Vet confirms...(and why I'm throwing out all my MTG)

[SkipChange]

...that I am crazy :lol: had him out to check my jumper because he has just seemed a little funny behind lately and is late behind on lead changes. Verdict? Horse is perfect, I need to learn to ride better :D Fine, that's what I wanted to hear! Get on him right after and wouldn't you know it, he got 4 perfect changes in a row!!!!!! He never does that. Maybe having the vet flex his back legs was a nice stretch for him and worked loose any kinks?? Vet laughed so hard at me, Silko must've heard us talking bad about him and decided to get down to business. We are starting him on Adequan more as a preventative though since we're moving up to 4ft :D and hopefully beyond.

Additionally, vet said never to use MTG on him again since he swelled up something awful when I used it to treat his rain rot. We're talking his whole leg was the circumference of his knee :eek: massive. I know rain rot can make them swell up a bit but vet and I both think we will avoid that from now on. Shame since I have such good results with it on other horses. Anyone had this happen to them

[Gry2Yng]

Not with MTG, but I have had one product or another cause one horse or another to swell up. Usually the horse has been totally sound and work helped reduce swelling.

IMHO, those are the best vet calls. "Shut up and ride!"

[kcmel]

Both of mine reacted to it, but not as bad as yours.Kind of like a mild burn and made their skin flake off.

[SkipChange]

Not with MTG, but I have had one product or another cause one horse or another to swell up. Usually the horse has been totally sound and work helped reduce swelling.

IMHO, those are the best vet calls. "Shut up and ride!"

:lol: yes it was definitely something good to hear. Nearly every thread about behavioral issues someone says, well have the vet look at him you dum-dum. So I really wanted to make sure that his head tossing, laziness, kicking, and lack of changes was solely due to my bad riding and homeboy wasn't hurting. Of course he didn't throw his head when jogged, was quite fresh, didn't kick the vet, and performed flawless changes. I don't mind spending $70 to sleep well tonight and move up to 4ft with more confidence in my horse :cool:

Kcmel, I've seen the reaction you're talking about on a couple as well and am losing faith in the product altogether. His swelling is almost gone, but that was in no way related to why the vet was called in the first place, just an added bonus ;)

[monstrpony]

I put MTG on my horse's tail once, he swished his tail back and forth, and the next morning had hives all over his back end, just in the tail-swish pattern. So, I figured he was allergic to MTG and got rid of it.

[AAArabLover]

I don't like to use it simply because it stinks!

[CrzyCorgi]

Arablover ~ I second that!!

[Huntertwo]

I used it on my mare's tail and with good success until I happened to put it on the underside of the tail.

The next day the skin between her back legs was blistering and peeling.

Washed her good and threw the MTG in the garbage.

[MunchkinsMom]

That's why I spot test any new product (and have a bunch I have tossed or given away), because my horses seem to be sensitive to some products that other folks swear by.

[horsepoor]

I used MTG on my super sensitive horse with no problems (after testing it on him as I'm used to him reacting to everything...). Given that, I thought I'd use it on my other horse and didn't spot test it -- big mistake. I had put it on his crest/mane -- it swelled up with big welts all over and he was miserable.

What a great vet appt, though, if that was the only bad thing that came of it ("toss the MTG")-- congrats!

[Addison]

My mare is very sensitive to MTG products too.

[magnolia73]

My horse stocked up from MTG- not stove pipe, but enough that I don't use it.

I've found that krudbuster works pretty well overtime. I started my horse on Omega Horseshine this summer, and scratches and rot seem to be down.

And yeah- I've had that happen too- OMG, horse is cripple and won't swap to the right lead... except for when I actually ride correctly and don't lean, butt swish and pick up the inside rein thus making the swap impossible.

