Tail wrap question????

Question

I never wrap tails, so I'm looking for someone who has experience. One of our horses has some bad diarrhea and it's getting in her tail. So I washed the tail and wrapped it up with vet wrap. It was damp when I wrapped it, so my question is, how long can I leave it wrapped before it starts to get nasty from the dampness? Would 2 days be too long?

And the question is not about the horse's health - the vet is in the loop and it's under control, but thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

If your horses tail was wet when you applied the bandage there's a chance that the actual bandage could shrink when it dries out and become to tight on the horses tail. It could also lead to some circulation problems. I would change it or re-wrap it as often as possible , you wont have to wash it everytime, and definitely don't leave it on for two days straight.  

Answer 2

I do hope you avoid the raw egg white suggestion until you ask a vet's opinion about that!  Uncooked egg is difficult to digest and this advice is unlikely to improve things, and probably will make it worse.  Sorry to disagree with your poster, but most people should not give that sort of advice unless they are a vet, often these type of treatments will just make things worse.

Hair covered with vetwrap will stay damp for a great length of time.  I would personally not leave this tail wrapped for several days, I think you will be at an increased risk of a fungus or irritation to the dock.  The improvement you see in cleanliness will probably give you more disadvantages than the plain old manurey tail would!

Hopefully this will not be an issue since your vet is involved.  With luck the diarrhea will settle down in the next day and you won't have to worry about the dirty tail.  If your horse is getting irriation to her dock from constant loose manure, you might benefit from washing the dock well, patting it dry, and then applying a zinc based barrier cream, such as zinc baby ointment.  The zinc will protect the skin and also promotes healing, and it will not have the disadvantages of a wet wrapped tail.  You do need to totally wash the zinc off every so often, dry the skin totally and then reapply it.  Unfortunetely you are still going to get filthy tail hairs and I'm not sure if you can totally prevent that.  Perhaps wrapping the hair below the dock with vetwrap would help that issue, if you can keep it secured in position.

Good luck with your horse, I hope she's better soon.

Answer 3

if it is really hot outside then you should change it everyday

but if it is nice weather where you live change it every two days

to cure the dirrihea:

give your horse mixed up raw egg whites and put it in her feed

and if that dosent work then im sorry i couldnt help with your situation

here is i little info on horse diarrheaa

Diarrhea is defined as an increase in the amount of manure expelled, whether it is passed with more frequency or a change in the quality of the manure from formed to soft and/or watery.

Diarrhea may be caused by eating inappropriate or unfamiliar feed; by bacteria or viruses, or diseases of the colon. If the horse is very ill and/or has a fever, the veterinarian must collect fecal material for culture to eliminate the possibility of a bacterial infection which could be spread to other horses and/or humans. Other possible causes of acute diarrhea are foal heat, arsenic poisoning, phosphorus poisoning, plant poisoning, parasitism (especially Trichostrongyles) and Potomac horse fever.

A particularly dangerous diarrhea results from overeating grain. This type of diarrhea creates serious body-wide disturbances that can be life threatening and/or result in founder.

Any horse with severe diarrhea requires veterinary attention to detect and quickly treat dehydration and electrolyte changes/imbalances. Horses with diarrhea are fed hay and water only, but are allowed access to water in order for the bowel to "rest". In severe cases, fluids can be given intravenously, although some horses are able to tolerate fluids by stomach tube. Appropriate electrolyte concentrations must be added to basic fluids and water to correct specific disturbances.

In addition, a variety of preparations are available to aid equine diarrhea that are analogous to the familiar human Kaopectate. Again, these are given by the veterinarian via a stomach tube. The horse may also be given activated charcoal to help with absorption of toxins in the intestinal tract.

Oral antibiotics should not be used to treat diarrhea in horses. This is mainly due to the horse’s large intestine containing a complex and delicately balanced population of bacteria and other organisms essential to the digestion of a plant diet. Oral antibiotics will not only kill the "bad" bacteria but the beneficial ones as well. This may result in a chronic diarrhea that is difficult to reverse

Rheaform is an oral medication particularly effective against protozoa, one of the classes of microorganisms in the large intestine. Presentation of an abnormally high number of protozoa upon examination of the f***s under a microscope can be effectively treated with Rheaform to eliminate or control the diarrhea.

Should Rheaform prove ineffective, or its use not indicated, simply allow the horse time in a turn out with exposure to the normal organisms in the manure of healthy horses. This may eventually result in the affected horse’s return of normal manure. A diet high in complex fiber will also aid in obtaining better-formed manure (hay, straw, and bran are appropriate; grass is not).

Finally, if all else fails, a procedure called transfaunation can be tried. This involves tubing the horse with fluid obtained by straining normal manure or normal intestinal contents from a horse that was killed or died. This fluid is very rich in normal intestinal organisms, and a sufficient number survive their trip through the stomach of the treated horse which will be detectable in the manure within the next 24 to 48 hours. Transfaunation requires numerous repetitions to be effective.

Answer 4

i think that two days would be fine (:

Answer 5

In my horse world, I was taught or told to never wrap a wet tail, and in my breed of ASB's we do A LOT of tail wrapping..not so much from the area you are describing..we leave feathers for the horse to be able to swat the flies.  But because we like very long tails we wrap them to protect them from being stepped on.  And, after a workout we have to be very careful not to aloow our wrapped area to get wet because the tail can rot.

So, I would let the tail dry or you can use a hair blower to dry and pick the tail then loosely braid the long part and roll it up then put the vet wrap.  As far as wrapping at the dock or the tailbone area..again dry first then wrap..either with vet wrap or leg wrap.  Just make sure if possible they can have some fly swatting capabilities..and/or or put a fly sheet and fly spray on.  

Hope this helped!!