fungus in ears PLEASE help!

I'm taking care of 3 of my boss's horses (getting them ready for him to go elk hunting) and 2 of them have the white fungus in their ears...in Tucks ears it's really bad...like REALLY bad. My old mare Oreo used to have it and we used Tinactin on it and it got rid of it. I'm using Tinactin on both of the horses ears and its taking care of it....slowly. I was wondering if there is anything anyone else has used to help with this problem.

Please let me know! Anything to shorten the irritation of my Boss's horses ears would be awesome!

Sounds like Aural plaque!!! It is thought to be caused by a fungal growth on the skin, within the ear itself. It is considered a skin disease, in that the skin of the inner ear is involved. Horses that are affected with these plaques seem to have a poor immunity because you will see some horses affected badly and their stablemates not affected at all. It does not cause any problem with the use of the horse, although some will show a greater sensitivity to any handling of the ears. It never spreads anywhere else on the body and does not seem to be contagious. Removal of the whitish or greyish crust followed by use of betadine swabbing daily for about a week will usually get rid of the fungal involvement but usually leaves an unpigmented area on the skin for the rest of the horse's life. Except for looking funky, it doesn't really bother the horse.! Laugh if you will, but I have heard that Monistat works wonders on this stuff! Makes good sense...logically, it is an anti-fungal medicine, but made me laugh too. Us horse-folk are some weird ones, ain't we?

I hope this helps.

Yeah, thanks. It does help. I've been putting that anti fungal stuff on them for about a month now, and most of it's disappearing. I'm going to have to try the bedadine on it though, just to see if it helps. Tuck has a huge outgrowth in one of his ears too, but with the medicine it's going away.

Hi, Alucard,
It's definitely a fungal infection, and pretty easy to get rid of. Get some Betadine solution and Hibitane from your local vet. Use a bit of betadine scrub with water (read the directions) and rub it all over where the fungal infection is... go a little over the edges of the infected area to make sure you get it all. Wash the area a few times, then rinse the area. Put some hibitane (it's a paste) over the area, and let it sit till the next time you scrub the area.
Do this every day (once or twice) until the fungus is gone. Shouldn't take too long :)
Hope this helps!!

I had my first introduction to this problem with my youngest horse, who is four now and my friend also had the same problem. I tried tinactin, it didnt work, I tried monistat that worked for a little bit than I was given a dog steroid that is topica from my horse vet that worked very effectively. It isnt contagious and I was told that its from the gnats and if you keep a fly mask with ears on that it will completely go away. If you want to know the name of the stuff I used just e-mail me or I will check the board. Thanks, Cat

I used quick heal to solve a similar problem.

I used the same spray I used for rain rot and it worked but it took a while.

[quote="ladybugracer"..........
......Laugh if you will, but I have heard that Monistat works wonders on this stuff! Makes good sense...logically, it is an anti-fungal medicine, but made me laugh too. Us horse-folk are some weird ones, ain't we?

I hope this helps.
[/quote]

Actualy, yes........ Monostat-7(cream) works very well on most any fungus infection. In many cases, it even works when Tinactin won't work....but be cautious where you put it. There might be side effects with hoof-contact, be carefull about using it on broken skin and for sure don't get any in the eye.
You can save some money by buying a drug-store "house brand". Just make sure that what you are buying list the active ingredient as " Miconazole Nitrate 2%".

It's good stuff. I've used it years on dogs, horses, and on myself. On me, it cleared-up a bad case of athlete's foot that I had a few years ago.

You'll know perty-quickly whether or not it's going to work for your particular application. If it does, continue it's use for the full 7 days...even if it looks like the symptoms are gone.

That's just my 2-cent's worth.
Your Vet may say something completely different.

DGW