susan in greece
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Post by susan in greece on Oct 13, 2009 20:59:56 GMT 1
Let it blow or go digging about to make a bigger mess??? Vet has been out twice (300 km round trip) and has located the abscess on xray and confirmed with testers. He thinks just ONE MORE course of antibiotics will do the trick along with more bute but I am not convinced and have decided not to give it. Greeks give antibiotics at the drop of a hat...really they do. Reading around and discussing on farrier forums and with another vet online it is probably the case the medication has prolonged the natural outcome.
Doesn't stop me sitting here worrying if she's ok though or suddenly surcummbed and is lying upside down in the paddock with her hooves in the air.
I've been soaking twice daily. She's not really really lame, head bobs slightly. no pulse, hoof warmer than others though.
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gillmcg
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Post by gillmcg on Oct 14, 2009 10:00:14 GMT 1
In my extremely limited experience of hoof abscess (two in 20 years) I think they have to be allowed to 'blow' or they can flare up again. In neither case were antibiotics given. Bute was given for pain relief although even that can slow down the process due to the anti-inflammatory effect but I just can't watch them hobbling!
In the first case the mare was shod and the vet removed the shoe and had a dig around (superficially) and was lucky that it was near the sole. This resolved within a few days and the mare was reshod. In the second case it rumbled on for ages (unshod TB) and the farrier came back a second time to have another dig around at the toe as it just wasn't tracking down. In hindsight it may have been better to leave it and let it blow at the coronet. I didn't bother with the vet as they're pretty awful here (although saying that we've just discovered a decent equine vet based at a local stud). I was poulticing daily with animalintex and keeping it covered (Hoofeeze boots are great!) to stop debris plugging the hole. Took weeks to drain completely and you could see the lump on the outer hoof wall for months until it grew out.
Perhaps the difference in these two was that the TB, being unshod, had harder/thicker walls and the abscess just couldn't track out whereas the shod mare had softer, thinner structure? Don't know.
I think in your case I'd poultice rather than soak to try and draw the abscess.
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susan in greece
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"you can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf" Joseph Goldstein
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Post by susan in greece on Oct 14, 2009 12:15:44 GMT 1
Thanks for replying Gil, you're in France then. It's awful when you don't really trust the vet isn't it. I'm glad he came out simply for the xray so we know what we're dealing with, or at least it was confirmed as really i knew anyway. Abscess was caused by farrier trimming off too much of the underrun hoof and then hammering a nail in. OUCH.
I am just out the door to stick a sugardine poultice on and hoofboot. The hoofeeze boot does look good but having shelled out so much on hoofboots earlier this year i am now glad i didn't get round to selling them.
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Post by tamsinextra on Oct 14, 2009 15:25:36 GMT 1
Bella is keen on getting these! We have the good fortune to live near an excellent equine practice. the usual routine is to take off the shoe, poultice with anilintex and hot tub with epsom salts twice daily for 3 days then hot tub for the rest of the week but no poultice. at which point the abscess will have burst out somewhere and be draining nicely. vet isn't keen on antibiotics as he feels they can wall in the abscess. we always use Bute for a few days initially. this seems to work well for Bella. not sure why she is susceptible but we have stony ground and her feet were neglected for a few years before we got her so perhaps we will just have to live with it. at the moment she is on box rest for a ?fractured pedal bone. but she is almost sound after 4 weeks so more likely a bruise and the vet is happy. fingers crossed....
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susan in greece
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"you can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf" Joseph Goldstein
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Post by susan in greece on Oct 14, 2009 20:39:37 GMT 1
this animalintex seems to be the in thing. Does it have advantages over my sugardine poultice i am wondering. I thought it might have heating properties but apparently not.
Hope Bella recovers completely soon....a fractured pedal bone puts our abscess into perspective. !
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Vicky&Beenie
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Post by Vicky&Beenie on Oct 15, 2009 11:46:33 GMT 1
Time is the key i'm afraid, don't go picking around, more infection will get in if you do. Poultice it with a gauze, animallintex, and a vet wrap and some carpet tape pad at the bottom. Change the poultice every two days. With the carpet tape pad you should be able to turn him out into a small paddock to stop him from locking up so he can stretch his legs. Give it time and he should be fine.
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Post by lochmaddyer25 on Oct 15, 2009 23:28:29 GMT 1
Hi'
My pony had an abcess in a rear hoof.
He had white line disease.
My farrier pared away enough of the hoof wall to allow drainage and I was advised to keep clean. I cleaned and plugged the hole daily with cotton wool soaked in cornucresine hoof disinfectant.
Wonderful stuff - did the trick!
