Rotted frogs??

[mroades]

I have a horse that came here with rotted frogs, particulary in the rear. We have been treating traditionally, but now it looks like the cleft has gotten something up in it and he is intermittently really lame. It seems as though if we get whatever it is out of there he is totally sound, if dirt or something gets up in there he is abcess lame. Any ideas, no way to get a vet or farrier until next week.

[2DogsFarm]

What do you mean by "traditional" treatment? Soaking?
And what are you "getting out" of the affected foot/feet?

If he seems sound after treating then keep feet covered after doing whatever until you can get a vet out. Ichthamol, magpaste, epsom salt/betadine - cover sole with one of these then wrap to keep clean.
Don't just leave wrapped, you will need to reclean and rewrap until vet can get a look.

My $.02: This doesn't sound like something a farrier can fix.

[Watermark Farm]

That deep sulcus thrush can make your horse very lame, and it's a big deal.

My gelding is prone to it. I took him off all sweet feeds (sugar feeds yeast/thrush) and put him on lots of probiotics. I have added micro trace minerals to his diet, which seemed to have helped.

I clean the foot 2x daily and soak a bit of gauze in either Tinactin cream for humans, or Usnea tincture, which is great for athlete's foot. I leave the gauze in place and let it fall out on its own. I also follow up with Tinactin spray, trying to spray it into all the commisures, etc.

Keep the feet as dry as possible, and try for 24/7 turnout for movement, circulation and also dry feet.
http://www.herbalremedies.com/usnea1.html
Usnea Tincture, 100% Organic - 2 fl. oz.

[gabz]

wash with soap and water, rinse. Buy a box of ToMorrow or GoDry bovine product from your vet, TSC, Farm & Fleet or similar store.

After cleaning the foot, squirt 1/4 of a tube of the ToMorrow into the cleft. Do this 2x a day for the first few days, if you can, otherwise AT LEAST once a day for about a week. You should see improvement quickly. Continue every day or every other day until it is healed.

If you can have the horse stand in a very dry place while it eats hay, that will help.

[SuperSTB]

This is what I did with a rescue with 'no' frog. Yep the frog was entirely eaten away in one front and almost entirely in the other.

Trimmed hooves.
Thoroughly clean and dry affected hooves- I mean scrubbed clean (betadine).
Treated the area with thrush medication.
DRY is the important key. Owner tied her horse on the clean concrete driveway until hooves were bone dry.
Packed the hoof with cotton- intially- but later used hoof pack. Make sure it evenly packed.
I wrapped hoof in vet wrap and then duct-taped a fashionable silver booty.

Treated every day. Went though a lot of duct tape and vet wrap. Improvement in one week- noticable frog growth by week 2.

Horse was lame the first week but showed considerable improvement in movement by week 2.

Since money was an issue with new owner this was a very affordable option.

[mroades]

My farrier can :-)
Interesting, this just popped up as we had rain for the first time in WEEKS yesterday. We had been doing thrushbuster, and he does stay in a very clean dry stall at night.
Love the suggestions, keep em coming!

[WalkInTheWoods]

I too like the Tomorrow. It comes in a handy plastic syringe that you can direct right into the deep sulcus. If it's deep and wide enough, stuff a bit of gauze in there. It will fall out but will do some good until it does. I like to start with a clean hoof washed with soapy water with a soft scrub brush. Dry thoroughly (i use a hair dryer) so the tissue will be a bit on the dry side and ready to "accept" the Tomorrow. I order mine thru Valley Vet.

[mroades]

I ordered Cefa-Lak from the vet...its a cow mastitis med, comes in a tube with a long skinny nozzle. I would be willing to bet its the same as Tomorrow? The catch is, I am leaving town tomorrow until monday, and the meds probably wont get here til tuesday..(darn Columbus!)

[shawneeAcres]

Wrap his foot in a disposable diaper, pour epsom salt on the diaper, then LIBERALLY cover with strong iodine, and place this on entire sole of foot. It really works wonderfully at dring things up, killing all kinds of bacteria and generally toughning the foot up. I learned this from my old vet who used it quite a bit and it really wokrs wonders!

