Mud fever

[sheep73]

Our 16hh warmblood has mudfever.

Initially one of her back legs blew up like a balloon and she was lane. Vet said bacterial mudfever.

2.5wks later we are still washing twice a day with antibacterial shampoo, rinsing and drying and keeping her in.

Leg no longer swollen.

But still scabs on it.

We have tried baby oil and cling film overnight but at the time it still was pussy so we stopped that.

How do we get the remaining scabs off? Persist with the shampoo or try the baby oil and cling film again?

I'd like to turn her out soon so understand we'll need barrier cream. Any recommendations?

I swear by udder cream and cling film under polo wraps, though might also be worth looking at what you feed. Since we’ve had ours on a balancer with vitamin e in we’ve seen less incidents of mud fever.

Do you need to get them off, is this what the vet recommended? I mean I would think they are the natural covering that will protect the underneath. Isn’t it generally recommended to keep wounds as dry as possible and let the air get at them.

I washed dHorse mud fever sore daily with chlorhexidine shampoo, leaving it on for 15 minutes then rinsing and drying. I then put a tiny amount of hoof fat on the scabs. They then dropped off during the next days shampooing. I didn’t cover the sores and he was out as normal on gravelled turnout. Still took a couple of weeks to clear. Picking at the scabs didn’t help.

Hibiscrub and then drying really thoroughly and keeping them off the mud completely for a while. I also agree with getting them in the best general health possible and making sure they are not run down - mine was so much better on a balancer and rugging up more also helped. She was completely fine after a week of stabling, balancer and rug (had been trying to leave her unrugged to get some weight off but I think she was getting run down).

Thanks all. I am doing the hibiscrub daily, leaving on for 15mins and rinse and drying. She's in a barn so off the mud. She's on balancer and rugged. The challenge is more keeping weight on than off!
I bumped into our vet at the weekend and she agreed we're doing all the right stuff but suggested at night we do sudocream + cling film and bandages and hopefully the scabs will come off.

Sudocreme is a game changer. It's also an excellent barrier. Don't be shy to slather it on.

We only hibiscrubbed once, then kept her stabled and legs completely dry. I wonder if you’re doing it too often? Often ignore me if that’s what the vet said you should do! But it worked for us. I think she got it in the first place because our groom was hosing her legs off every day after coming in from the field, and they just weren’t getting a chance to dry off.

*”Obviously”, not “often” 🙄

My vet advised me not to wash too often, every couple of days seemed to work well. I plastered cream on twice a day and let it build up before washing off. In my experience Sudocrem is great but I also got some Flamazine ointment from the vet which is brilliant stuff.

Hibiscrub is harsh stuff and using it daily will be weakening the skin. If you are on top of the generalised inflammation then I'd not be washing (much/at all) and really applying a lot of barrier cream then bandaging to keep clean and keep the stuff on. I'd also be turning out prob. because you want the circulation to get going normally in the legs.
We use baby oil and vinegar mixed to keep clear of mud fever, recommended by vet school, oil keeps skin supple so no cracks and vinegar is antibacterial.

Is the affected leg white?

I would stop the washing with anything - the skin needs to dry and washing all the time, especially with hibiscrub will just keep the pores open and the process going.

I know everyone has different methods but if her legs are dry all the time then I would put Sudocrem on the still scabby bits daily (I'm not a fan of the cling film bit as to my mind it creates a warm environment for more germs), and gently work away at them - a bit like picking your own scabs (sorry!), you want them off without making them bleed, if it's not coming off don't pick at it, re apply Sudocrem and try another day. It is not a quick process though. Silver spray is also quite good at protection, but I wouldn't use it until the scabs are mostly off.

My go to prevention is pig oil, well worked into the healed skin (might be worth waiting until the hair has regrown, and you'll need to allergy test it first), alternatively I use Keratex powder or Muddy Buddy powder which if your horse has white legs has the benefit of making them whiter!! I only wash legs if there's an outing planned, usualy I let them dry and then brush thoroughly.

It is a horrible thing and it will take a while to get rid of - mine came in with it last winter, she has very furry white legs and I just hadn't been thorough enough and it took a good couple of months before it had all gone.

Goose grease. I found worked the best. It was a barrier plus healer