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susan in greece
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"you can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf" Joseph Goldstein
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Post by susan in greece on Oct 16, 2009 8:50:19 GMT 1
Good to hear all these horses got better quickly. Gina's seems to be going on and on though. I believe giving the 2 and a half courses of antibiotics with bute twice a day is to blame and has made this a cronic case. Foot is still warm, she is still lame but not very, head comes up occasionally at walk but she is mooching about and not uncomfy. She's booted with a sugardine poultice which i do change twice a day so i can check. It's been 3 weeks now since all this started.
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Post by muddy boots on Oct 28, 2009 21:02:39 GMT 1
When our horse had a foot abcess we used a small babies nappy to wrap around it then taped it, it drew the nasties out of the abcess. and stayed on really well.ask a farrier for help with a foot problem thats their speciallity after all,
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Post by HolsBols on Oct 29, 2009 16:32:58 GMT 1
When our horse had a foot abcess we used a small babies nappy to wrap around it then taped it, We did exactly the same thing... worked wonders because its the right sort of shape. We also put animallintex at the bottom of the nappy to help draw the absess out but the nappy worked brilliantly for keeping bandages in place!! |
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pip
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Post by pip on Oct 29, 2009 22:18:33 GMT 1
Mine had an abscess that took ages and needed a good deal of digging and X rays for a suspected broken pedal bone to sort out. It didn't blow, but tracked round the foot, so horse went sound for a bit, and then went lame again.
I did sort of blame the first vet who gave the horse bute, which is an anti-inflammatory, which I think made it stop coming to a head and blowing. On the other hand the horse was so sorry for himself (Mum it HURTS) that it would have been cruel NOT to give him pain relief. Nothing seemed to come out of the first hole in the poultice and he seemed to get better for a bit, and then this pattern was repeated. In the end the practice partner came out, about 4 times all together I think. After her first visit she wondered if it was broken so X rayed, it wasn't but the infection was deep and he ended up with a huge hole which she had to do under sedation. He got better eventually and I used the baby nappy, duck tape method to keep clean.
An abscess that won't blow is a darned nuisance. The Epsom salts can help.
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Post by julz on Oct 29, 2009 23:55:15 GMT 1
if no animalintex, use a pampers or similar nappy instead... does the same job...
do what you do, then nappy on, and tape up... should still be able to get a hoof boot on top so horse can walk about
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susan in greece
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"you can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf" Joseph Goldstein
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Post by susan in greece on Oct 30, 2009 10:32:39 GMT 1
Hi everyone. Well i think she has come sound now and is just a bit jimpy from being barefoot. I'm hoping that is the case anyway. So there never was an abscess or it has just gone by itself. I do not know. It's a mystery.
Pip, how long was the whole episode from start to finish? weeks or months? Did the vet actually open the hole and where was the hole on the hoof?
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annie
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Post by annie on Oct 30, 2009 16:26:32 GMT 1
I had a very similar experience to Pip. My horse went suddenly lame and couldn't walk and the vet was so alarmed she thought it was a broken pedal bone. She put a plaster cast on immediately and arranged for him to go into the vet hospital for x-rays the following day. The x-rays showed a huge abscess deep inside the hoof and they advised hot soaking and poulticing and turning out into the field with a nappy to protect the bandage. My vet came a couple of times and couldn't resist digging around and making a bit of a mess almost as if she was determined to locate it. With hindsight I wish I'd told her not to do this. She then said it would be better to put his shoe back on to make him more comfortable. My farrier was most alarmed when he saw the mess she'd made and said he would have made a better job and he found it very difficult to find enough hoof wall to get a shoe on but it did make my horse a bit more comfortable. Weeks later a hole appeared at the coronet band so it seems the abscess burst there. All together we must have been poulticing for three weeks or more and he was off work altogether for several months.
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Post by june on Oct 31, 2009 23:02:05 GMT 1
I've tried various things with abscesses. The most consistent thing seems to be soaking for 20 mins in warm water with the water level above the coronary band. That usually softens the skin enough for it to burst out at the coronary band. I then poultice with a nappy and vet wrap until the gunk stops coming out.
In my experience it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to recovery if a hole is dug in the foot or not. My vet is reasonably conservative when it comes to digging holes in the foot but often a small hole will help to create a weakness for the abscess to burst out of. Had one just last week where the horse was on 3 legs and went from that to sound once the vet had dug a hole. The hole is now plugged with cotton wool soaked in zinc sulphate. With other abscesses I've dealt with the soaking option has done the same job. The hoof is pretty good at repairing itself so having a hole dug within reason isn't the end of the world.
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