Bumps on horse... spider bites?

[SedonaThunder]

No, I don't have pics but here's what I'm dealing with. About 3-4 weeks ago I noticed three bumps on Thunders hind end (one just behind where the saddle pad hits, the next, two inches back from there and down a bit and the third, six inches from there and down further) that looked mosquito bite sized. I felt them and he didn't much like them touched and they were hard and a bit bigger than mosquito bites - I thought maybe stings or spider. I washed the area and tried to part the skin but found nothing - not even a reddening, so I let them be and just kept an eye on them. Two weeks later the area was less raised and scabby so I pulled one off - oozy and no hair under there! I cleaned it with tea tree oil and waited a few more days to pull the others - found the same ooze and no hair under those. It's been twelve days since pulling off these scabs and cleaning them up and today I realized new lumpy scabs had formed (perfectly round bizzarre areas) so I pulled them off again to see what was going on underneath - still no hair and all three have a couple of little bloody spots. I mean A COUPLE of spots - the one almost looks like little fang marks and freaks me out. He still is not happy with having them touched but I cleaned them up again and will keep on eye on them.

Has anyone seen or experienced anything like this? My vet is coming out on Tuesday to vaccinate all of my cats so I'll have him take a peak as long as he's here.

[FredRock]

Fred has some similar to that. They were hives, but everywhere on his body. Each hive ranged from 1 to 3 inches long and popped up from his skin a few centimeters. He didn't seem to dislike them being touched though, actually liked to have them scratched. They oozed a yellow puss with pressure and when they disappeared they left a mark with no hair.

He usually got a few big bumps every year but for some reason they multiplied this year to cover everywhere. It started with one on his butt and then a whole lot on his neck. A week later they spread. We finally had the vet out and she said that they were hives that were an allergic reaction to something. She gave us antihistamines to get rid of them. I'm not sure if you'd need a vet for only three though.

[WashingtonBay]

I'm not sure I've seen anything like that.... can you take some pics?

[Country Girl 43]

My old mare gets something like this. Vet suggested worming her every 30 days. Could be buggies trying to get OUT! I rinse them with betadine and them apply lots of Bag Balm to keep the little scabs down. My mare gets them on her front legs mostly. :(

[Equine_Woman]

I'm sorry I haven't!!! Would love to know what they are though.

[Suzi]

If its ozzy underneath, it sounds like rain rot. Its an bacterial infection of the skin. Jack had a real nasty case of it when I got him. I washed it with iodine and when the scapes came off it, I protected his skin with diaper oinentment. I real bad case sometimes calls antibotics. Definantly have your vet check it. If its rain rot, it shouldn't leave any permanent scarring, but they may be prone to the infection.

[Mandzanita]

Sedona, I'll have to post a pic of a patch of hives Biggs sprouted a little while back because it sounds like the same thing. It was a perfect circle too! It almost looked cool, lol. His hives never ozzed and just went away but I've seen them scab and ooze on other horses if the allergy is strong enough. His spot was on one side of his neck and never really spread from there.

It will be interesting to hear what the vet thinks. Tonight I'll post the pic because I never uploaded it to Photobucket.

[SedonaThunder]

If its ozzy underneath, it sounds like rain rot. Its an bacterial infection of the skin.
Yes, I've dealt with rain rot before on Sedona (TTO healed it right up) and if I just now found the spots I would suspect this. However, came during one of our hottest driest streaks around here and they didn't start like rain rot - they were big, ouchy bumps that looked just like BIG mosquito bites. Because there were only three of them I have to question hives and I'm pretty convinced they were bites - but the hive idea got me to thinking - maybe whatever bit him, he was allergic too and that's why they got so big? I don't know that I've ever seen a spider bite but I've heard they are bigger than mosquito bites - maybe like horse fly bites? Anyway, the bumps are gone now but I've never seen a bite leave anything behind - they just go away - they don't leave bald scabby spots the size of 50 cent pieces! Sooo... I do plan to talk to the vet about them tomorrow but in the meantime I'll try to look around online and see if I can find any kind of bite that ruins the skin around it.

