Health Question: fungal infections on hind quarter

[Goranson Farm]

I was just wondering if folks have advice for treating fungal infections on hind quarters. Its in a band around both back legs where her britchen would sit. The band is probably about 8 inches wide. It got substantially worse over the period of time I was home for the Holidays and there are now bare patches where her hair have completely sloughed off. It is incredibly itchy.I scrubbed her down yesterday with Betadine and plan to do it again tomorrow when the temp climbs into the 50s.

Should the hair be trimmed to treat it more effectively? Are there other anti-fungal soaps that you have had good luck with? Do I need to worry about transferring the fungus to other areas? Any advice would be awesome!

Thanks,

carl

[CharlyBonifaz]

are you sure it’s fungal?
“extremely itchy” makes me wonder, if the britchen has been new or has been redone (allergic to chrome leather)

[Jay]

If it’s fungal, I use athelete’s foot cream (old time vet remedy). Jay

[KMichelle]

I’ve treated a lot of ‘itchy, hair loss’, of mysterious fungal/bacterial origin, on saddle horses of mine. I would definitely clip the area in question as short as possible and betadine is good start. Lavender/Tea tree essential oil diluted slightly with water and used in a spray bottle, aggressively 3 or 4x daily. Is there any noticeable swelling? Is where the hair sloughs off leave abraded skin? If is travels to the legs and there is swelling, I would be wary of cellulitice – although I’ve also treated cellulitice with lavender/tea tree. Of course, can’t discount the allergic reaction…

[Goranson Farm]

The vet made the trip out to the farm a couple days ago to look at Annie. It turns out its a wonderful cocktail of both Ringworm and lice. With the relatively warm weather, I gave her a couple betadine baths and then applied the athletes foot cream to the bald patches (Thanks Jay). I’m a bit worried about clipping her back end and belly with the cold weather still to come. Any thoughts concerning blanketing a horse that has already put on a winter coat?

Thanks for the help. I’m pretty worried about it spreading as she has started to scratch her neck and bite at the pits of her front legs. I feel like its going to be a long hard battle. The cold makes it pretty difficult to treat effectively.

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