[BCG]

My mother in law's gelding has a swollen sheath that is hot and tender to the touch. She's had 2 vets look at him over the last month. One said it was because he was fat the other just said keep an eye on it.

He urinates fine and nothing seems to be abnormal with the penis. His sheath was cleaned at 1st vet visit.

Anyone have any experience with this or know what might be causing this issue?

 

[NoahEm]

Has he had his sheath clean and checked for beans recently. I don't know a ton about horses. But I had a gelding with a similar problem and the vet came out and removed a decent size bean and cleaned it real good.

 

[MsScamp]

Sounds like he had a bean. The swelling will probably take a few days to go down.

 

[LGFarm]

When was his sheath cleaned? Do you have any biting bugs right now? Does he have any swelling in between his front legs or down the center line of his belly?

A swollen sheath like that could be absolutely nothing or a really big problem brewing.

If you have biting bugs right now, and he is getting bit on a regular bases, I have seen gelding swell from that. A little fly spray to the region, applied regularly, every couple of days, and it should go down in a week.

If his sheath was cleaned properly, bean(s) removed and all the crude removed, it should go down in about a week.

If he has swelling anywhere else on his center belly line, get the vet back out, he has internal swelling somewhere and the swelling is dropping to his central line and into his sheath. I have seen this from anything from an allergic reaction to cancer. I have also seen geldings with penal cancer swell like this also. So, if you are up to 2 vets and it has been over a week and it isn't bugs and his sheath has been cleaned, I would be looking for a third vet or a teaching hospital.

 

[goathiker]

We have a tiny gnat that does that to horses here. They live in damp dirt.

 

[BCG]

We do have the little biting gnats every year, but they've never bothered him. His sheath was cleaned 2 months ago. He had 1 small bean that was removed. The climate here is very dry. The swelling has come and gone several times over the last 3 months.

I read a thread on another site that said high protein diet, over weight, low activity horses will get swelling like this during the summer months. Makes sense.

The gelding is a bit over weight. He's ridden about once a week, lightly. Out to pasture 24/7. Exercises himself a little by just being the boss of the other animals.

 

[goathiker]

Best way to test that is to take him out for a good canter. That type of swelling will go down right away with exercise. I had a burro that developed an allergy to those little gnats. He would get like that if I didn't keep up with his fly control.

 

[BCG]

I'll check that out.