[SedonaThunder]

Today when my vet was here I described these to him, just like I did to y'all, before I let him see them - first thing he said was "bite or sting - show me". As soon as he walked out there he saw the bald spots from feet away and let out a "yeouch" and then looked closer and said "these look like spider bites... when you pulled the scabs off was it sort of an amber color and gooey?" "Yep". "And they were sore to touch and hard?" "Yep". "Well I thought they could be stings but looking at the skin they do look more like something bit him. Try some hydrocortisone cream on them to help with the irritation and inflammation to the skin and that hair should start growing back pretty quick."

[valleyrider]

Sounds like rain rot to me too..or bee stings from a few bees.. It would have to be a pretty big spider to get past the thick horse hair to bite your horse enought to make a mark I would think.

[SedonaThunder]

Rain rot doesn't cause tall hard bumps.

I have had friends around here with horses that have gotten spider bites that caused the tissue to necrotize.... so I know the darned things do bite horses. My barn is full of big wolf spiders but I've never been bitten and I'm kind of leaning more toward bees as they congregate around the fallen fruit from the pear tree and so does Thunder.:) I have it roped off but he goes under to get to the pears and more than once I've seen him come tearing out of there bucking - I assumed he got shocked but he may have gotten stung.

[AUEquine]

Diffinatly sounds like spider bites. Especially being all in that one area like that... made that little sucker mad and he went to town! Definatly clean them and use the Hydrocorizone cream! If they seem to be bothering him alot you can give him some bute.
The way you described them at first I thought either spider bite or melanoma. But with the horse not being grey and the ooze not being black, I definatly thing it's spider bites! Glad you called the vet to double check!

[SedonaThunder]

...I thought either spider bite or melanoma. But with the horse not being grey and the ooze not being black...
:cry::rant:Ahhhhh - someone else said melanoma because he is white! That scares the bejeezus out of me... explain the grey thing PLEASE! Aren't they black skinned? Or are they pink skinned like my Thunder? The ooze was amber in color thank goodness... let's stick to spider bite - but for the future what would a melanoma look like?

[AUEquine]

Basically every grey horse is going to have melanoma somewhere and to some degree on their body. This is a given. The thing after that is that there are 6 different types of melanoma, 4 of which are pretty much harmless. The other two are pretty rare, so don't panic. The only problem you may have with melanoma is it's location. From a lump that's just a cosmetic flaw, to a lump that causes a functional flaw, to a lump that can cause a fatal flaw. I'll go a little deeper. A cosmetic flaw is just that, it just looks bad. My grey back home has alot of melanoma lumps under his tail, not issues no problems, they're just there! Now the functional flaw is like one of my friends horses. Her melanoma is on the side of her head, this impeads the functionality of a bridle. She can only ride the horse in a halter otherwise the lump sends the bridle into the horses eye. The fatal flaw would be if the melanoma happens to be on the spine. Then the pressure could damage the nerves and have neurologic effects, many times this isn't caught and the horse is put down.
When melanoma first shows up it's just a mass under the skin, and many times it just stays that way. The lump can be small, like a golf ball or big like a football. The ones under my horses tail bone were golfball sized and then had all these little holes in it, and out of those holes oozed black oily stuff. Not sure the difference between the masses and the ones that ooze... I'll have to ask on that!

Now on to your question about dark vs. light skin. That really doesn't affect the melanoma, it shows up in all grey horses. Melanoma is different in horses, it isn't necessarily caused by sun exposure... otherwise how did my horse get it under it's tail bone? The thing you more commonly worry about with white skined horses (usually paints with white faces) is Squamous Cell Carsinoma (sp?). This is a very dangerous condition, and must be addressed and removed or radiated.

[SedonaThunder]

Squamous cell carcinoma - like in people? Aren't those the scabby sort of lesions that don't heel? My Dad and best friend have had a few of those removed... or are those basal cell? Anyway, THANK YOU for the information and I will continue to watch Thunder's skin like a hawk - he is almost all white/pink but hasn't had a sunburn since the one he came to me with in '04.