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Thrush not improving- wait or try something new?

17K views 31 replies 21 participants last post by  Corporal 
#1 ·
I've been treating my horse daily for thrush since the farrier cut off all his ugly, loose flaps at his last farrier visit (10/8- actually treated with ThrushBuster a few days before that, too), but I'm not seeing any major improvements. I've been using ThrushBuster once a week and No Thrush the other 6 days of the week. I watched the video on No Thrush's website and I'm pretty sure I'm using it correctly.

How long should it take to see an improvement in frog health? The No Thrush website shows obviously better frogs after 4 days; while I didn't expect that in 'real life,' I was hoping to see some change after nearly 2 weeks. Am I messing things up by using both No Thrush and ThrushBuster?

Am I on the right track, or should I switch it up and try something else?

(Natural light photos are from 10/8; flash photos are from 10/20 after 12 days of treatment)



 
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#4 ·
I know that a lot of people might not agree with this recommendation but I've been using CopperSet for my mare. It's worked wonders.

My farrier recommended it after seeing my mare's hooves (all four had thrush; hind feet were the worst) and showed me how to apply it. I just bought a syringe and I'd put it into the crack and wherever else it was needed. (at the start, I just put it over most of the top since it was up to the hairline)

At the start of treatment, about half of her frog on her hind right leg was gone (ie: bottom half seemed to be non-existent as there was a big hole).. and now, six weeks later, it's grown back quite well (although the farrier said that it'll take longer for it to grow back fully due to how bad it was).
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the recommendations :) I definitely have a few more ideas to try out now

I know that a lot of people might not agree with this recommendation but I've been using CopperSet for my mare. It's worked wonders.
I tried searching Google for CopperSet but didn't come up with anything. Do you know of a website for that product? How long did it take before you noticed improvement?

bleach will kill the thrush, it will also kill everything else including the healthy hoof tissue trying to grow back.
Clean the foot with a hoof pick, then a scrub brush with warm water and a disinfectant mixed in like concentrated lysol, or pinsol, pat dry then use a comercial thrush medicine like Thrush XXX, or the thrush buster you have. Make sure the horse is getting adequate copper and biotin in his diet.
Yeah, I'm not too keen on trying bleach. I think I'll give the disinfectant a go, though. Should I scrub with it daily? I'm very thorough (obsessive maybe?) with my horse's diet- fine tuned it out on FeedXL.com and weigh everything every time- so I'm reasonably certain he's not deficient in any major areas.

We have recently had an outbreak of this as well. We were using thrushbuster, and it didn't do anything. We went to copper sulfate, and that didn't do much either. We're on antibiotics at this point.

The rest of the time, it's putting down mats and lime and making sure they aren't standing in their own waste, etc. :S Good luck!!!
I've actually been cleaning out my horse's stall in the evening pretty much every day lately (so it's getting cleaned 2x daily). I'm not sure if the stall cleaner changed, if the BO started cracking down on them using too much shavings, or if my horse is just peeing more, but by the time I get there at night it hasn't been meeting my standards of cleanliness lately :-|

At the pharmacy purchase a catheter syringe. It's large and has a long pointed snout. Get a tube of triple antibiotic cream and one of fungal cream. Mix the two in a dish then fill the tube. Before doing this make a foot soak of 1 ounce of Lyesol to 1 gal of water. Do be accurate. Soak for about 20 min. dry the hoof then apply the cream. The syringe will get it into the nooks and crannies. Also twice daily use Dawn dish soap and clean the hooves, using a brush to get it into the nooks and crannies.
Getting there twice daily on a consistent basis isn't really possible for me. I did try "Pete's Goo" for a while when I first got my horse, but saw better results with ThrushBuster. Lately I've been wondering if mixing tea tree oil into the goo might work better though.

My mom found out online that Listerine (original, not mint!) was supposed to work really well and didn't kill the hoof tissue. It was recommended so often that we decided to try it. I switched to that and the thrush was gone very quickly! I was pretty surprised by how well it worked, and took the stink away immediately. It also works on minor cuts and scrapes-- even use it on the dogs. It just works.
My farrier recommended Listerine, as well. I was a bit skeptical, and already had the ThrushBuster & No Thrush on hand, but maybe I should give that a try...
 
#5 ·
bleach will kill the thrush, it will also kill everything else including the healthy hoof tissue trying to grow back.
Clean the foot with a hoof pick, then a scrub brush with warm water and a disinfectant mixed in like concentrated lysol, or pinsol, pat dry then use a comercial thrush medicine like Thrush XXX, or the thrush buster you have. Make sure the horse is getting adequate copper and biotin in his diet.
 
