# sheath cleaning tips?



## redtailgal (Apr 29, 2011)

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## goodhors (Apr 29, 2011)

Use warm water and wear latex gloves.  If he has beans, the urethra end may be blocked so he is not peeing well.  Might be the reason for excess fluid.

Why didn't the Vet clean him while they were there?  Sure would have ruled out beans being the problem.  Horse also may have a fungus or bacterial infection going on inside the sheath, not sure those meds will help for that.

Older geldings often don't extend themselves to urinate, get those kind of infections going pretty easily in the sheath area.  With age, they do need cleaning a LOT more often, build-up is lots worse.

I have sheath cleaning to look forward to, 3 geldings.  The warm water makes ALL the difference in how hard they are to do.  I love the Excaliber, does an excellent job, rinses off well.  If you can't get that, ask at the drug store for advice.  Needs to cut greasy stuff, still wash out with only water rinse.

Latex gloves keeps the smell off your skin while cleaning.  Totally WORTH the extra cost, since the smell on skin stays with you for DAYS after, you have NO friends!!

Just get him cleaned out, may fix his problems.  Bless you for helping him out.  Too many gelding owners ignore REGULAR sheath cleaning, leaving the horse to suffer for it.  Hope things go smoothly.


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## redtailgal (Apr 30, 2011)

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## goodhors (Apr 30, 2011)

I would do a good cleaning now if possible, get all the gunk off his penis and out of the sheath.  Greasy gunk holds germs well.  I would not advise using mineral oil, the KY jelly, both are greasy and stuff sticks to them, you can't rinse them out or off the sheath area.  Horse is just as dirty with stuff stuck on him, within a couple days of using those items.  Needs cleaning again.  

Can you use someone else's Excaliber bottle, pay something for the cost of what you use?

Dial soap is always recommended for sensitive area cleaning, wounds, just not sure how well it cuts grease to get the gunk out.  I know people use lots of liquid dish soaps, but then you hear complaints about how horse reacted to such strong chemicals after.  Could be they don't rinse him well, or he is sensitive to the stuff in those soaps.  

Again, using the warm water, rinse him REALLY WELL, get everything out of his sheath area.  We run a hose from inside the house outside to get warm water for the cleanings. 

Do look for more than one bean, I have often found several small ones on the same horse during a cleaning. 

I thought the Vet was out, to be prescribing meds you named.  Yeah, money is tight, but sounds like horse needs attention now, not "eventually".  Part of the cost of owning them is care when they need it.  I would be quite worried about the fluid buildup, nothing normal there.


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## currycomb (Apr 30, 2011)

if you can give him a little "ace", he will drop his penis and cleaning will be eaisier. yes, use gloves, lots of nasty bacteria you could pick up. i always used dawn dish soap. they use it to clean oil off of wildlife, so is considered safe. dawn dissolves grease and oil. then rinse well, and rinse well again. the beans will be at the opening to his uretha, and may be painful to remove, you may have to soak it awhile, again, rinse well. the swelling may also be from "buffalo knats" they have been out here in so. il, and cause swelling when they bite. but a good cleaning won't hurt a thing.


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## redtailgal (Apr 30, 2011)

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## goodhors (Apr 30, 2011)

I would NOT use Dawn Dish Soap on his VERY SENSITIVE privates.  It dries my hands enough to crack the skin in short order.  Washing the outside of oil covered animals and birds is not quite the same as using Dawn on his privates.  I suggested gentle items, also said ask at the drugstore for other gentle cleaning agents on such sensitive tissue, yet still able to cut the greasy gunk.  

Also you will want to be real careful with Ace as a tranq on male horses, ponies.  We know a couple horses who LOST the muscle control of their penis.  One was VERY expensive breeding stallion, rendered useless after that shot of Ace.  Equines who react badly are not able to retract the penis after being Ace'd.

Not a real common reaction, but the ones we know about, effect was PERMANENT.  No fixing it.  Owners ended up putting their horses down, couldn't use them with penis just hanging out and getting beat up with legs and hooves.  Stallion was unable to breed or be collected from, total loss in a breeding program.  Really sad and so unneeded with other drugs available.

Our Vet has instructions to bring different tranq if they think something will be needed for our geldings.  You just don't know when the Ace medicine will effect the horse, horse may have had Ace before but reacts badly THIS time.


So glad you got another Vet out to check things out, not finding a more serious problem.  Good outlook to fixing him back up too.


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## patandchickens (May 1, 2011)

I agree with pretty much everything said above, esp. goodhors' posts.

The main value of Excalibur over other things, IMHO, is that it gives you some means of getting that smegma smell off your hands afterwards. (For those of us who can't do it wearing gloves) Which is pretty important LOL but not like you HAVE to have Excalibur just to do sheath cleaning. ANd the smell does wear off eventually 

Did the vet listen to the horse's lungs and heart too, because heart difficulties (which can also show as lung problems) is not rare as a cause of excessive sheath swelling in older horses. Just something you'd want to make sure was checked.

Pat


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