07/30/2025
🐴☀️ Summer Sores: What You Need to Know ☀️🐴
What Are Summer Sores? Also known as cutaneous habronemiasis, summer sores are caused by the larvae of stomach worms. These larvae are deposited into open wounds, moist skin, or mucous membranes by flies. Instead of completing their life cycle in the stomach, the larvae get trapped in the skin, causing an inflammatory reaction.
🔎 Key Signs of Summer Sores:
-Non-healing, moist skin lesions
-Commonly appear around the eyes, lips, sheath, legs, or wounds
-Lesions may be itchy or painful, and often worsen with repeated exposure
🛠️ Prevention & Management:
✔️ Fly Control is Key! Use fly spray and maintain good manure management.
✔️ Wound Care: treat cuts and scrapes immediately to reduce fly attraction. Keep wounds covered or treated with fly-repellent ointments.
✔️ Veterinary Treatment: summer sores often require topical therapy, anti-inflammatories, and dewormers. Lesions can take weeks to months to fully heal, especially if advanced.
⏳ Early intervention makes a big difference! We’ll be on-site at the NSBA World Show next week. Contact us if you have concerns about a lesion while you're at the show!
