Oozing tick bites?

[fleabites]

So my horse had two ticks on him today :eek:. I thought they had gone away by now, but.... They were almost white and about the size of jellybeans. I removed them (and confirmed that the heads were still on both) and went for my ride. Came back, and there were a few drops of blood and a dripping line of yellow/clear pus that went about an inch down. They were not there while grooming yesterday.

I have never seen pus coming from tick bites, whitish ticks, or ticks this late in the year. Does this seem odd for anyone else? If he starts acting funny should I get him tested for Lyme? Get him tested anyway?

Thanks!

[Evalee Hunter]

Yes, we have horses that react that way to tick bites - usually/mostly to the deer ticks that carry Lyme Disease. I will tell you that pusy oozing is nasty & can go on a long time. It looks like you are abusing your horse.

[fleabites]

Yes, we have horses that react that way to tick bites - usually/mostly to the deer ticks that carry Lyme Disease. I will tell you that pusy oozing is nasty & can go on a long time. It looks like you are abusing your horse.

Evalee, I am not quite sure what to think about your post:confused: I am sorry if you think I am abusing my horse? Since when is being careful abuse? :confused:

I know this horse does not normally react to ticks this way because when he lived outside over the summer, I would pull ticks off of him a lot and none of the bites oozed or bled.

[Chall]

Perhaps she meant the resulting wound looks, to outsiders, as if you have been abusing your horse with a whip, spur etc, when its just the reaction to the bite. That's how I read it.:)

[Evalee Hunter]

Perhaps she meant the resulting wound looks, to outsiders, as if you have been abusing your horse with a whip, spur etc, when its just the reaction to the bite. That's how I read it.:)

Obviously I wasn't clear but, yes, I feel it looks like our horses are being abused at times because they have these yucky wounds - one horse in particular who is also an older hard keeper & tends to be thin. I think it looks "bad" like we aren't caring for our horses or aren't concerned about this wound or, maybe, even, that the horse has something nasty like strangles & we are still taking him out in public. I once helped someone care for a horse that the vet had diagnosed as having strangles & I'm pretty convinced that all it had was oozing tick bites under the jaw. (The horse never had any other signs of strangles, such as running a fever, etc.)

I did NOT means you were actually abusing your horse.

Edited to add: Thanks, Chall, for reading between the lines correctly.

[fleabites]

Obviously I wasn't clear but, yes, I feel it looks like our horses are being abused at times because they have these yucky wounds - one horse in particular who is also an older hard keeper & tends to be thin. I think it looks "bad" like we aren't caring for our horses or aren't concerned about this wound or, maybe, even, that the horse has something nasty like strangles & we are still taking him out in public. I once helped someone care for a horse that the vet had diagnosed as having strangles & I'm pretty convinced that all it had was oozing tick bites under the jaw. (The horse never had any other signs of strangles, such as running a fever, etc.)

I did NOT means you were actually abusing your horse.

Edited to add: Thanks, Chall, for reading between the lines correctly.


Oh, I understand what you meant now. I overreacted and only read it once, sorry.

[wateryglen]

Yes apparently some horses have a quasi-allergic reaction to tick bites that get infected, swell and ooze serum (yucky clear yellow sticky stuff!). I know a horse that had just such a reaction under his jaw which was swollen and oozed and his lymph nodes were swollen too. Looked like strangles but vet did a slide and said it was staphlococcus not streptococcus (strangles). So either way, the area needs cleaning and the horse needs antibiotics. Vet said it's an immune reaction. Horse never had a fever, cough, nasal drainage, a reluctance to eat or swallow and his teeth had been done recently so it wasn't that!

There's always more to learn from horses ay?!!!

[Secretariat2]

My mare went through this at the end of summer and needed antibiotics. She was bitten right behind the elbow in front of the girth line and it made her very sore as it was swollen and rubbed when she moved. My vet put her on 5 days of Tribussen paste and it cleared up very quickly.

