Seborrhea In Dogs

with dr. lydia gray, smartpak'sstaff veterinarian and medical director. i'm smartpakersarah, and we're here to answer your horsehealth questions. well, i'm here to ask them. you're here to answer them. dr lydia gray: i'mhere to answer them. yes. sarah: and they're thequestions asked and voted

on by you guys,which is fantastic. you can ask questionsfor future videos on youtube, instagram,twitter, our blog, facebook. dr lydia gray: anywhere. sarah: you can e-mailcustomercare@smartpak.com, and all your questionsare automatically eligible to be selected. and they go into-- you canalso check out our playlist to see if we've already answeredyour question previously.

dr lydia gray:that's a good idea. we're starting toget some repeats. sarah: we get somerepeats, which is good, because thatmeans we've answered some really popular topics. but it means that you don'thave to wait for your answer if there's alreadya video for it. if your question gets votedinto the top five for the month, you will not only hearyour answer in the video.

you will also geta smartpak gift card, which is really awesome. dr lydia gray: awesome. sarah: it's a great way to helpout with holiday shopping, too. dr lydia gray: ooh. sarah: so you might wantto get some extra questions in these next couple monthsso that you can get that-- dr lydia gray: good idea. sarah: --gifts onyour wish list.

stuff your horse'sstocking, too. they need lots of treats. dr lydia gray: oh, oh yeah. sarah: those new smartcookiesare pretty popular. dr lydia gray: oh, gosh. they're huge. sarah: so if you can believeit, as cool as the gift certificates are, some peoplehaven't claimed theirs yet. dr lydia gray: idon't believe it.

sarah: i know. it's true. they're out there. they submitted the questions. so if you are oneof those people, we would love to hear from youat customercare@smartpak.com. and we'll get your giftcertificate out on its way. dr lydia gray: sounds good. sarah: you ready to get started?

dr lydia gray: yes. sarah: with allthat out of the way, let's start with aquestion from sara, which was submitted on our blog. dr lydia gray: but not you. sarah: not me. dr lydia gray: different sarah. sarah: i'm not allowedto submit the questions, because i can't winthe gift certificates.

this first question wassubmitted from sara, and it was on blog.smartpak.com. and sara has a technique similarto last month's question, where i think sherecruited some friends. dr lydia gray: oh, to vote? sarah: because her questionwon by a landslide, which is-- dr lydia gray: nice,stuffing the ballot box. sarah: you got to do it. got to do it.

so her question is, whatis the fungus horses get on the front of theircannon bones on their back legs, and how can i get rid of it? dr lydia gray: one of thenames for this is stud crud. it's icky. sarah: how delightful. dr lydia gray: it's gross. it's crud. i think the scientificname that we're all

looking for is cannondermatitis or cannon keratosis. sarah: ok. dr lydia gray:cannon keratosis-- these are the words that will beon the screen when we're done-- and cannondermatitis, dermatitis meaning skin inflammation,and keratosis meaning just a abnormalovergrowth of normal skin tissue. so it's normal skin tissue,but it was excessive.

we didn't need that much. and it tends to be alsoa little greasy and oily. and if a horse has it, not allhorses have it, but if they do, it's very hard to get rid of. so i can see whyit'd be frustrating. fortunately, this is one thingthat my horse does not have. sarah: the rare ailmentnewman does not suffer. dr lydia gray: the rare ailment. i've seen a millionways to deal with it.

the first piece ofadvice i would give you is get a diagnosis fromthe vet just to make sure, because this personsaid the skin fungus. it's actually not a fungus. so it's widely misdiagnosedbetween rain rot, and scratches, andother skin funk. but it's not. and so you probably will needa combination of shampooing, and some topicals, and currying.

what i would caution,don't be too aggressive. sarah: mm. dr lydia gray: don't rub,and scratch, and pick, and make it worse. then you'll have abacterial infection that will need additional treatment. you know how i always say, ifeel like in almost every one of these, ignore it? don't look.

sarah: yeah, justdon't look at it. dr lydia gray: it probablyisn't bothering your horse. now, if you have a halterhorse, and looks are everything, you want to workon it a little bit. but talk to yourvet, and develop a program that worksin your horse that's not too aggressive. don't make it worsethan it already is. sarah: so can i ask youabout cause for this?

