I've been meaning to bathe him for a week now and just haven't found the time, but the rain rot pushed him to top priority. I feel bad because I noticed tiny bumps a couple of days ago, but I thought it was bug bites because there were no scabs or tufts of hair. It's on all four legs and up the shoulder and hip, mostly in his sweat spots. I took some pictures after I rinsed him off (which makes it look way worse than it is), then bathed him, combed out his mane and tail, took him for a walk and let him graze until he dried. Then I applied MTG. I was a little conservative with it because I'm afraid the sun might burn him tomorrow since the base of MTG is mineral oil. I'm just going to apply it late in the afternoon everyday and hope it doesn't burn him. I hope I applied enough to do the job though. Anyway here are the pictures. He looks awful, but doesn't seem sore or tender.
His drowned rat impression.
Down his entire front leg on his right side.You can click to enlarge any of the pictures.
A close up. This is the worst spot. It's also the spot I noticed first, but there were no bare patches or tufts of hair. It was just small bumps.
His right hip. He's so relaxed his leg is cocked. :)
His left hip. This looks way worse than it is. I'll have to get more pictures tomorrow lol.
Left shoulder and forearm. It's all down the insides of the legs too.I can't believe how fast it spread. :(
Of course he'd been playing today and was all sweaty too.
After his bath and scrubbing all of the scabs off he looks a LOT better than these pictures. I wish I'd remembered to take some after he'd dried off. His coat was almost glistening it was so shiny and pretty. :) I put a touch of MTG in the roots of his mane and tail so they were shiny too. He looks so pretty after a bath and he's so soft. I just want to hug all over him.
After I put him up I put all of his stuff in bleach water, put my clothes in the washer and took a shower. I need to figure out something to do with Zep too. If he really does have it I don't want to leave it untreated. Anyone else have any suggestions or advice? Chrome's had rain rot one other time when Galaxy gave it to him, but we treated both of them and it never came back. Anyway I'll keep you all updated.
OHH my, I am so sorry for you both! I hope it gets under control fast. Lots of hugs!
ReplyDeleteYucky, poor Chrome! :-( When Salem came down to me from Ocala, he had fungus hiding underneath his long coat. I cleared it up with lots of apple cider vinegar scrubs and spraying him with Tinactin or Lotramin (athlete's foot spray). I also used some Calm Coat a few times -- it has tea tree oil in it, which is antifungal. One of my friends mixes ACV with Calm Coat and uses that on rain-rot.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm not a fan of MTG. It's so gross! Plus, I've known a few horses who have had bad reactions to it (and, like you said, it can cause them to get a sunburn this time of year).
Good luck! I hope it clears up soon.
Rain rot? That sounds nasty. Some sort of virus that can be transferred between horses? I hope you can get Zep all cleaned up too.
ReplyDeleteMango Momma
Thanks for sharing the photos. I was wondering what rain rot looked like. I hope Zeppelin doesn't have it. And I hope Chrome gets better quickly.
ReplyDeleteLOL Mango Momma, you're funny. :) Rain rot is a bacterial infection (I thought it was a fungal infection, but what I'm reading now says it's bacterial) of the skin. It's painless and not itchy so he's not miserably at least. It is gross looking though and is contagious to other horses/donkeys, so I'll just be careful not to share brushes from now on. :) It will clear up in no time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pain in the rear. sorry you have to deal with that.
ReplyDeletewow i've never seen rain rot in those odd locations! i think actually rain rot can be both fungal or bacterial, i'm still trying to figure this out.
ReplyDeletei sure hate it--i battle the pastern variety every winter. but i'm better now and usually kick its butt before it gets bad. good old imported american off-brand desitin! (and neosporin, cannot live without it!)
people who live in arid climates cannot fathom the grunge our horses suffer regularly (thrush too, thank you very much!).
but i like the color green outside my window. moss and ferns, mmm.