# Ichthammol(sp?) ointment for boils



## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

A few weeks ago I posted about a growth/boil Copper had on his head. We had been to the vet, but they could only recommend surgery with anesthesia since it was pretty large. After reading the answers I got here, I researched boils and cysts on line. I think it was a boil.
I did not want to have Copper put under since he is older and has been through a lot lately so I decided to try Icthammol ointment on it. In two days it drew out a lot of thick whitish/yellowish thick goo. I did squeeze it to make sure everything came out.
The hair is growing back in that area and he has not had hair there in a year. The swelling has gone down a lot. There is still a thickening of the tissue around the hole, but it seems to be healing. I'll post an update in a week or so when I see how it is.
The Ichthammol ointment is available from the pharmacist (not out on the shelves) and it was $5.00. If you can't find it, they have a larger container available at tack shops and tractor supply for $10 - $11.
Copper was on antibiotics for a week from the vet for this and I kept him on antibiotics for another week to make sure the infection was gone. Another good effect of the Ichthammol ointment is it kept my other dog from licking the area. Jack is now ignoring that spot and that is a good sign since he only licks areas that are infected (he does that to the cats too).
Anyway, I don't know if this is a permanent cure or even a real cure, but it looks a lot better, the swelling is down 75% and there is no sign of infection at this time. I thought I'd let you guys know in case you want to try it yourself.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

That is great news. I will have to look into that for Beau. He has a couple that just keep popping back up.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I have used ichthammol on horses many times. Really good stuff, but really messy. It really does seem to pull out inflammation. I am glad you are having good results with it. I had kind of forgotten about it. My horse reacts when he has shots. We ended up buy silicone free syringes which have helped immensely, I should try ichthammol, if he gets another lump. Usually we treated it with Dexamethasone since it is allergy related but had marginal results. I know I have a tube somewhere!


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Great news. I had never heard of it, but so glad you got good results. I'll want to put that in the memory bank for future reference.


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

Oh yeah - max's mom was right. It is quite messy. I ended up putting a blob of ointment (it is black and smells tarry) on Copper's head, then a small square of gauze and then quite a large piece of duct tape to hold it in place (on his head).
He looked like Frankenpuppy. 
I am definitely a fan of duct tape so this is not the first time he has sported such a bandage.


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