Anyone with experience of Canker?

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JessicaRabbitt

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Hi folks

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience of canker?My teenage mare has just been diagnosed with it, it did look like a nasty bout of thrush but didn't respond to Tetcin spray, so after a week got the vet out ....it's a horrible thing to hear about to be honest, the horse is kept in clean conditions, on rubber matting,and has her feet picked out daily...the only thing that changed recently was that she had pads fitted to help with heel expansion , and I suspect these were a triggering factor.The vet plans to trim the feet back aggressively next week, and apply boots over a pad soaked in some kind of antibiotic/antifungal cream, and also administer steroids to calm inflammation.He thinks she may be able to start light work again in 6 weeks or so.This condition seems like a pretty rare one, so I'm looking at the best ways to manage it.Any experiences welcome....also I'm thinking she'll need probiotics,and some kind of immune system support once she has finished her course of drugs.I'm thinking of putting something like an EasyBoot RX on her while she is on box rest after the op, and then some other kind of boot to start working her once the feet have healed.She has always been shod, and sound with it, but I'm wondering if at least a period of no shoes would be the best thing to help with healthy hoof growth....
 
Heavens, that poor horse had seriously long heels!The canker looks similar though, putrud white mush under what initially looked like normal frog...
 
The only white I've come across under a fairly normal looking frog was like teased out cotton wool. I assumed it was a fungus mycelium and treated successfully with a soak of milton solution and 2% canestan cream. It wasn't stinky mush though (didn't smell at all, strangely) which seems to be a sign of canker.
 
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One of my ponies had it. Seems to be an over-reaction of the immune system to an ordinary infection like thrush. She had it in one hoof to start with, but then it spread to two more - just appearing, overnight almost, while she was at the vets so super clean bed, poo picked almost hourly etc! Our vet used copper sulphate to debride the frog back to normal healthy tissue, and then a mixture of creams on her heels where it had also gone to - they were the hardest to clear up because you can't be as aggressive there. It is extremely rare, but our pony's back to full work and you'd never know. We did get some really odd hoof growth afterwards, but our farrier worked wonders and sorted that nicely :).
 
amandap said:
The only white I've come across under a fairly normal looking frog was like teased out cotton wool. I assumed it was a fungus mycelium and treated successfully with a soak of milton solution and 2% canestan cream. It wasn't stinky mush though (didn't smell at all, strangely) which seems to be a sign of canker.
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Yes, her feet looked fairly normal, it was only when I gave them a thorough scrub that I noticed the tissue looked abnormal...it does smell awful though ...
 
mystiandsunny said:
One of my ponies had it. Seems to be an over-reaction of the immune system to an ordinary infection like thrush. She had it in one hoof to start with, but then it spread to two more - just appearing, overnight almost, while she was at the vets so super clean bed, poo picked almost hourly etc! Our vet used copper sulphate to debride the frog back to normal healthy tissue, and then a mixture of creams on her heels where it had also gone to - they were the hardest to clear up because you can't be as aggressive there. It is extremely rare, but our pony's back to full work and you'd never know. We did get some really odd hoof growth afterwards, but our farrier worked wonders and sorted that nicely :).
Click to expand...

That sounds like my girl's - she had a bout of thrush, exacerbated by having pads fitted to help open up contracted heels ...it came on really quickly !My vet has us putting potassium crystals in as they dry up the hoof without damaging it apparently ..then creams due afterwards...
Great to hear yours recovered though!!
 
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