Abscess confusion!

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AbbeyL

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Hiya!

So to keep it brief..
My horse went suddenly lame, had the vet out straight away, he told me it was an abscess, dug out a hole which bled but there was no pus, and told me to hot poultice for 4 days then dry poultice for 4 days.

Its now the 4th day of hot poulticing and there is still no "gunk" at all. There is a clear goo but I'm assuming that's just coming from the frog. The poultice has been completely clean and nothing seems any different.

The vet did say we caught the abscess quite early but surely there would be some sort of gunk if he had ruptured it by making a hole?
I'm just worried he hasn't pierced the abscess and that its not actually draining..

Any experience of this?
 
Is the horse any less unsound?

It sounds like he hasn't opened the abscess but it's possible there isn't one and it was just a bruise if the horse is sounder. If it isn't sounder, then there may be an abscess still brewing or it could be something else altogether and time for some x rays.
 
Is the horse sound? if it is still just as lame then my guess would be the vet has not found an abscess just made a hole in the right area, it may still drain if the sole is softened by the poultice, or the abscess may move to the weakened area and drain but if nothing has changed with the degree of lameness then I would get the farrier out to take another look, I have never had one bleed without being accompanied by gunk and then only a trace of blood.
If they are fairly lame it is unlikely the abscess has been found early, some are totally sound with one developing then go extremely lame in no time at all but by then it is normally fairly far on and the pressure building up causes the pain, once opened they can go just about sound immediately.
 
With the poultice on (due to the cotton wool I'm guessing) he's pretty much sound, only slightly tender. When I change his poultice tomorrow I'll walk him out without it on and see how bad he is! Thanks
 
AbbeyL said:
With the poultice on (due to the cotton wool I'm guessing) he's pretty much sound, only slightly tender. When I change his poultice tomorrow I'll walk him out without it on and see how bad he is! Thanks
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Then my guess would be that it was a bruise and that he trod on something immediately before you saw him so lame. Very common mistake for a vet to make. Either that, or it's made itself more room like Be Positive says, and he will go badly lame again in a few days. But it doesn't sound like you have a lot to worry about :)
 
Just as an aside, if you suspect a hoof abscess in future I would recommend getting your farrier to look at it first in preference to the vet as in my experience vets tend to be more invasive, resulting in a longer recovery period.
 
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The day he went lame I was at the yard in the evening only so i called the vet out for the next day.. He was still lame 24 hours later.. So much to my despair its probably more than a stone :(
The vet did his little pressure test in the area and found the 'abscess' at the toe of his hoof and made the hole there but like I said before, no pus, just blood..
 
Thank you! I have been told that a few times now and I totally agree. I guess I just panicked and my first point of call was the vet!
 
Well, it started as an abscess but the vet cut about a third of the height of his hoof wall out in his attempts to find the pus. It was a long time before I could turn out again.
 
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