[rodawn]

Additionally, vet said never to use MTG on him again since he swelled up something awful when I used it to treat his rain rot. We're talking his whole leg was the circumference of his knee :eek: massive. I know rain rot can make them swell up a bit but vet and I both think we will avoid that from now on. Shame since I have such good results with it on other horses. Anyone had this happen to them

Your horse is allergic to sulfa and sulfonamides. It's not because it's MTG brand that is doing this - it's the sulfur compound within MTG that impacts your particular horse. The product is still fine for other horses.

Sulfur is the primary ingredient in a lot of antibiotics which are extremely effective in fungal and bacterial infections. This is why MTG is superb on rain rot, sweet itch, heel rot, most cases of scratches, and basic skin infections, blah, blah.

Your horse, quite simply, is allergic to sulfa. That being said, he now cannot have ANY antibiotic containing sulfa from here on out. For the rest of his life.

On a similar note, anyone allergic to sulfa drugs, should always wear gloves when handling this product because you could react to it.

[SkipChange]

Your horse is allergic to sulfa and sulfonamides. It's not because it's MTG brand that is doing this - it's the sulfur compound within MTG that impacts your particular horse. The product is still fine for other horses.

Sulfur is the primary ingredient in a lot of antibiotics which are extremely effective in fungal and bacterial infections. This is why MTG is superb on rain rot, sweet itch, heel rot, most cases of scratches, and basic skin infections, blah, blah.

Your horse, quite simply, is allergic to sulfa. That being said, he now cannot have ANY antibiotic containing sulfa from here on out. For the rest of his life.

On a similar note, anyone allergic to sulfa drugs, should always wear gloves when handling this product because you could react to it.

Good to know, thanks rodawn. I did send an email to the the manufacturer and they said a small number of horses are sensitive to it but they would be happy to refund my purchase.

[KristiKGC]

Good to know! I'm allergic to sulfa drugs and the one time I used it I wore gloves simply because I didn't want that smell on my hands! Luckily I hated it so much I gave it away, but it's good information to store away!

[Mamare]

Mine reacted really badly to Krudbuster in the summer. I'm guessing it has a similar ingredient to the MTG - like sulfur?

[mvp]

Don't be hating on MTG!

It smells like the lobby of Satan's hotel, so you are warned that your are in a dangerous place.

If you discover via MTG on the outside that your horse is allergic to sulfer-containing things on the inside, then MTG did you a service.

My horse is a skin sissy and has told me to use MTG sparingly and infrequently. He appreciates that it stops itchy tail in it's tracks. But he'll also recommend that I use baby oil after an initial application of MTG if I want to keep putting greasy crap on his tail to prevent rubbing.

Which is worse-- an itchy tail or some hair scalded off the sides of his buns from where his MTG-ed tail touches it while swishing at flies?

He doesn't know. He'll get back to you. He says the whole thing would be taken care of if I'd just hire a Nubian slave child to stand there and fan all flies off him, say 18 hours a day.

[kcmel]

Your horse, quite simply, is allergic to sulfa. That being said, he now cannot have ANY antibiotic containing sulfa from here on out. For the rest of his life.

On a similar note, anyone allergic to sulfa drugs, should always wear gloves when handling this product because you could react to it.

Well, mine had a reaction to MTG, but does fine on sulfa antibiotics, both topical and oral. Go figure.

[MunchkinsMom]

Here is a great product that I found that my ultra-skin-sensitive horses have no problems with, and it clears up the skin issues (rain rot, sweet itch, etc.) so fast, that you don't need much of it at all.

http://www.equiderma.com/itching.html

I highly recommend it. My horses break out in hives if I use anything with tea tree oils, and a few other products, but this one just plain old works.

[Montanas_Girl]

Well, mine had a reaction to MTG, but does fine on sulfa antibiotics, both topical and oral. Go figure.

My gelding did this as well. He had a massive reaction to MTG - swelling, heat, pain, etc. - but has been treated several times with SMZs and other sulfur-based topical products with no complications. There must be some other ingredient in MTG that is irritating to sensitive horses. I now use Microtek almost exclusively for skin issues; I've never had any horse react to it, and it seems to do a better job than MTG anyways.

