Bug bites gone odd

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
Several weeks ago I noticed a cluster of scabby bits on Niko's shoulder, assumed bug bites and thought nothing more of it, but they still haven't cleared. So last night I was scab picking (as you do) and could only get a little off the top, under it we've got this odd hole with a kind of plug in the middle.
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No amount of grabbing and pulling was getting the plug out. It was getting dark so I just put some iodine on it, I figured I'd hot scrub it with hibby tonight, does that sound the best option?
 
Years ago my cat had a very similar thing. Started as a lump too. When I pulled out the 'plug' it was actually an air gun pellet! 😳

I hope it's not the same for your boy 🤞
 
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”cluster of bites” in my world is either spider bites, ant bites, or bee stings with spider bites being at the top of the list. IMHO those look like larva holes from a spider bites.
We don't really have biting spiders here but loads of flying biters, even now in November! The cluster is maybe 12 over a 1ft square area.
 
Years ago my cat had a very similar thing. Started as a lump too. When I pulled out the 'plug' it was actually an air gun pellet! 😳

I hope it's not the same for your boy 🤞
Jeeps I hope not! There's about a dozen of them, that's the worst/biggest though.
 
It's not bot fly larva holes is it? So hard to tell from the pictures but they are so difficult to get out?

Having read more about this it doesn't seem at all likely!
 
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It's not bot fly larva holes is it? So hard to tell from the pictures but they are so difficult to get out?
huh, now there's a thought :eek: We were plagued by bot flies earlier in the year but I have never seen them cause things like this, I didn't think horse bots buried in the skin? Texted the vet as now worried lol
 
Phew vet says no, bots don't bury into the skin in horses, they're an intestinal version. But apparently warble flies can, but those are almost completely eradicated in the UK due to modern wormers. So she's thinking just some infected little pocket of nasty and to clean and monitor.
ETA My lovely vet showed another vet too and he said no as well 👌
 
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Phew vet says no, bots don't bury into the skin in horses, they're an intestinal version. But apparently warble flies can, but those are almost completely eradicated in the UK due to modern wormers. So she's thinking just some infected little pocket of nasty and to clean and monitor.
ETA My lovely vet showed another vet too and he said no as well 👌
Yes, to my knowledge, bots enter the intestine via the tongue licking the eggs up. Yeuch.
 
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Sorry didn't mean to cause alarm! I remember being taught as a child that the larvae would emerge from the back of the horse, how odd as it's not correct, seems I was taught about the warble fly instead. I've learnt something new today then
 
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Sorry didn't mean to cause alarm! I remember being taught as a child that the larvae would emerge from the back of the horse, how odd as it's not correct, seems I was taught about the warble fly instead. I've learnt something new today then
The bot larvae do come out their bottom, if thats what you mean. I had to worm Hogan this year, after I lifted his tail to groom, and there was one wriggling away. Again - yeuch!
 
In other species the bot fly come out of the skin, which I knew hence my panic, but not horses apparently. I thought warble was just another name for bots, but apparently they’re different and warble are actually notifiable in the uk.

I scrubbed with hibby last night, left the suds on for 15 minutes and rinsed. If they don’t clear up in the next week I’ll get some terramiacin.
 
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Hmm, I don't think they are bug bites, as there's more come up since he's been rugged 🤷‍♀️ and the original ones haven't gone away yet. They start out feeling like a lump under the skin, which eventually goes scabby. Funny thing though, my friend 1/4 mile down the lane has 2 of 6 horses with identical bumps, one of them started mid summer.
 
Most odd. What are you thinking?
No clue lol, I can only think something is causing blocked pores, perhaps the constant wet/dry of this year is catching up, its odd though that they predominantly seem to appear in lines like something has run down their side. I would question if we used a fly spray or something in common, but I rarely spray Niko's body as he has a fly rug on in summer (but not for the last couple of months), and my friend doesn't really use fly spray or rugs. It could just be sweat I guess, Niko gets sweaty charging about with Hank but friends horse isn't in work and doesn't charge about. The other worry is some kind of odd thing left behind by the river flooding both of our fields from boxing day until about mid February but I would have expected to see that before now, although Niko has only been back on the flooded bit since September, which is probably not long before I started noticing these. Any thought's welcome?
 
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