My horse has had this dark gray spot, about an inch and a half across on his shoulder for the longest time. There is very little hair there, only about a milimeter long. Someone pointed out to me that it might be fungus. Its not causing him any pain, but it is unsightly. I was told putting toothpaste on it would help, but it only ended up getting dirty and sticky. Any suggestions?
I'll post pics tonight when I get back from the barn :)
If you suspect fungus, I'd either treat it with iodine, t-tree oil, or go to the chemist for an antifungal cream. Never heard of using toothpaste, but didn't think that was antifungal.
If the spot has been there that long and hasn't spread, it doesn't sound like a fungus to me. Could be a scarred area from a previous injury? If the hair isn't growing back over the area, I have heard diaper rash ointment (zinc) will help the restore hair growth but I've not personally tried it.
Yeah, I definitely hasnt gotten bigger. I'll try the diaper rash ointment, because I have some of that already. And tips on how I could cover it or something so it doesnt become a messy dirty sludge?
Sorry, sisnt get out to the barn last night. So I still don't have pics
Missed the 'for the longest time' bit - yeah, agree it's not likely an infection if it's ben there for ages unchanging. Probably just scar tissue. Nothing much to be done about that when it's not fresh, IME.
About 2 weeks after I bought and moved Cinny he got a small spot on his rear. I thought he was just rubbing it on a fence. It started as a very small spot on once side and over about 3 weeks it was much worse and looked like this.
At the time I was boarding with a friend who has bred and raised horses for over 20 years and was pretty knowledgeable... but she also thought he was just rubbing or having an allergy.
It got worse until it went down to his hocks! We finally had the vet come who took a 10 second looks and said that's FUNGUS... and refused to touch my horse because he was headed out to check on a pregnant mare and didn't want to contaminate her.
We scrubbed the area daily with a soft brush and an iodine wash. Once it dried I sprayed with Veterycin gel. The vet said to do this every day for 3 weeks, even if it looked like it was going away. Cinny's hair began to grow back after about 2 weeks.
Now any time he gets a weird looking spot I drown it with fungus gone LOL.