because when thisquestion was bubbling up to the top of the voting,there was a lot of chatter among the riders at smartpak. dr lydia gray: oh. sarah: and i think everyonewas a little embarrassed. nobody wanted to say whatthey thought caused it. but then everyone quietlykind of mumbled and was like, i think everyone says it'sgeldings peeing on themselves. because that'swhat everyone says.

dr lydia gray: andthe name stud crud. sarah: because it'son their back legs. dr lydia gray: yeah. sarah: and so that's whyeveryone-- yeah, stud crud, and you'd think like it's all-- dr lydia gray: yeah,mares get it too. sarah: yeah. geldings get a badrap sometimes, guys. dr lydia gray: the cause isn'treally fully flushed out.

and it's not infection,although it can get infected. it's more just like aseborrhea, an oily seborrhea in whatever species,even people. it's just that yourskin is overdoing it. it's like, calm down everybody. we have enough skin. it's pretty. you can stop. but the skin's like, maybe alittle more would be great.

sarah: so your horseis an overachiever. not a horse that's peeingon his own back legs. dr lydia gray: right. sarah: stop shaming him. ok, our second questionis from mackenzie. and it was submittedto our customer care team, which is awesome,because they are really nice to talk to. and mackenzie asks, what's thebest way to control or remove

bot eggs from your horse. dr lydia gray: oh, sowe brought props today. sarah: oh, delightful. dr lydia gray: so bot eggs arethose little, yellow, sticky, oval, substances that areon the front legs, and sort of the elbow area,and maybe the belly, kind of places where thehorse can't reach real well. and so manufacturers makewhat's known as a bot egg knife, and it's got a serrated edge.

not really, serratedwould you call-- i don't know what that's called. sarah: yeah, maybe-- dr lydia gray: it doesn't cut. it doesn't cut. dr lydia gray: but you usethis to scrape the eggs off. and some people have luck whenthey use a warm cloth first to sort of loosen it, becausethey're really sticky. in nature what happensis the bot fly, which

looks like a bumblebee-- butit doesn't sting or bite, so it just is annoying--it deposits these eggs in your horse's hair coat. and then the horselicks that area, and the warm,moist, tongue action is what releasesthem into the mouth. and they go in the stomach,and they're passed out, and the cycle begins again. so you might have better luckif you simulate the horse tongue

and then use this. sarah: so warm water,not licking your horse. dr lydia gray: i would notadvise licking your horse, correct. sarah: just want to clarifyit in case anyone else thought what i thought. dr lydia gray:excellent clarification. we sell this slick n easy. it's very common.

you see this everywhere. many people have luckusing this grooming block to remove bot eggs. there are also pumice stones. there are a lot ofrock that are good. and some people just goto their hardware store and buy sandpaper. other than that, i feel likei'm repeating myself already, i would not go to aggressivelengths to remove these.

because they're not so bad. i mean, years ago weused to worry about them, but we have such agood dewormers now. as long as you deworm at theend of the grazing season, you will controlanything that your horse might have swallowed. but just when you'recleaning and removing, try to clean up the area,and don't share the products, and wash your hands.

and so you're not justmoving the bot eggs, but you're really-- sarah: getting rid of them. dr lydia gray: yeah,removing and destroying them. sarah: ok, our thirdquestion is from debbie, and it was submittedright here on youtube. and debbie is wondering,what is your most recommended joint supplement, andwould you recommend an all-in-one supplement for ahorse that needs joint support?

dr lydia gray: so i sawthis, and i didn't really understand the question. i can go onlineand look at them. you can click. you sort by bestsellers, andit looks like our best selling is the smartcombo ultra. and so the joint supplementin that all-in-one multi-combo formula is smartflex3 resilience pellets, which is an awesome formula.

because it's for if youtake our smartflex wizard-- sarah: family? smartflex line? dr lydia gray: thewizard for the smart-- sarah: oh, the smartflex finder. dr lydia gray: yeah,the smartflex finder. and you put in, i've gota adult middle aged horse, in moderate to heavywork, and i'm competing, it'll pull up smartflex3 resilience pellets.

