Bandage sores after vet bandaged them.

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char3479

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My horse recently suffered an injury which meant his leg had to be bandaged. Vet bandaged it and came back five days later to remove and check and my horses leg was a mess from bandage sores.
Should I have to pay for subsequent medicine and treatment resulting from bandage sores?
Opinions please...
 
Difficult one, as you'd have to prove that it was poor bandaging that caused a problem, rather than the need to be bandaged.....

What was the injury that was sustained?
 
I think you're lucky your horse is alive in that case. The rest is unfortunate (or maybe simply unavoidable).
 
An arterial bleed would have called for a heavy pressure bandage and therefore I would say pressure sites would be difficult to avoid - and the lesser of 2 evils. Complications are all part of owning horses Im afraid! Pay up I'd say.
 
Sorry, don't agree. We had a horse several years ago that severed an artery, he was initially bandaged by the vet, who I might add was not the usual equine vet but the chap that dealt mainly with farm animals. He had a bad back at the time due to rough treatment from a cow. But he was vet on call and he was who I got.
He dealt with wound brilliantly despite his back, and the first bandage had to stay on for 5 days. We had no pressure sores.
Even applied firmly a bandage should not cause sores. It is uneven bandaging that's the problem and that shouldn't happen when a vet is applying it.
I certainly wouldn't be paying for treatment for resulting injury caused by the vet. Correct bandaging is basic training.
Our horse healed beautifully, but it was a long job. Hope your chap is on the mend.
 
ribbons said:
Sorry, don't agree.

Even applied firmly a bandage should not cause sores. It is uneven bandaging that's the problem and that shouldn't happen when a vet is applying it.
I certainly wouldn't be paying for treatment for resulting injury caused by the vet. Correct bandaging is basic training.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more and if horse was sedated there should be no excuse for not doing a decent job of the bandaging (not that there is an excuse anyway).

Possibly silly question but are you sure they are bandage sores and not a reaction to anything that was put on the leg at the time?
I ask because a mare that broke down very badly once when racing was bandaged with cooling lotion until she got home but she had such a fine and sensitive skin that it blistered her leg so badly that we spent six weeks getting that better before we could think about treating the tendon.
 
Thanks - I did think that bandages shouldn't cause sores. It was the day after he sustained the wound and had a second bandage put on by a different vet, still under sedation. The bleeding had stopped and the second bandage was for protection rather than stemming the flow. The vet warned that if it got wet it might be a problem, (horse couldn't be stabled - too stressful for him so it was wrapped in black tape to keep it waterproof) but I kept checking and it seemed okay. However, the vet said it was wet when she removed it.
The hair is likely to grow back white and he will apparently have scar tissue from the sores. I'm not too bothered about the cosmetic side as he's retired.
I do remember while I was watching the vet bandage the leg, thinking it should be flat and that she'd tucked the end under and it was lumpy. It was all a bit of a blur...
 
A wet bandage on a turned out horse is just asking for rubbing sores. On a stabled horse pressure sores would not appear in 24hrs. Limbs do often lose hair under bandages with a lot of discharge - different to pressure sores however. Where on the limb are the wounds and what parts are bandaged. A rub by the edge of the bandage is different from a pressure wound and I will rephrase from yesterday when I replied in a hurry, these may not be fully avoidable in the conditions you state. For them to appear in 24 hrs would be v v rare. Sure it wasn't a reaction to the inflammation and ooze of the wound.
 
I agree with Glenruby, sadly a bandages should just NOT get wet, and there is a reason vets ask for box rest with bandages. Black tape is certainly not waterproof enough to keep a bandage dry. If the bandage was wet it would have constricted (vetwrap shrinks when wet, and cotton wool underneath will expand so sadly, the outcome is always always sores). Sorry, I really dont think it is the vets fault, the bandage was probably applied fine (ends are always tucked in) but if it got wet, it could have been perfect bandage, it would have ended up with sores no matter what.
 
Have to say I also agree with glenruby. In the ideal situation of a horse kept quiet on box rest thus keeping the bandage dry and also restricting the amount of movement then I would say that if the bandaging technique is good and the horse is not super sensitive rubbing should not occur. However in a situation with a turned out horse and if your weather has been anything like what it's been here (ie lots of the wet stuff!) then I'd say there probably was a high risk of rubs and sore developing. Duct tape would really only protect from the odd splash / light drizzle and I'd think it would also make the bandage less breathable so potentially the horse might sweat more underneath it. Also a turned out horse, even one on restricted turnout, is going to be moving around far more than a stabled one and even if the dressing had stayed bone dry the more movement there is the higher the chance of bandages rubbing. Sounds to me like your vet did the best they could in a less than ideal situation, although they probably should have advised you that turning him out was not ideal and that the duct tape would only be able to do so much and the risk of complications would be higher. I'd stump up.
 
You didn't mention in your first post horse was out full time.
So to be fair, it was unrealistic to expect bandaging to remain in good condition for 5 days. you will have no idea whether it was poor bandaging or unsuitable conditions that caused the sores.
Note to myself., refrain from replying to posts until full facts are revealed.
 
My horse fractured his radius and had to have a Robert Jones bandage which caused pressure sores. There were lumps all down his legs and the skin fell off. He still has a bump over a year later and white hair from the scars. However without the bandage he may well of caused further damage resulting in pts
 
Horse would have moved around an awful lot more if in the stable as he box walks for England. He would stress, sweat up and generally get in a pickle. Vet advised not to keep him in box but to check that the bandage didn't get wet. Which I did. And it didn't feel wet from the outside, so I think perhaps it was wet from the inside.
Anyway, all advice/ opinions appreciated, thank you :)
 
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