Instructions
Evaluate if your horse has any infected wounds on his lower limbs and whether or not there is swelling and pain causing lameness. This disease can be confused with epizootic lymphangitis, a contagious disease caused by a fungus.
Inspect your horse's fetlock area for the appearance of any nodules under the skin. You are searching for raised bumps ranging in size and feel from soft to hard. If the disease is far enough along you'll see a creeping eruption along the lymph vessels in the lower limbs.
Palpate the swollen nodules to determine if they are starting to discharge pus. Use rubber gloves for this and keep your hands away from your eyes and face. Always use gloves when handling your horse and clean up well with disinfectant on a daily basis.
Collect a pus sample for your veterinarian to diagnose because equine ulcerative lymphangitis may be confused with Sporotrichosis, a skin infection caused by a fungus. If the infection is severe enough, antibiotics may be prescribed.
Check for ulcers, as the first time they appear they usually heal, but secondary infections are common. Equine ulcerative lymphangitis may last for as long as a year. Treatment, aside from antibiotics, is mostly supportive.
Vigorously clean up the surrounding environment to reduce the chances of this infection happening again with other lower leg injuries. The disease is caused by a bacteria called Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis that thrives in unclean conditions.
How to Diagnose Ulcerative Lymphangitis in Horses
This disease is also known as equine ulcerative lymphangitis and is a mildly contagious skin condition or inflammation of the lymphatic vessels in the lower limbs. It usually affects horses, but has been known to affect cattle. Fortunately this type of infection doesn't happen all that often, and it can be treated fairly easily if caught early enough, with attention to disinfection and cleaning lower limbs wounds on a regular basis.