What the heck is a summer sore, I've never heard of it and neither had the Vet Tech that was with him. So here is what I learned...........
Summer Sores can happen on any male horse. On any and most male horses at some point in their life, fly larva gets layed right inside the opening of their urethra. Most of the time it just gets peed out or dies when it attaches to an uninhabitable environment. But in some cases horses are allergic to the fly larva and the horses immune system violently attacks it, which also attacks it's own skin. Which causes small open ulcer like sores. YUCK!!!
My vet had to scrape out the inside of Peppy's urethra with a curet.....OUCH!!! And for three days I had to put steroids up inside, good thing Peppy doesn't mind being handled.
The next week I took Peppy in to the clinic to have the mass removed from his testicle, which we had pathology done on. Turns out it was a granuloma caused by the allergic reaction from the fly larva. His body had basically attacked itself from the inside out and formed a granuloma for protection.
So from now on every fly season Peppy will be on once monthly steroid shots, or daily prednisone to prevent his body's allergic reaction to the larva. I also have to use swat all around his sheath as another preventitive measure.
Thanks for letting me share, hope it helps somebody someday
