Abscess - is this right?

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Scheherezade

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Horse has a sudden pain in his hoof. There is a pulse in the pasterns indicating it is definately the hoof.

I can't find a hole with the abscess seeming to come from, so this is what I did (is it right?).

Boiled water with salt in, let it cool, cleaned and scrubbed hoof. Boiled more water, soaked animalintex square, squeezed water out (once it had cooled), put it on the sole. Plastic bag to keep heat in, vetwrap then duct tape.

This morning it was browny black and stank to high heaven, so I repeated the process but with hibiscrubs instead of salt. and I'll be doing the same at 6. I still can't see a hole, but it might be that it is in the 'cracks' of the frog.

Is this right?
 
The hoof is a hard box, generally speaking if your horse has some poison in his foot a vet or a farrier will have to test the hoof and make a hole in the sole of the foot to let the poison escape, then you poultice it to draw out the infection. Wrapping horses feet in wat cloth and then wrapping it in plastic will always make their feet stink, I doubt it is the puss and the abscess is unlikely to be in the frog, which is a relatively soft structure.
 
I wouldn't treat a lame horse without getting your farrier to look first - could be he needs to par away the foot to release the abcess or could be something else entirely.
 
The farrier isn't up until Thursday, and I spoke to the vet last night who said I was doing the right thing in terms of not taking him in for his scan and just treating the ascess for the time being.

I was wanting to get the farrier, but as he can't make it until thursday I thought I would just try draw out the infection until then?

I'll ring the vet now.
 
I wouldn't phone your vet - if it is an abcess sometimes it's best to leave well alone for a couple of days unless the horse is very lame - makes it easier to find and treat that way . Vets have a habit of taking away an awful lot of foot to try and find an abcess, you really need your farrier to do this, not a vet. I would leave the horse till Thursday and investigate then .....
 
You sound as through you've found the abscess, how lame is horse??? before you treated, did it look like your horse was hopping lame.... and now has it greatly improved???
Now you have found seat of abscess i would highly recommend that you only do one more wet poultice and then going onto dry poulticing.
But i personely would also get farrier out to make sure you have got correct area, as some times if you don't know why they have got abscess, they can have more that one!!! and can even be underneath shoe etc...

If you unsure defo speak to either your farrier or vet and IMHO the soon the better as if you're unsure, as you're only spending money on phone call for advice
 
He was absolutely hopping lame, wouldn't even put it on the floor when he was standing. This morning he was less lame, he still limped but is standing with his weight on it (unbandaged) and without the more dramatic 'hopping'. He was also brighter, head off the ground and looking around as curious as ever, ears forward etc.

He is unshod.

Thanks for your reply
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Ok, I am going back to change it at 6, so should I try with a dry bandage? So is that just animalintex and vetwrap again (I hate vetwrap, it's great stuff but so expensive!)

I've just been covering the whole foot with the animalintex.

Sorry, I've never had to deal with an abscess before and I'm terrified of doing the wrong thing.

ETA - I'll ring the vet within the hour.
 
your doing fine, animalintex, nappy would be better than vet wrap (and cheaper), duct tape and pastic bag to keep dry.

personel i would always phone farrier as they deal with feet all day, but second best your vet
 
Abscess pain may come and go and swelling can also travel up the leg, looking a bit like a done tendon etc. Poultices stink to high heaven but stink even further when you get the pus - which is invariably very dark. IME it takes a few days of variable degrees of lameness before the pus travel to an exit point and bursts out. Poulticing merely softens the underside of the hoof and offers an exit point.

How they place the hoof sometimes offers an indication as to the possible location of an abscess (toe first = back part of foot or heel) but pain in the hoof often just makes them not want to put it down at all!

I'd stable bandage the opposite leg to give it a bit of support.
 
If you are getting dark puss out then personally I'd keep on with a hot wet poultice till you start to see a a cleaner poultice when u take it off. As others have said farriers tend to be better at dealing with these so sounds like you are doing the right thing.

And yes nappies are great! Its like they were made for hooves!! So poultice, vet wrap, nappy and duck tape.

Another thought, if horse isn't absolutely hopping, is to have them turned out in a small dry area as movement helps drain the absess out.
 
[ QUOTE ]
If you are getting dark puss out then personally I'd keep on with a hot wet poultice till you start to see a a cleaner poultice when u take it off.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is never a good idea. Firstly because over 'hot' poulticing can undermine the structures of the foot, and secondly because it's very rare to get a clean hot poultice - there is always some discolouration.
 
I'm poulticing at the moment as well but don't bother with the vetrap, I place the animalintex over the puncture and then a square of cotton (from poundshop) over that and then newborn nappy and duct tape
wink.gif
 
Just to say, last night he was loads better and I re-dry poulticed. Today he was perfectly sound when led walk & trot, so he is dry poulticed for the last night tonight. Tomorrow my OH is going to clean, purple spray and turn out in the dry (non muddy as sloping) field.

Tracey01 - I meant the abscess was in the groove between sole and frog. He is unshod so this is narrow and hard to see down.

I'm going to stock up on nappies!
Thanks
x
 
It sounds like you've been doing the right thing in terms of poulticing etc but please don't turn out too soon. We found an abscess in my pony's foot around 3 weeks ago. The vet came but couldn't find anything and didn't want to dig out too much, so we got the farrier who opened up a small crack and let out a little bit of pus. The pony has been sound without bute for nearly a week, but we are still stabling her complete with cold poulticing/nappy/duct tape. We may be being over cautious, but its not worth taking the risk of more infection getting in through the same crack.
 
I've never kept a horse in because of an abcess - preferring instead to have them moving around. The foot is protected so that no mud get's on to it.

I'd get yourselvs some nappies and just wrap it up and pop him out.

Sounds like you've done a stirling job.
 
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