Mud Fever Reminder

Poor Henry has some Mud Fever on one of his front legs.  Due to the wet weather this year he's had it twice but the second time it has not gone away with simple cleaning and we have had to call the Vet out. 

I just wanted to keep a reminder of exactly what the Vet did and did not do so we can do exactly the same if necessary in the future.  Shelley has posted a longer article on her blog.

Things to do:

• Dilute Hibiscrub 1:100 with water in a small resealable plastic pot (from Tesco.)  Do not keep the diluted Hibiscrub more than a few days.

• Soak some square swabs (10cm x 10cm cotton gauze swabs or similar non-woven versions) in the diluted Hibiscrub.

• Thoroughly clean the area using the swabs picking off all of the scabs.  Use as many swabs as necessary.
• Dry with disposable paper towel.  The blue professional kitchen stuff is a good choice.  This can then be thrown away to avoid any transfer of the infection.

• Do not rub too hard but get the area dry.
• Once dry apply a cream.  A thin coating rubbed in over the area.

• The cream may be prescribed by the Vet or in minor cases other creams like udder or wound cream may be appropriate.  The Vet will suggest which.  Some creams may require wearing gloves.
• The repeated treatment is to just apply the cream once per day.
• Only clean the scabs off if there are lots of them.  Removing the scabs too often may aggravate it.
• In more severe cases the Vet may also prescribe antibiotics and Bute (Phenylbutazone, anti-inflammatory and analgesic.)

A couple of days of Bute and 5 days of antibiotics and Henry should be better.