[SkipChange]

My gelding did this as well. He had a massive reaction to MTG - swelling, heat, pain, etc. - but has been treated several times with SMZs and other sulfur-based topical products with no complications. There must be some other ingredient in MTG that is irritating to sensitive horses. I now use Microtek almost exclusively for skin issues; I've never had any horse react to it, and it seems to do a better job than MTG anyways.

Well the good news for poor pony is that the MTG actually did a pretty good job of clearing up his rain rot, despite the adverse reaction. Used some sort of Microtek leave in gel until today to work on any lingering rain rot.

In retrospect, I might should have listened to him when he kept stomping his legs and kicking while I applied the MTG. I thought he was just being rude, didn't realize it was probably burning. He seemed to enjoy the Microtek being applied far more :D

[skip916]

A little off topic, but we should start a thread on what MTG actually smells like. So far I've heard, rotten pepperoni, warm dog food, "the lobby of satan's hotel" (lol)..

Anyway, I am totally allergic to MTG and found that out the hard way when I was out of gloves and decided to put it on my horse "just this once" without them... such a bad idea since my hands swelled up and were itchy to the point where I was afraid to try to drive to the store for some benadryl! Good riddance M-T-G! My horse also looked like he had dandruff for a month after I used it so I think it basically just burned the rainrot right off of him- eww.

Try Banixx spray and Teaclenz shampoo-much more horsey/human friendly ingredients and the shampoo smells great.

[SkipChange]

Well poor pony was all stocked up again after using the Microtek Gel on his legs :(. Not nearly as bad as with the MTG but I still felt bad for him. Gave him a good scrub and I think I'm going to have to just stick to frequent bathing of his legs and ditch any topical rain rot treatment

[bascher]

I agree with the smelling smokey comment!

[Montanas_Girl]

Well poor pony was all stocked up again after using the Microtek Gel on his legs :(. Not nearly as bad as with the MTG but I still felt bad for him. Gave him a good scrub and I think I'm going to have to just stick to frequent bathing of his legs and ditch any topical rain rot treatment

Poor pony! Does he have open sores or broken skin on his legs? I can't use ANYTHING on my horse if he has even the smallest break in the skin, except very mild ointments like nitrofurazone, Corona, and Horseman's Dream (aloe based). When he had a bad case of scratches and cellulitis this spring, I would wash his legs daily with Nolvasan, dry them, then apply the Horseman's Dream to keep the skin from cracking further, then wrap his legs. It took a course of IV antibiotics, steriods, and pain killers, followed by a round of oral antibiotics to finally get rid of the infection!

[Diamond Jake]

I use Banixx on just about everything. For thrush, scratches, wounds, etc. I guess it has a high pH balance, which makes the environment untolerable for fungus and bacteria.

Does not sting or stain, does not smell. You wonder if they just sold you water in a bottle until you go out 24 hours after applying and see progress!

IDk.. I just really like it...


www.banixx.com

[Ghazzu]

Your horse is allergic to sulfa and sulfonamides. It's not because it's MTG brand that is doing this - it's the sulfur compound within MTG that impacts your particular horse. The product is still fine for other horses.

Sulfur is the primary ingredient in a lot of antibiotics which are extremely effective in fungal and bacterial infections. This is why MTG is superb on rain rot, sweet itch, heel rot, most cases of scratches, and basic skin infections, blah, blah.

Your horse, quite simply, is allergic to sulfa. That being said, he now cannot have ANY antibiotic containing sulfa from here on out. For the rest of his life.




Not necessarily so, though the caution is reasonable.

[jaimebaker]

I use Banixx on just about everything. For thrush, scratches, wounds, etc. I guess it has a high pH balance, which makes the environment untolerable for fungus and bacteria.

