i don't know much about "horse shingles", but if
they are indeed shingles, be very careful about where you put your own fingers
after touching his wounds. shingles are extremely contaqious...so be sure
to really wash your hands after touching him, or anyone else with shingles for
that matter.
Okay, here's a weird question. Do horses get the
shingles?
My gelding has developed open sores about the size of an old time
silver dollar around his tail every year since I've been in central
Oregon. They are hot and very tender to the touch. The vet
insists that he is being bitten by some thing. But every year in
the same place? It usually happens during the snow melt in the
spring.
I went out to feed this morning and he had apparently been
scratching on a tree because he had a big black spot at the base of his
tail. When I touched it, it was hot and very tender. Three
months early, but in the same area as his normal out breaks.
Six years running. I've been convinced for the last three
that they are internally generated but both my regular vet and another
insist that can't be and so have me put salve on them with no other
treatment. They look and act very much like human shingles.
He is regularly wormed, no change in feed or environment.
He's an easy going alpha Arabian gelding that I used to use for
endurance and now use for driving and trail rides.
The sores are very similar to a friends chronic shingles.
They start out itchy (my assumption, since he scratches them to start
with), then turn hot and very painful all around the sight, then an open
sore that takes weeks to heal. Always in the same area. He
never gets one of these "bites" forward of the hip. They are all
on the hind quarter, usually near the spinal cord, usually on the right
side but last year there was one on the left. None of the other 5
horses has been "bitten", ever. Granted, they may not be allergic
to the bite and he is.?
