Spider bite??? Graphic pictures ...

[TrueColours]

I have never seen a horse bitten by what appears to be a brown recluse spider

http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/spider-bite-what-else-warning-gross-pics-260036.html

but this is unbelievable!

The last updates are that the leg is healing beautifully from what these first pictures show, but the vet and blacksmith are coming out today to see if he can be saved or needs to be euthanized. I gather from him trying to save his hurt leg, he was putting so much pressure on the good leg, that he has foundered in that leg ... poor guy ... :(

Its such a shame - with these pictures on this page:

http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/spider-bite-what-else-warning-gross-pics-260036-11.html

the leg looked like it was coming along beautifully ...

Tell me these spiders dont come this far north! These pictures of bites are awful:

http://www.badspiderbites.com/brown-recluse-spider/bugs-2/

AT times like this I really LIKE living far north up in Canada!

[elio]

I Had a horse whowas bitten by a brown recluse many years ago! I swear he took a road trip from Kentucky up to Michigan on Luggage whe I went to Rolex.:sadsmile: Bert had a hole in his chest that you could put a fist into! I will never forget it!!

Those little critters travel....like never more!!!!!!!!!!

[*JumpIt*]

Ugh those pictures give me the willies. It is just so hard to imagine a little bitty spider doing that much damage.

[MistyBlue]

Yup, definitely looks like a recluse bite. Nasty mothers, aren't they? Skin, muscle, everything at the bite site goes necrotic. People have been bitten on the hand and had their entire skin and some muscles just slough right off. :eek:
They can heal up pretty well, but if there was too much muscle damage it can cause long term issues with the loss of muscle.
And no, recluse shouldn't be in your area.

[Obi]

Not sure if this will help or not but I recall reading an article about a horse that developed similar symptons after receiving spring/fall shots. The infection was deep and the flesh literally fell of the horse's body. It was in Equus, and they said it was an anerobic bacteria infection. The infection walls itself off and consumes the flesh inside the infection site. I will go through my last years issues to see if I can locate the exact one but the photos were quite similar. Perhaps a puncture by something? Just a thought. I would hate to have everyone think Zebra's instead of horses when the hear a stampead.:no:

[elio]

Yup, definitely looks like a recluse bite. Nasty mothers, aren't they? Skin, muscle, everything at the bite site goes necrotic. People have been bitten on the hand and had their entire skin and some muscles just slough right off. :eek:
They can heal up pretty well, but if there was too much muscle damage it can cause long term issues with the loss of muscle.
And no, recluse shouldn't be in your area.

After my horse got bit I met people who had limbs removed because of those little buggers! I will never forget it! A recluse has a violin shape on its belly if you get so close as to look!:mad:

[millwrightmomma]

A buddy of the hubbies was bit by one of them, he lives in Michigan,
They thought he was going to lose his leg, but i gave him a small very soft plastic bristled scrub brush and told him to scrub it gentley with a benedine soap solution 4 or 5 times a day, then rinse throughly with water. that started the tissue regrowing, and the granulosa tissue start.......he didn't lose his leg, but it was close.

He was a marine, so I figured the horse stuff would be OK to use on him :D I told him so, too.

[elio]

A buddy of the hubbies was bit by one of them, he lives in Michigan,
They thought he was going to lose his leg, but i gave him a small very soft plastic bristled scrub brush and told him to scrub it gentley with a benedine soap solution 4 or 5 times a day, then rinse throughly with water. that started the tissue regrowing, and the granulosa tissue start.......he didn't lose his leg, but it was close.

He was a marine, so I figured the horse stuff would be OK to use on him :D I told him so, too.

WOW!!!! I have heard of so many folks losing limbs, fingers, digits etc! How lucky for him! When Bert got bit I had to scrub his "hole in his chest" several times a day. It was so AWEFUL!! Had it been juts 1/4 inch over it would have killed him! Those darn little spiders are lethal!

[Simbalism]

About 20 years ago I was bitten in the face by a brown recluse. I had apparently carried it home from the barn on my bag that I carried for change of clothes etc. It apparently bit me (multiple times)while I was sleeping that night. The next morning I had several red spots that became increasingly larger and itchy feeling. By later that day my face started to get puffy. I went to the Dr, and got some antibiotics. I think because I got medical treatment so quickly, I stalled the process. I did get several small areas of necrotic tissue, but because I was agressive with scrubbing and cleaning, it healed well with no need for surgical intervention or long drawn out treatment. I do have several small scars from the bites, but nothing compared to what it could have been.

[silver2]

According to the link they are treating that horses leg with neat clorox. ouch.

[TrueColours]

So - I guess the moral of the story is that depending on the season, someone travelling into a brown recluse area can bring one back home to MI or Canada and not even know it???

Geez Louise ... :eek:

If I got bitten by something around here and saw little red marks and it got itchy never in a million years would I think "brown recluse". I'd think "mosquito" and never think anything more about it ... until maybe it was too late

How the heck do you guys in heavily BR areas protect yourself AND your horses from them??? I guess its one thing to set those sticky traps for them in the house, but what about the barn and stalls etc?

I thought those of you that live in snake and scorpion areas had it bad, but I think these little buggers look far worse as you cant easily see them

And I saw that comment on the HGS thread about pouring the straight bleach on the wound every day. It sure seems to be working - the before and after picture differences were amazing!

[spaghetti legs]

A buddy of the hubbies was bit by one of them, he lives in Michigan,
They thought he was going to lose his leg, but i gave him a small very soft plastic bristled scrub brush and told him to scrub it gentley with a benedine soap solution 4 or 5 times a day, then rinse throughly with water. that started the tissue regrowing, and the granulosa tissue start.......he didn't lose his leg, but it was close. .

Wow. You should have documented your success and sent the evidence to medical scientists. Is there any scarring? Have you got any photos? Did he tell you what his doctors thought of his recovery?

[Auventera Two]

Definitely looks brown recluse to me also. My grandpa and my uncle both had bites and lost a lot of flesh but it was nothing like some of the pics you can find online.

No, we don't have them in WI so I can't imagine you have them in Canada. When I lived in TN, they were everywhere. People had to bomb their houses with poison to kill them off every year.

The recluse is just that - a recluse. They prefer dark places that are very quiet and undisturbed. If you keep everything clean and bright, you probably won't have a problem. Especially if you use spider sprays or granuals in closets, tack rooms, feed rooms, etc. We had a harder time keeping the black widows out of the barn.

If you research the spider online, there are lots of sources that say many recluse bites cause no major reaction other than a little red mark and itching. Only when a lot of venom is injected into a host that is particularly sensitive to it, does it create massive tissue death.

[Jenn2674]

I know nothing about spider bites personally but I have a friend that is a researcher and she said that very few of the so called spider bites are actually spider bites. I guess there really is no way to know for sure?

[ReeseTheBeast]

A recluse has a violin shape on its belly if you get so close as to look!:mad:

I believe it's actually the Black Widow spider that has the violin (or hourglass) shape on its belly, not the Brown Recluse.

[bntnail]

black widow - hourglass on underside of abdomen.

brown recluse - violin on back,neck of violin pointing to abdomen(rear).

[MistyBlue]

If I got bitten by something around here and saw little red marks and it got itchy never in a million years would I think "brown recluse". I'd think "mosquito" and never think anything more about it ... until maybe it was too late


TC...a spider bite feels a tad different than a mosquito bite. Here's one way to tell: the red itchy bump will feel painful if you scratch it. It will itch like crazy, then if you scratch it even gently it feels like you scratched a sunburn. Not serious pain, but definitely uncomfortable.