Does not sting or stain, does not smell. You wonder if they just sold you water in a bottle until you go out 24 hours after applying and see progress!

IDk.. I just really like it...


www.banixx.com

I love Banixx as well. But you are so wrong on the no sting part. My horse's stomp like crazy after it's applied (using it for scratches right now). I thought it wasn't supposed to sting either so I sprayed some on a scratch I had on my hand. Stung like the devil. Not quite as bad as rubbing alcohol but darn close.

Just realized this thread is 2 years old. Grrrrrrr.

[ptownevt]

Itchy tail responds well to a 50/50 mixture of baby oil and listerine.

[Diamondindykin]

I used it on my mare's tail and with good success until I happened to put it on the underside of the tail.

The next day the skin between her back legs was blistering and peeling.

Washed her good and threw the MTG in the garbage.

My gelding had the same reaction after I put it on him.........huge blisters and burning. I felt HORRIBLE that I did that to him :no: I will never use that stuff again!!!!!

[murphyluv]

I've had plenty of horses that couldn't handle mtg but were fine on sulfa drugs. One thing I did notice, that may be a problem in some cases, is that it definitely seems to irritate skin on gray or white horses- I wondered if that could be from the mineral oil on pink skin. Hello sunburn!!! I love well-horse or just plain desitin on scratches.

[CrimsonInClover]

After having one horse have a reaction to MTG and hearing so many similar stories, I don't even try it on my horses. Right now I have a sensitive skinned TB and a pony that is 95% pink skinned and is extremely sensitive. I use Mela-Septic on skin crud and I love it!

http://premierproductsonline.com/page/PPO/PROD/67004

I've never had any horse, even the most sensitive skinned have a reaction to it. I don't use the shampoo simply because my local tack store stocks the spray and I have great results with it by itself.

[barnmaven]

I do think some horses have reactions to MTG, but I also think you can get an occasional "bad" bottle that may be too strong or the formula is off.

[MeghanDACVA]

Shampoos and other topical substances can get contaminated with bacteria and cause more problems than they solve then. If you are having trouble with that bottle of MTG, throw it out and buy a new one. See if that helps.

[Tom Bloomer]

. . . If you are having trouble with that bottle of MTG, throw it out and buy a new one. See if that helps.
Einstein's definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

[Grataan]

It does say on the bottle to test first. Animals (and for that matter people) can react or be sensitive to anything. I wouldn't throw it out, but I wouldn't use it on a horse that reacted to it again.

I love those kinds of lameness exams where I flex the horse and say he looks good to me-it's like when I send a horse to colic surgery and he steps off the trailer looking like a million dollars and doesn't need surgery. Makes me feel a bit foolish but the patient is doing well and that's all that matters in the end.

[tradewind]

I can't stand MTG, burns my horses..I have switched to a product with Tea Tree Oil and could not be happier.

[philosoraptor]

I've never had a horse react badly to MTG. It's really effective at getting rid of difficult rain-rot.

It could be your horse is just a little too sensitive to something in it?

[Freebird!]

A while back. we had this one boarder at the barn I trained at, who used MTG on everything. Unfortunately it made her mare's legs swell up like crazy. I had her wash it off with a mild shampoo, and told her not to use it and then turn her horse out in the heat of the day with the MTG sprayed all over her legs. Worked like a charm.

[LittleblackMorgan]

My ponys entire mane fell out from MTG. And it was 18" long and lovingly cared for. I wept. I threw out the bottle and the BO took it out and kept it.
I'd used it before with no ill results (and it was the same bottle, just not as much). Vet said don't use that. It also burnt his neck where the mane lays.

[LaraNSpeedy]

We have 14 horses in the barn - 6 I own and a few are allergic or at least the MTG did not work the miracles it does on some. IT IS DIFFICULT sometimes finding the right product for fungal problems.

