Absess caused infection in the pedal bone

[Digbydoo]

Hi I have a 3 year old BWB named digby. I have recently had him broken in and was hacking out, he became quite foot sore so after debating using boots or having him shod I decided that shoes were the better option and a farrier came out to shoe him, he got as far as nailing the 1st shoe on to his front foot and digby became agitated and pulled his foot away from the farrier with the shoe attached by one nail he stood on the shoe and created a big hole in his foot. We decided to go no further with the farrier.

I was worried that his foot would get infected and so I poulticed it for a few days but he seemed ok. A week later he became lame and to cut a long story short after many vets visits we decided to take him to the clinic where they xrayed him and Found that there was a nasty abscess that has caused an infection of the pedal bone. He was poulticed while still under sedation andi picked him up that day and bought him home. I was given antibiotics and pain killer by the ve and told to poultice his foot daily.

However... I am having major difficulties poulticing his foot as he strikes out and rears when I try to pick up his foot andi am so worried about the infection getting worse! I have tryed Sedalin and domacetin but none have any affect on him.

The vet has given him a month on antibiotics and poulticing to try and clear the infection however if this does not work he will have surgery.... And he is nt insured!

I have been reading on other forums horror stories of horses that have not made it through the same surgery!

Does anyone have any experience of abscess, infections or tips for poulticing a difficult horse??

 

[AmyMay]

No experience, but wanted to wish you good luck.

With the poulticing - do you have someone that can twitch him for you whilst you poultice?

 

[be positive]

You really need to get the poultices on, have you got someone to help so that you can try twitching him, will he let you tub it as that is very beneficial and may help relieve the pain before you try to put the poultice on. Is he still on bute as it probably hurts and he thinks you doing anything to it will make it hurt more. A poultice boot may help if you can get it on really quickly, often once they realise you are not going to make it hurt more they do get better.

I had a pony with a very bad abscess it took 4 months to resolve but luckily did not infect the pedal bone and he was a very good patient despite being in a lot of pain.

 

[lyndsayberesford]

my 6 yr old had an abscess a few weeks ago and the first time i put a poultice on him he was a nightmare! i didnt ask for anyones help as he gets more aggitated with more people around.

the first time he was moving round trying to put his foot down etc, and then each time after that he got better and better as he must have known that it wasnt to hurt him but to help the foot. He seemed to love standing in the tub of lukewarm water with epsom salts too as that must have relieved the pain and pressure for him! This is the same horse that wont walk through a puddle and hates getting wet!

Keep persevering if it means no operation!!!

 

[Bess]

Mine had something similar, I hot tubbed it daily with epsom salts and gave him something to do while he was tied up outside - a haynet, a lick or a boredom breaker toy. I didn't have a poultice boot but it sounds like a good idea if he's tricky to poultice. I prepared everything I needed and had it all to hand, I made up the poultice inside a nappy and had vet wrap and scissors all ready.

After a few days of wet poulticing when nothing was coming out any more it was changed to dry poulticing, weeks of wet poulticing would be bad for the sole.

 

[Uniique]

Digby

I was closely involved with a friends horses that suffered the same. We lost him a month after surgery due to re occuring colic from the box rest sadly his foot was healing well after the surgery. He was difficult to poultice too, help was often required and a good routine. Always allow enough time to poultice. Good luck. Keep his bedding as clean as possible and limit any time he spends standing on the yard to absolutely nessecary. I woulld advise investing in a good quality poultice boot as we had problems with him going through the poultice and keeping it on that way you dont need to worry about it staying on once you've got it on if you invest in a good quality canvas boot.