Abscess on the frog - has anyone dealt with one before?

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Autumn30

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So my mare had cut her frog.
She was hopping lame, pulse and hot tendon so had that scanned but turns out there was an abscess or infection from where she cut the frog.
I have been soaking her foot in warm water twice a day and wet poulticing. This has been 3 days now.
The frog has pus coming from both sides of the sulci now towards the bulb and doesn’t seem to have got any better. Saying that mare is not really lame anymore and you can apply pressure to the frog which I couldn’t before.

i don’t want her foot to get to soft.

I’m assuming due to the location it could be a slightly longer recovery than your usual abscess?
Farrier mentioned to put a dry poultice on now but I didn’t think that was right with obvious pus showing?

Has anyone dealt with something like this before?
 
If the cut is deep then it can take a fair while for all infection to clear, the frog is softer tissue so the pus can push out in many directions and leave the frog looking somewhat like a Swiss cheese.

My wee lad ended up having to have his frog pared right back to get to healthy tissue and stop the abscess eruptions. You can just see the deepest bit of the original cut slicing diagonally across his frog. Dry poultice and iodine to dry and toughen it up and he was as right as rain.

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Years ago a horse of mine blew 5 abscesses in 3 feet following getting hind leg stuck in rug for several hours. Front left had one abscess, right front had two, left hind had two, and other hind leg was huge from being stuck in leg strap of her rug. Vet didn’t dig any of them out. I think two had already erupted, then 3 more, all in the space of 2 or 3 days. I bought wholesale boxes of Vetrap 🙂 poulticed for days, left her in paddock. Oh my giddy aunt, she was so lame.
Anyhow, I packed the holes in her feet up with Manuka honey. Brilliant decision. Any decent honey would do though.
 
rhino said:
If the cut is deep then it can take a fair while for all infection to clear, the frog is softer tissue so the pus can push out in many directions and leave the frog looking somewhat like a Swiss cheese.

My wee lad ended up having to have his frog pared right back to get to healthy tissue and stop the abscess eruptions. You can just see the deepest bit of the original cut slicing diagonally across his frog. Dry poultice and iodine to dry and toughen it up and he was as right as rain.

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Hi,
Can you tell me how long it cleared or after cutting f the frog back how long it took?
My mare seems to be getting worse now?
Been poulticing it for a week now and seems to be worse. We had a scan before noticing abscess as it was certainly not coming from the foot (we thought)
Had X-rays today and waiting for the vet to tell me if it’s gone to the bone or not as there was nothing obvious just a small amount shadowing near back of pedal bone.
Hoof has become really hot- she’s not super lame more footie if that makes sense. I will show photo of hoof to see if this is similar to what you’d experienced
 
Autumn30 said:
Hi,
Can you tell me how long it cleared or after cutting f the frog back how long it took?
My mare seems to be getting worse now?
Been poulticing it for a week now and seems to be worse. We had a scan before noticing abscess as it was certainly not coming from the foot (we thought)
Had X-rays today and waiting for the vet to tell me if it’s gone to the bone or not as there was nothing obvious just a small amount shadowing near back of pedal bone.
Hoof has become really hot- she’s not super lame more footie if that makes sense. I will show photo of hoof to see if this is similar to what you’d experienced
Click to expand...
 

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Autumn30 said:
Hi,
Can you tell me how long it cleared or after cutting f the frog back how long it took?
My mare seems to be getting worse now?
Been poulticing it for a week now and seems to be worse. We had a scan before noticing abscess as it was certainly not coming from the foot (we thought)
Had X-rays today and waiting for the vet to tell me if it’s gone to the bone or not as there was nothing obvious just a small amount shadowing near back of pedal bone.
Hoof has become really hot- she’s not super lame more footie if that makes sense. I will show photo of hoof to see if this is similar to what you’d experienced
Click to expand...
After the vet visit to pare back the frog he was a bit tender footed for a few days but as soon as it hardened up he was as right as rain. X rays were all normal. It had been grumbling on/abscessing for about 3 weeks previously.
 
Is the pus coming from the frog or the collateral groove? It really does look nasty. It will be interesting to see what the x-rays show.

Have you tried warm tubbing ( as warm as possible without causing burns) in epsom salts, for 20 mins twice a day, and dry poultice inbetween? Use a good depth of water - just over coronet height.
 
Cragrat said:
Is the pus coming from the frog or the collateral groove? It really does look nasty. It will be interesting to see what the x-rays show.

Have you tried warm tubbing ( as warm as possible without causing burns) in epsom salts, for 20 mins twice a day, and dry poultice inbetween? Use a good depth of water - just over coronet height.
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So it’s coming from the slice in the frog and the collateral grooves.

Yes I have salts which have been soaking in the vet gave me at the weekend. Prior to that was just soaking in warm water. I have also been wet poulticing.
Have today switched to just soaking and then dry poultice as I’m worried I’m making the hoof to soft.
Hoof seems really hot tonight.

Really quite worrying if I’m honest and I do feel a bit out of my depth not understanding it.
 
rhino said:
After the vet visit to pare back the frog he was a bit tender footed for a few days but as soon as it hardened up he was as right as rain. X rays were all normal. It had been grumbling on/abscessing for about 3 weeks previously.
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I’m really hoping it’s more something like this, could do without the hospital and op!
Was the abscess draining for the 3 weeks?
 
rhino said:
Yes it was, thought I’d had it sorted a couple of times but then more pus would find a way out and the collateral grooves were just mushy.
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This is what I am finding here with my mare! I’m worried it’s due to keeping it so wet. Just can’t be normal and it doesn’t smell great.
Well maybe I am not alone here.
Did you try antibiotics? Or will that not work in this scenario?
 
My cob has had an abscess in the frog. To be honest, I just opened it up to ensure drainage and disinfected as I do anyway with his hooves (at that point he was under the farrier, who wasn't cutting back raggedy bits and they formed anaerobic pockets). Disinfection was hibiscrub initially, followed by hoof clay with added copper sulphate as maintenance. I can't remember if he was shod at that point, but if he wasn't, I would have used hoof boots for extra protection out hacking (he was never lame - I discovered the pus having a good root around with a hoof pick!). If you have any hoof boots or Tubbease-style soaking boots, I would use a dry poultice of bentonite clay with the boot on. If she's living out, enclosed hoof boots with the dry clay in would be ideal, but I've done it with open backed ones too - the clay tends to stay in the lateral sulcii.
 
Update to this:
Vets are not 100% whether there is an infection on the bone or not from X-rays and said I should book in for a CT to confirm.
Just seems a lot.
I’ve asked to try antibiotics now so fingers crossed it can clear up with those and not need ct and surgery
 
rhino said:
@Autumn30 how are you getting on?
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Unfortunately no change as of yet. (I’ll attach a photo)
Just so frustrating- the vets want to come cray her in 10days/2 weeks again to see if they can see anything more.
We are a day into the antibiotics- having to syringe as she’s very picky.

I feel a bit out of my depth with this.
 
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