I have to find the products NAME but there is a spray I buy that says its for skin problems - its pretty cheap too - and it smells a little like it has alcohol in it and its water based. Its worked awesome on a few horses who came in with rain rot.

I use the Eqyus however its spelled $30 a bottle stuff on the two senstive TBs I have. One of the TBs once had a bad fungal problem on his hind legs he picked up in a stall at a show. My vet was very aggressive to treat it and in the end, we found he was just as problematic to the treatments as the fungus. We found that if I pour listerine on it after shaving the hair off the legs - it clears right up. No scrubbing - no iodine which he over reacts to. Tea tree oil shampooing helps to prevent. But on another horse we had, that was not strong enough - we scrubbed her with betadine every 2 days and that kept her scratches at bay.

There isnt a one-way because I think the treatments require different things and those things definitely are good for some horses and not others.

[Tom Bloomer]

Instead of wasting money on snake oil concoctions like MTG, try Chlorhexadine solution - one gallon makes 50 gallons diluted with water.

Superior antimicrobial properties - it is used in mouthwash and surgical scrubs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorhexidine

http://www.amazon.com/Bimeda-Inc-Chlorhexidine-Solution-gallon/dp/B00061MU9W

http://www.amazon.com/Chlorhexidine-2%25-for-Horses-Dogs/dp/B000HHNZVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314658569&sr=8-1

[Elkie]

I didn't see the ingredients on the MTG bottle which I find strange. We all know it has sulfur but what else? I applied some to my mare for a few days and she's been so hypersensitive since, stomping, kicking out flinching all over.
That's it, I'm throwing it out.

[SLW]

Instead of wasting money on snake oil concoctions like MTG, try Chlorhexadine solution - one gallon makes 50 gallons diluted with water.

Superior antimicrobial properties - it is used in mouthwash and surgical scrubs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorhexidine

http://www.amazon.com/Bimeda-Inc-Chlorhexidine-Solution-gallon/dp/B00061MU9W

http://www.amazon.com/Chlorhexidine-2%25-for-Horses-Dogs/dp/B000HHNZVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314658569&sr=8-1

Amen. It is all I use for treating rain rot....in addition to clipping away the hair covering the affected area.

[LoveJubal]

One of my horses is allergic to Nolvasan (Chlorohexadine scrub) and I loathe the smell of MTG, so I just use the 40% strength Desitin for rain-rot and scratches (not the Creamy Desitin, it is too weak). It works like a charm. The Zinc Oxide does the trick every time, and it actually seems to work better if you don't wash it everyday and reapply.

I get the best results when I just wipe off the dirt and muck and then reapply to the sores on the legs with no picking/aggravating the wounds. If it is rain rot (on the body), then you have to spread it more and work it in, but it still gets the job done fairly quickly. In fact, if you catch it early, I have had the scabs go away within 1-2 applications in a matter of a few days.

Now, for itchy butt, I use some Listerine and then moisturize with some Healthy Hair Care mixture a few days later. That seems to do the job fairly well. Maybe I will try the Listerine and Baby Oil mixture that someone suggested earlier.

Keep the MTG-free remedies coming!

[SLW]

LoveJubal- you can use Betadine solution (diluted with water to make it the color of strong tea) on the rain rot in place of Chlorohexadine. I'm surprised that covering active rain rot with desitin clears it up but I don't doubt you, just surprised. Air, sunlight and something to zap the bacteria/fungus is the route I go. Just last night I noticed my retired mare had rain rot on her front legs so I used my clippers with 40 blades to remove the hair, put some betadine tea on them (I'm out of Chlorohexadine) and turned her loose. I find keeping the betadine or chlorohex & water solution in a spray bottle the easiest way to apply it.

[doublesstable]

I don't like to use it simply because it stinks!

Totally....

Your horse is probably allergic to something in it. I have had swellings from other products that horses are allergic to.

Glad to hear its you and your horse is fine :)

edited - Just saw this thread was from Nov "2009"... sorry....