abcess help please!

[madhector]

Ok, Hector went completly lame last saturday after a hack and had vet out as he wasnt eating or wieght bearing, she suspected an abcess but couldnt find anything (took shoe off and had a good dig around but no pus)

She said to poltice and see what happened (her other thought was that it might be a pedal bone fracture

) fortuently 2 days later we got some pus out, so good news there,

But the problem is it was been polticed for a 10 days now and there is still a little pus coming out each day, farrier is a bit worried about leaving the shoe of but also doenst want to put it back on to find there is still something in there (he is going to have to fill with resin to get a shoe on so dont want to have to take it off again!)

How long should it take to drain? Is a week a long time? The only abcesses Ive dealt with have drained in a couple of days

Thanks

 

[ihatework]

Is the horse stabled? If so I would dry poultice, secure with lots of silver duct tape and turn him out for a few hours each day.
Hopefully moving around a bit will help shift it.
My boy had one and he was out of action for 4 weeks, don't overdo the wet poulticing like I did as it made his sole softer!

 

[madhector]

he is now being dry polticed as didnt want to risk anymore wet polticing, he is in at night and in a little pen in the corner of the field during the day (wont stay calmly on his own in the stable)

 

[vicijp]

The stuff that comes out probably isnt pus as such. When you poultice for a prolonged period of time you soften the foot and cause a bit of fluid to leak out.
Because of this I never poultice for more than 2 days. I then apply a dry pad and if the horse is still sound a day later then have the shoe put back on. If not sound then I then go poultice, dry pad, poultice, dry pad every 12 hours.

 

[madhector]

thanks, he is as sound as he ever is with 3 shoes on

 

[Chunkie]

My mare still had a great deal of pus coming out after 11 days, but she did have multiple abcesses.

The vet took shoe off on the Saturday when I first found her lame and got quite a lot of black pus out. We dry poulticed until farrier came on the Monday - he got LOADS more out and advised me to carry on dry poulticing until a week later when he came again. He still released more pus, but put her shoe back on anyway, as it was coming out from the middle of her sole.

There was no more pus after that, but in total she was lame for 5 weeks and out of work for 6 weeks as I wanted to make sure she was properly sound before I rode her again.

Katie

 

[Quarrybank]

I'm going through the same thing at the moment.
I took my boy to a HT on Sunday & he flew round, but Monday morning his near fore was huge. I was convinced of the worst and that he done a ligament or tendon. Took him to the vets monday afternoon & they were talking of scanning him until they put the hoof testers on & he reacted v badly. Took the shoe off & he'd got infected corns.
He's had 1 day of hot tubbing & hot poulicing & then tom evening (after 48 hours) I've been told to switch to cold/dry poulticing.
The swelling of the leg has gone down dramatically so I'm hopeful we've got the cause, but the vet said not to wet poltice for too long & apply an iodine/sugar solution under the dry pad to help harden the foot once the pus is out.
I'd check with your vet if you're still getting stuff out that he want you to keep wet poulticing.
Not meaning to hijack your post but if anyone has any thoughts/experiances of infected corns I'd love to hear it.

 

[ExRacers]

Quarrybank

My horse had an infected corn last year & the only thing that got him sound was to put a pad on under his shoe for the next 3 shoeings - did the trick right away, sound enough to ride the next day after 2 weeks of faffing around! Hope this helps.

 

[kick_On]

if you are having resin in hoof make sure that foot and hoof is very clean before farrier does work, cos on one of my horses had infection behind resin, not good
But if you just so called 'dry pouclticing' ie using a nappy and carpet tape, his foot/hoof should be clean. IMO i wouls also tub foot/sole in hot salty water as just to make sure, also after tubbing pour a small amount of hydrogen peroxide (get from chemist) amount to blubble in point that pus was coming out and then wipe off with clean cloth and apply new dry nappy boot. This will make sure that bugs are dead

 

[madhector]

thanks, very good advice

 

[Quarrybank]

Thanks. I'm speaking to the farrier & vet together next week, so I'll see what they think. Bank holiday falls at the wrong time for me. Firstly I can't ride him

& secondly I can't do anything re the shoes until tuesday, so it's likely to be towards the end of next week before I get the vet & farrier together.
Thankfully the swelling in his leg has gone down & I'm hoping I'll be able to graze him in hand with his poultice boot on over the weekend