[MistyBlue]

Contrary to popular belief...ticks are year round pests. They go dormant in temps below freezing if temps stay that way for 72 straight hours but come out of dormancy in only 24 hours or so of direct sun/warmth above freezing. Once they come out of dormancy they're very active...biting fast. So we really do enjoy a good long cold snap
Larger ticks when fully bloated are not deer ticks...a deer tick fully bloated turns medium to pale beige and is about the size of a small to medium pea. They're very small ticks and dark brown in color when not bloated. The female is the bigger biter. She's a real bitch. :winkgrin:
Wood ticks, dog ticks, common northeastern ticks, etc are the ones that can bloat huge (grape size/jelly bean size, etc) and are either brown or pale cream when bloated. (depending on type of tick)
A tick bite is very similar to a spider bite...ticks aren't insects. They're arachnids like a spider so have very different bites than flies or mosquitos. It's pretty common for tick and spider bites to not react well on most mammals and they get infected easily too. A bug bite heals fast on the outside...an arachnid bite keeps a small open wound and it can infect rather easily. Even if not infected they ooze a clear serum often...but if they get a lump and ooze yellow goo they're infected.
I've found the best way to fight oozing tick-lumps is with a bucket of hot water and a washcloth...dunk cloth, wring out and hold firmly over drippy lump to help keep it open and draining. Do this a couple times per day, redunking washcloth and reapplying until the water is no longer warm. If it scabs up or crusts over, soften with warm water and remove crust/scab to allow it to continue to drain. You can gently squeeze it a bit to help express the goo out. When not treating it I coat them with a light cover of Aquafor...it's like vaseline but it's breathable...air gets through it easily. This keeps crud from getting in, keeps it soft and helps it continue to drain.
Tick lumps are a pain in the butt...I hate ticks.

[twofatponies]

My Morgan mare is very sensitive to tick bites - even if I find them before they are big, which I usually do, she often gets an itchy lump where the bite was. And when we found one that was all bloated last week it did drip serum like the other posters described - icky. Fortunately there seem to be fewer ticks at this barn we've moved to this year - higher ground, less woods and swamp nearby.

Nasty things, ticks. I've gotten bitten even in January, with snow on the ground - I fell in the snow and disturbed the leaves underneath, and there must have been a tick "resting" in the leaves, just waiting for me. Ugh.

[Coobie]

One of my horses goes through this all the time. He is a total tick magnet. His get all yucky and oozy too. Not to steer this thread in a different direction but feeding him garlic really does help. When he is getting it not one single tick. I thought I was safe to stop it with the cold weather, as soon as I did I picked 10 of them off his head. Put him right back on it, not a single tick since.

[darrin]

how do you feed garlic? whole cloves? how many per pound of body weight? does your horse eat it willingly? :) (me, i love garlic, but i don't know how the boy feels about it...) does the garlic cause your horse to have an, um, non-horsey smell?

[fleabites]

Thank you for all your help, really. Unfortunately, Norman coliced this afternoon (unrelated to the tick bites) and is probably not going to make it through the night. :cry:

[Simbalism]

My old gelding used to have that problem. He would have all these swollen up nasty wounds with pus dripping out of them. I put him on garlic initially for fly repellant, but found that after he had been on it for a few weeks, no ticks and no more oozing sores. I live in Va and would start the garlic the beginning of April and end mid September. Worked great for him. I used garlic from Springtime.

[craz4crtrs]

Thank you for all your help, really. Unfortunately, Norman coliced this afternoon (unrelated to the tick bites) and is probably not going to make it through the night. :cry:

I am so sorry about Norman. :no: Colic is so heart breaking. How old a horse? Please update us.

[Marcella]

My old guy gets these bites in his forelock, mane, and tail. 2 summers ago his entire forelock fell out because of several tick bites and all of the oozing and swelling! I think some horses just must taste sweet.
Blech.