A case of the Scratches....

While we were away over the Fourth of July weekend, Maryland humidity, nighttime dew, and the heat took a toll on Shae's rear right foot. I came back to find a nasty case of scratches right below her pastern and above the back of her hoof. Very icky. This time of year is always a challenge to keep scratches away 100% - both my girls have feathering and in Maryland it rarely dries out in July and August. When I left, both Shae and Ren had some small itchy areas on their rear feet. I just didn't realize how effective my once a day spraying of anti-microbial spray was being at keeping fungal skin infections at bay. Well, 4 days of not having their back feet sprayed certainly showed me how bad fungus can take hold! Ren's feet looked fine - just a little scab here and there (actually, her feet looked better then when I left, go figure), but Shae's one foot was NOT a happy sight.

Shae was definitely bothered by it - she wanted my foot as far away from me as possible and was contorting herself in all sorts of bizarre ways to keep her foot from being prodded at (she's too well behaved to jerk her feet away from you, but she stretched this way and that. It was a real challenge to clean it up.)

That's one shaved hock.  Poor Shae!  In this picture, the swelling is almost gone.  Thank goodness!

 

After giving Shae's back foot a soak, a betadine scrub, and then a thorough drying, I figured the topical anti-fungal spray I was using last week just wasn't going to clear this up quickly enough for my liking. So.... I headed out to the friendly CVS where I proceeded to purchase Monistat cream, Desitin, Lotrimin (Clotrimazole) cream, and one other anti-fungal athlete's foot cream that I can't remember off the top of my head. As I was purchasing it at the counter, I really did wonder what the cashier thought of my anti-fungal purchases!! Bet he didn't think it was to treat a horse!

Anyway, I mixed up the creams together and smeared it on. The back of her foot looked 70% better the very next morning and is 90% better today. No more oozing icky-ness. Just some scabs that are flaking off to show happy healthy skin underneath. Shae is no longer trying to keep me from poking and prodding at the back of her hoof. I figure three days of treatment should be enough. I think I can go back to the Eqyss Micro-Tek Anti-Microbial Spray to clear up the last bit of it. I'm not going to keep using the creams as I've heard that some fungus's develop a resistance to them. Hmmm.... Something to ask my doctor sister when I see her...