[meaty ogre]

Mroades, I like the tomorrow stuff but also the mycaseptic e spray - http://www.vetamerica.com/mycaseptic-e-spray-460ml.aspx

It's easier to get the liquid spray into the cracks and crevices, and it's hydrophobic so provides a moisture barrier. You can also pack it with cotton and wrap if you want for the best effectiveness. I'm using tomorrow on the rescue's thrush cause I"m out of the spray. Tomorrow works good too but I've never seen anything faster than this spray.

[mroades]

Ah, the diaper with iodine and epsom salts...use that all the time for hot nails, etc. I will see if the girls I am leaving at home can do that.

[lindasp62]

Can somebody please post a link to the ToMorrow product?

I have never heard of this before, but my guy has deep clefts and mild chronic thrush. Usually, for that I take a peroxide soaked gauze pad, and put it in there, pulling back and forth, like I would do dental floss. When done, I take a dry gauze pad to do the same thing to dry it. Farrier has also suggested sticking a cotton ball up there and soaking with Thrush Buster. For the rest and sulcices, a thorough clean of Betadine and apply Thrush Buster.

But, interested in trying the ToMorrow~:lol:

[cloudyandcallie]

Missy, try the albadryl out of the jefferslivestock catalogue, it's good on horse hooves.
(for what some vets call "hoof rot")

Then stuff with cotton to keep it up there.
And maybe some duct tape to keep all of it in? Otherwise it'll fall out with all the rain we're getting.

Hi from Cloudy and me. How's the paint mare?

[gabz]

Can somebody please post a link to the ToMorrow product?

I have never heard of this before, but my guy has deep clefts and mild chronic thrush. Usually, for that I take a peroxide soaked gauze pad, and put it in there, pulling back and forth, like I would do dental floss. When done, I take a dry gauze pad to do the same thing to dry it. Farrier has also suggested sticking a cotton ball up there and soaking with Thrush Buster. For the rest and sulcices, a thorough clean of Betadine and apply Thrush Buster.

But, interested in trying the ToMorrow~:lol:

http://www.kvvet.com/KVVet/productr.asp?pf%5Fid=34031&gift=False&HSLB=False&mscssid=0D1F80E7AD1846EFBA38909F64D89B50

http://www.americanlivestock.com/pm-1298-15065-tomorrow.aspx

If I were you, I would stop the peroxide. It kills off good tissue as well as bad tissue. Using an antibacterial hand soap, with water, is more effective. Especially if you can brush it in there and let it sit. Iodine may be too harsh as well.

It looks like Cefa-dry is similar to the ToMorrow. Also Go Dry
http://www.enasco.com/product/C12945N

[WaningMoon]

You can usually pick it up and sometimes by the tube at the feed stores. When we were milking we bought it by the case from the co-op as we treated all the dry cows with it but a tube or two goes a long way for hoof use and it is much cheaper. You can also use Today which is for cows you are milking.

[matryoshka]

What does the frog look like? Is there a deep cleft? Are there any white/yellowish patches in there, particularly in the center sulcus? If there is a white patch that seeps fluid or bleeds when cleaned, it could be canker. Don't want to scare you, but if it is canker, early treatment and keeping the feet dry are paramount.

I've had reasonable success clearing up nasty frogs using White Lightening. One client has less-than-ideal environment, and the frogs on her horses periodically get very nasty and bleed when cleaned.

When this happens, I lend her my boots (both Davis and Easyboots) so she can treat all 4 feet with White Lightening at once. We put a cotton ball in the bottom of the boot, add 1 tsp of WL and 1 tsp of vinegar, apply the boot, and duct tape the boot closed to trap in gases. WL works through the gases produced when it is mixed in equal parts with vinegar. Leave boots on for 20 minutes. She does this every other day until the frogs heal.

[matryoshka]

Tractor Supply carries mastitis ointment. Also, feed stores that sell cattle feed usually carry it. This is a good treatment if there is a deep cleft in the center sulcus without signs of a bigger problem (such as canker). I carry it with me to give to clients whenever I encounter a center sulcus infection. The center sulcus should be a divot that is open to the air, not a deep cleft or crevice.

When treating the center sulcus, go easy with the hoof pick. It is important to clean the center sulcus before applying the mastitis ointment, but this is painful for the horse at first. You'll know you are making progress when the frog firms up and the cleft starts to open. Treat once a day until there is no longer a crevice in which to squirt the meds.