#6 ·
We have recently had an outbreak of this as well. We were using thrushbuster, and it didn't do anything. We went to copper sulfate, and that didn't do much either. We're on antibiotics at this point.

The rest of the time, it's putting down mats and lime and making sure they aren't standing in their own waste, etc. :S Good luck!!!
 
#7 ·
At the pharmacy purchase a catheter syringe. It's large and has a long pointed snout. Get a tube of triple antibiotic cream and one of fungal cream. Mix the two in a dish then fill the tube. Before doing this make a foot soak of 1 ounce of Lyesol to 1 gal of water. Do be accurate. Soak for about 20 min. dry the hoof then apply the cream. The syringe will get it into the nooks and crannies. Also twice daily use Dawn dish soap and clean the hooves, using a brush to get it into the nooks and crannies.
 
#8 ·
Yeah... bleach is a good example of a bad idea. Like Joe said, it will kill the the bad and the good. I did use it for a while when my horse had thrush a couple of years ago; it didn't work that great--though it was certainly better than nothing. But it's damaging, plus chlorine bleach has a very short shelf life. Just because it smells nice doesn't mean it's active anymore.

My mom found out online that Listerine (original, not mint!) was supposed to work really well and didn't kill the hoof tissue. It was recommended so often that we decided to try it. I switched to that and the thrush was gone very quickly! I was pretty surprised by how well it worked, and took the stink away immediately. It also works on minor cuts and scrapes-- even use it on the dogs. It just works.

Otherwise, keeping him in a clean, dry environment is a good idea.

There does look like there has been a little bit of improvement but not as much as I would be expecting for that length of time.
 
#11 ·
I haven't been able to find a website for it either, although I had found it in my local ShurGain. I'll check the bottle next time I'm down though to see if I can find a manufacturer. I was hesitant about using it after reading posts on this forum but it's worked pretty well and I haven't noticed any issues with healthy tissue growing back as there has been such a big improvement.
 
#12 ·
Another question- what should I do about flaps/ragged bits that develop on the frog between farrier visits?

I got a hook knife a short while ago intending to at least cut off the big flaps, but it was so dull I ended up returning it. I'm not sure where to get a good hoof knife locally, but I'm going to be ordering my fall dewormer from ValleyVet soon and noticed they had several listed online.

Is a hoof knife the best tool for cleaning up the flaps, or would I be better served with a pair of small, sharp scissors or something else entirely? Or should I just leave it up to my farrier entirely and not take anything off the frog between visits?
 
#14 ·
with regards to the frog flaps - at least your farrier trims them up! the guy that i finally got out to clean up my horse's hooves after he pulled two shoes didn't even bother to do anything with this frogs. suffice to say i'm looking for a different farrier. as to what i do, i pull them off with my hands...
 
#18 ·
listerine, lysol, fabuloso, are all just basic disenfectants, You want one strong enough to kill the germs but no so strong it kills the new hoof cells. The last issue I had, I cleaned with a hoof pick, a seal puller, basicaly a sharp hardened steal curved on the tip awl, then I would brush iit out with the lysol and warm water, then use thrush xxx, did it about every other day, but my horse didnt have issues with the frog area, just hoof wall seperation under the shoes when we pulled him, looked bad to me, but he was fine all but one spot in 6 weeks.
 
#19 ·
I have been using Lysol (1 part Lysol to 5 parts water) in a spray bottle. I pick my horses feet and tip them upwards, so the Lysol solution will pool in the frog. My vet recommended it, and 3 weeks later, the thrush is gone! Just make sure not to pick his/her foot too deep or hard, as this will dig up the new tissue.

Rezia
 
#21 ·
Some people think it is a quack medical treatment, but I tried colloidal silver on my mare's feet, because the thrush was so bad that she was very sensitive to any chemical on her frog. Less than a week there is no thrush in her back feet, and the cracks in her frog is regrowing slowly be surely. Her front feet are better but they are the ones with open holes, and thrush is greatly reduced but I am not stopping treatment to prevent further damage. She needs to regrow a whole new frog on her front left.

Plus getting a better farrier that didn't want to keep shoes on her, helped a lot too. We're working on backing up a really long flatten heels, which should help to get more health over all feet.

Colloidal Silver is a tiny bit of silver suspended in pure water if I remember right, believed to be anti bacterial, anti fugal and improve over all health. Bought at health food stores. I don't believe it is a miracle cure like some people, but it seems to help. Put in spray bottle and clean hoofs, spray, go.
 
