Several tick bite questions!

A few days ago, I caught my mare with what looked like gunshot wounds from buckshot spattered all over her neck and, honestly believing that she'd been shot (since our neighbor found and booted some drunken hunters off the property the night before), called the vet right away. The vet looked at them, ran his hand down her shoulder, and found another one with a big ol' tick dangling off it! He told me that she has some kind of allergy to the tick bites and basically she's developing an abscess everytime a tick bites her.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to move her into the cow barn over at the farm, where she shouldn't encounter as many ticks and I can keep a closer eye on her.

Now for the questions:
- Does anyone know of any particular brand of spray that wourks really well for deterring ticks? I'm using VIP and Bronco (both of which say they deter ticks), which I've had success with for flies, but even while using those, I'm still picking four or five ticks off her daily!

- What are the signs of lyme disease? My vet mentioned that I should keep an eye out for her to go off her feed/water (part of the reason I'm moving her to the cow barn -- I can't really monitor that when she's sharing with five other horses!) or just act "strange", but didn't go into any specifics, and I forgot to ask.

- Is there a particular treatment that can be done for abscesses? None of them are really in a location that I can keep them bandaged (mostly on her neck and right where her legs meet her body), but I've been putting Schriener's on them. I keep cleaning up the ones that break open, too, and watch them to see if they start looking infected.

Thanks!

I was having issues with ticks and the first thing we did was mow and trim trees and this helped big time!

Fly sprays generally don't work my vet recommended ivermectin injectible. For the current abscesses we used epsom/poultice (kind of like a clay mask on a pimple) but another boarder mixed up some desitin (diaper rash ointment) and a triple antibiotic cream and applied it.. it work very well!

There is a good article in Equus about lyme disease at Reduce the Risk of Lyme Disease

The spray I use is excellent for deterring ticks AND flies. At the start of the summer, my horses were literally covered in hundreds of ticks in the population explosion. I brought them each up daily to just pick them off. Then, I got this spray and also sprayed the non-horse yard areas and poof! No more ticks.

Now if I could only remember the name of the brand I use....it's not cheap, but it's good.

Well, mowing/trimming trees isn't much of an option unfortunately... almost 98% of the pasture is forested, and parts of it aren't even my property. But I'm moving her away from the forest into the cow barn until tick season is over, so I imagine that'll help.
I will try either the epsom/poultice or the diaper rash/antibiotic, though. And that Ivermectin injection... is that something that'd have to be gotten through my vet?


Thank you. I'll read it right away.




Ahaha, well, post back if you remember.

I think Pyhranna fly spray kills ticks. It's pretty potent stuff. As for Lyme Disease signs, look for any signs of lethargic or stiff horse, and it can't hurt to monitor his temperature. Lyme will usually produce a fever at the onset.

You can buy ivermectin injectible through several feed stores.. but you have to draw it up yourself. You can call your vet and have them draw up syringe... it shouldn't be to expensive at all!