because it has really goodlevels of glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, ha,msm, all the good stuff right there, so. sarah: and soft tissuesupport, too, right? dr lydia gray: andsoft tissue support for tendons andligaments, right. and then her secondpart was, what do you think aboutall-in-one supplements? that smartcombo ultrais a great product.

because it's got the jointingredients that you're looking for, it's gotthe hoof, skin, and coat, and probably my favoriteis the digestion. it's got the smartdigestultra ingredients, so then you become colicareeligible, which is awesome. sarah: and colicare is areally awesome program. when debbie askedabout recommended, i wanted to make sureto give a shout out for anyone who's viewingthat maybe hasn't been

to the smartpak site, ifyou are shopping around, we have a ton of reviews. dr lydia gray: oh, yeah. sarah: we have a lot of productswith many hundreds of reviews from horse owners. so you can seerecommendations for how it works for a horse that doesthe same discipline that you do or similar sorts of things. and so go online,and read the reviews.

and you'll get a lotof really good feedback from riders and horse owners. dr lydia gray: and dogo through the wizard, because it's onlyfive questions. and i love quizzes. you do. question number four wassubmitted by lucy2999 on youtube. and lucy is wondering,any advice on increasing

your horse's fitness level? dr lydia gray: oh, ibrought another prop. sarah: ooh. dr lydia gray: this is prop day. so you may notice this book,conditioning sport horses, hilary clayton. sarah: you love her. dr lydia gray: it's dog eared. there are little post-its in it.

the cover's looking quite worn. my old name is in it. i've had this for along time, because it's a really good book. and so you might want toconsider purchasing it. but she talks about thethree kinds of conditioning. there is cardiovascular,which is getting your heart and lungs working harder. there is strengthtraining, which is muscles.

and there's suppling exercise,and that's your soft tissue, your tendons and ligaments. and all of those need to beconditioned properly over time. over time is the term thatuses long, slow distance. and the goal is youstart with walk, and eventually-- thiscould take 3 to 12 months, depending on the age ofthe horse, if they've been conditioned already, ifthey're coming off an injury, say, if it's the end of winter,and it's a new competition.

so there's lots of factors. but you startwalking, and you add either intensity, so howhard, or duration, how long, or frequency, how often. those are your three components. sarah: not recommendedto do all three at once? dr lydia gray: no. sarah: not a fun time. dr lydia gray: no, it'svery hard on your horse,

and they recommend startingwith duration first. so this long, slowdistance is you build up over the 3 to 12 monthsto 45 to 60 minutes depending on your disciplineof walk, trot, canter. your horse should be able todo that and not be winded. that's the goal oflong, slow distance. then you add in your sportspecific conditioning. so if you're anendurance rider, then you want to continue thelong slow distance

but at a more intense level. so you would trot it. if you're a showjumper, then you need more strength and power,especially in the hind legs to get over the fences. so you begin to do drills. sets-- they usethe same language as human bodybuilders and weight lifters-- that increase yourhorse's power and strength

behind. if you're dressage, suppling isa really important component. and she says, while you mightdo cardiovascular fitness and strength trainingon alternate days, because the work is as importantas the rest and recovery-- that's when you rebuild andimprove your tissue quality-- suppling is done everyday, and more so, probably, in the dressage horse. it's a fascinating book,and there's lots more in it.

maybe someday we havefour or five hours, we can cover it fully. sarah: that feels likecome in on the weekend. let's do that. sarah: so that is fantastic. you talked about noticingwhen your horse is winded. because obviously everyhorse is different, are there guidelinesthat you give people? or is there somethingyou use when

you're working with newman? dr lydia gray: the heartrate is your best indicator. sarah: interesting, becauseyou would think winded, you think respiratory. dr lydia gray: well,and here's why. when a horse breathes,the breathing can become a component of,i'm trying to cool myself. so if it's hot andmuggy, and the horse did a strenuous workout, therespiratory rate may reflect,

i need to get ridof some heat more than i need to recover my air. so the heart rate is betterto monitor, and if you're fit, in about 10 minutes itwill go down to baseline. so that's why in a vetbox at a rolex 3-day event we use a 10-minute window tosee is the horse recovering completely. very cool. dr lydia gray:really cool stuff.