#24 ·
Update...

I spoke to my vet (who also boards at my barn) and she suggested keeping his stall extra clean, which gave me the backing I needed to be very, very thorough about cleaning his stall every night when I go to take care of his hooves without the BO thinking I'm just using too many shavings for the heck of it (the stall gets cleaned out by barn staff every morning, but I'm not convinced they take out enough of the wet bedding)

The undersides of feet have been looking drier when I come, so that's a good sign. But, I'm still not seeing much in the way of actual improvement. I'm wondering about the giant flaps he has along his central sulcus- which are quite deep and nasty. I tried to get photos tonight, but I'm not sure how well you can make out what's going on. I feel like it looks a lot worse in person, but he doesn't seem tender when I'm probing with the hoof pick.



Anyone have suggestions on what should be done about that? The farrier is out again in 11 days, so I'm guessing I should just wait and see what he says... I just hate not seeing any improvement after treating almost daily for the last month and am quite discouraged :-|
 
#32 ·
Update...
I spoke to my vet (who also boards at my barn) and she suggested keeping his stall extra clean, which gave me the backing I needed to be very, very thorough about cleaning his stall every night when I go to take care of his hooves without the BO thinking I'm just using too many shavings for the heck of it (the stall gets cleaned out by barn staff every morning, but I'm not convinced they take out enough of the wet bedding)
Anyone have suggestions on what should be done about that? :-|
YES!! First, if you can, take over stall cleaning. COMMUNICATE with your BO, so she/he knows what and why you are doing this--I'm sure you BO will understand.
You MUST get rid of the waste ESPECIALLY urine soaked bedding. I use Equine Fresh (super dried, pelleted pine pellets, which are sold by several companies with different names). It's nothing but pine, so they can even nibble on it without problems. I spot where my horse prefers to urinate in the stall and I pour it only in the urine spot. I use one 40 lb. bag for my mare (~1,100 lbs.) and 2 bags for my gelding (~1,400 lbs.). This is for a full week of 1/2 day (night) in the stall and 1/2 day turnout. It soaks up the urine 2x, first turning to a powder, then turning to a wet powder and the wet powder is what I remove. You may want to remove it as it turns to a powder. It eliminates the ammonia from the urine and keeps that from being picked up by the hoof. I cover this with pine shavings. Don't worry that the pellets will hurt your horse, they won't. It's perfect to go out to the manure pile bc it breaks down in a few months. I know, bc I use this winter's stall waste for next year's gardening.
Another thing to try is to treat the hoof, let it dry, then bind it with a disposable diaper, which is duct-taped to the hoof to keep it on. Call your Vet to see if he/she approves, or if he/she would prefer the thrush get fresh air.
Some companies sell 40 lbs. for $6.00/bag, but one of my local farm supply stores puts it on sale for $5.00/40 lb bag, and I buy 10-20 bags at a time and store it. I have enough to see my through New Year's right now, and will buy again at the next great sale to see me through next April.
 
#26 ·
Scrub those feet clean clean clean with dawn dish soap and water (Lysol and water works too. No need to rinse either off) and actually scrub it with the brush on your hoof pick till its clean and get every nook and cranny. Do this daily. I like to mix it in a squirt bottle and blast the crap out of the cracks putting the nozzle right in the crack.

Trim off the flaps with a hoof knife or a sharp pair of scissors in between resets and scrub all the black out from underneath. If its wet underneath and black and closed up, thrush can eat away more frog. Have the farrier show you how. Closed flaps mean infection can keep going.

If that crack in the middle of the frog there (the butt crack one up the back of the frog) there is deep, you need to blast it out clean with a needless syringe, possibly use a Q tip to clean out the deepest reaches, dry it and use either cow mastitis cream or Thrush Off till it closes up. I prefer to start with mastitis cream and a cotton ball stuck in behind it to help hold the meds in. Change daily to twice a day till all fissures are healed closed.

This takes time. It can take a couple months of religious treatment and clean environs. poop is worse than pee. Dont use and hoof goop topicals. They can make it worse no matter what they say.
 
#27 ·
I use a product called Thrush Stop on my Clydedale who had really bad thrush. It did exactly what it said on the bottle. It stopped the thrush and his feet cleared up within a week. I also used shavings in his stable instead of straw up to about 4" thick. More absorbant but cost more than straw. Still cheaper than a vet bill though.
 
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