sarah: that was awesome. ok, well, very excitingnews, we have our first ever two questions in thesame month from one person. dr lydia gray: really? wow. sarah: lucy2999-- sarah: --also isasking, are brand mashes beneficial to horses. how often should i feedmy horse a bran mash?

dr lydia gray: you know thisis one of my favorite topics. sarah: did you votefor this question? dr lydia gray: am i lucy2999? sarah: were you onthere just every day? dr lydia gray: so bran mashes. being a horseowner, i understand how good it feels,like warm and fuzzy, when you can cookup with all sorts of tasty tidbits, carrots,and apples, and whatever.

there's all kinds ofrecipes, a nice warm bran mash in the winter. and i know a lot of people doit like once a week on a friday, whatever. however, wheat bran has gota lop-side or upside down calcium to phosphorus ratio. that's the first problem. in horses, their diet'ssupposed to be one to one or one to two calcium tophosphorus, and so--

sarah: so one toone, one to two, means equal amountsor twice as much. dr lydia gray: actually,i said that backwards. two to one calcium, alittle bit more calcium. so equal amounts ofcalcium and phosphorus or a little bit more calcium. dr lydia gray:bran is one to 12. so it has one part calciumand 12 parts phosphorus. sarah: that feels likemore than upside down.

dr lydia gray: yeah, it's quite. and so you canbalance for it, but it takes a lot of diet manipulationand an expert nutritionist to help you. so then just don't giveit, right, is one choice. the other problem with bran ispeople think it's high fiber. in people, whose diets are about2% fiber, it is high fiber. but in horses, whose dietsway higher, it's not. you're actually decreasing thefiber content of your horse's

diet by giving it. so then, you ask, why doesit serve as a laxative, and the horse has betterquality, wetter bowel movements. why does it move itself through? what might be happening,it doesn't actually. what might behappening is, you know we say don't change yourhorse's diet quickly. but do it over time likeseven to 10 or 14 days.

sarah: sure. dr lydia gray: what areyou doing when you're feeding your horse,you're feeding your horse, and then on friday yougive it a bran mash? you're changingthe diet suddenly. sarah: rapidly, sure. dr lydia gray: sowhat you're causing, maybe, is a mild digestiveupset and loose stool. and then in a day ortwo your horse recovers.

so why would we do that? that does not feel like a treat. dr lydia gray: it doesn't. and i hear stories aboutgoing down to the barn, and giving a hot bran mashes. and one horse says, no thanks. he's maybe experiencedthe gassiness and bloating and is like, i'm all good. so it's tasty.

they love it, but it mightnot be the best choice. there are some better choices. like if you want to make a mash,you can use a complete feed and add water to it. a beet pulp, alfalfa pellets. there's other things that aremore balanced and appropriate for horses. sarah: yeah, i think a lot ofpeople, at least a lot of what i've heard as justification forbran mashes is people saying,

but the horses love it. dr lydia gray: they do. sarah: and it's like,well, of course they do. dr lydia gray: and i lovefritos and ding dongs. sarah: that's exactly right. we have to make thoseresponsible choices, and it's up to us to make theright choice for our horses, so. dr lydia gray: based on science.

science. dr lydia gray: oh, darn. sarah: gets you every time. all right. well, those were all thequestions we had this month. thank you guys so much forsubmitting the questions. dr lydia gray: thosewere really good. sarah: thank you toeveryone who voted. you guys make surewe're answering

the most popular questions,which makes us really happy. it feels like a reallygreat way for us to be helping you keep yourhorses happy and healthy. so we'll be accepting questionsfor next month's video right now. you can submit those questionson youtube, facebook, instagram, twitter, emailcustomercare@smartpak.com, submit them on the blogright here in the comments. don't forget to use hashtag#askthevetvideo so that we

can make sure that weget all the questions in the same place. and we'll be acceptingquestions until november 1st. don't forget to voteon your questions, and use some of thetechniques we've seen here. dr lydia gray: theballot stuffing, yeah. sarah: recruit your friends. that's exactly right. because if yourquestion is selected,

you do get that smartpak giftcard, which is pretty awesome. so don't forget also tosubscribe to our videos so that if you dosubmit a question, you make sure you don'tmiss it when we answer it. thank you guys somuch for watching, and have a great ride.