cellulitis-help!!

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kcourtil

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my horse has just been diagnosed with cellulitis in her off fore due to an infection caused by a tendon boots rub. our vets given us antibiotics and bute to give her which shes been on since fri morning but still no change. have just been reading about on the net which has really scared me as some were saying it may never go away or will probably re-occur. i was just wondering what other peoples experiences with it were. also any advice regarding other treatments such as hosing/bandaging/exercise would be greatly appreciated!

thanks
xx
 
Hi, my horse had cellulitis/lymphangitis a few weeks ago in his hind leg. I panicked when I read what was online as well! It did take a while to go down - I walked him for about 1/2 hour every day and he was out 24/7. What are you doing with her? Is she in/out? Being exercised?

I do have one tip though...the gunk that comes out of the wound makes the hair fall out, so i put vaseline on the surrounding skin (not too near the wound) so it was easier to clean and just wiped away.

He is fine now, by the way
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my horse had this due to mud fever in his back leg last winter.

it took about a week for the swelling to go down- his leg is still slightly thickened now, but he does have slight lymphangitis aswell.
i couldnt hose it due to his mud fever but i found using that ice-gel (blue stuff from carr&day&martin) under bandages helped.
solo was on box rest for a month and i was walking him out twice a day, the walking helped it to go down slightly he was bandaged up at night, he couldnt have bandages on 24/7 because he has really sensitive skin and the warmth made the hair on his legs fall out.
i think he ended up being on antibiotics (injectable ones for the first week and powders after) for 3 or 4 weeks in the end.
he was on bute for 2 weeks.

dont know if thats any help to you, but good luck, it will get better!
 
It is important to try and reduce the swelling in the leg as it is the fluid in the leg which allows the infection to spread. Unless there any reasons why you can't it would be best if you horse was out 24/7 to keep the swelling down. Using a hot/cold treatment followed by exercise works well. If you soak a stable bandage in very hot water then squeeze out the water and wrapped the warm bandage around the leg repeat this every few minutes for 10 mins then cold hose for ten mins then repeat the hot and cold. Once you have done this walk the horse in hand for half and hour. If you do this every day it should help reduce the fluid
 
Hi my pony is just recovering from this - not pretty. She suffered a check ligament injury and for no explainable reason also got an infection and the leg filled with cellulose. She was on a course of anti-biotics and danillon for 2 weeks. Was warm wrapped for about 10 days. The leg down the front of the cannon and back of the tendon completely scabbed over as the cellulose and infection was oozing out of her pores. Once we got the infection under control the swelling seemed to subside but leg is still slightly larger due to the ongoing tendon injury and does fill slightly overnight. What I am doing is wrapping a gel-eze pad from the freezer around the leg then crushing up some ice cubes and placing those between the gel-eze and a loose bandage and leaving that on for about half an hour twice a day; seems to be more effective than standing cold hosing for half and hour and is colder. It does seem to help. Also she was allowed to be turned out into a very small paddock 20x20 as standing in the stable just made the leg fill more and I must admit when I go back to the yard on a night to put them in her leg does look pretty good, but please check with your vet before trying anything beyound what he is recommending.
 
My horse has had this in his hind legs - Don't panic - it will clear up. It can reoccur but that isn't very likely if the infection has a definate cause - reoccurance is usually where the original cause is vague and unknown.

Best advice is leave your horse out - moving about reduces the inflamation.
 
Freinds horse had raging lymphangitis recently, it came up literally within hours and filled the whole hind leg to the point where you couldnt see any of the joints. He was in agony and an emergency case.

Vet came three days running to inject a/bs, anti inflam and painkillers. Horse was NOT bandaged on that limb but the other hind was supported with a stable bandage.

The affected hind was cold hosed twice daily and he was confined to the box as he was so lame he really couldnt walk more than the odd step and was hopping doing that. It was deemed to dangerous to turn him out at all.

Leg started to go down after 2 weeks with oral a/b and bute daily.

After 3 weeks phsio started coming out to treat his back as he was obviously standing badly and she also used drainage massage on the affected limb which helped a lot.

During all this time fluid has leaked through the skin where the cells have stretched and burst and with the fluid loss has come hair loss which is not uncommon. The fluid was washed off each day using hibiscrub and once it stopped coming out friend has used phytobalm from Hilton Herbs on the areas where the hair has been coming away. New hair is growing thorough healthy pink skin.

Horse went back into work when he was comfortable to walk but the leg is still bigger than the other although there is definition in the joints and bones and he doesnt seem bothered by it at all. He isnt lame and has progressed back into full work.

The vet did say this could happen again and that the leg may never retrn to its past shape.

It can be a long job getting this sorted Im afraid and often there is no obvious cause.
 
Grace had it because of a secondary infection caused by severe mud rash. The swelling was there from November to March, but when she was worked or went out in the field, it went down and she was not lame on it.

I started bandaging her legs every night, which helped enormously.

In March, there was a lump on the leg near the tendon (panic stations) so I had the leg scanned by the vet. He put her on a prolonged period of antibiotics and diaretics, which cleared it up brilliantly and touch wood they have stayed down since.

She still has her back legs banadaged over night and I bought some magnetic boots which have helped too... the vet thought it would come back if she ended up being stuck in the stable (box rest etc) but she has just completed a week and a half of box rest with 5 mins walk twice a day and they have not come up once so I am very pleased indeed.
 
Baron had it a few weeks ago aswell. Was due to a tiny cut below his fetlock. He had to stay in until the cut healed as it was so far down that if I put him out in the muddy field the cut would have been constantly wet. His swelling was compleatly gone within 3 days of starting the antibiotics and bute. I put him on the horse walker for 2 half hour sessions a day and hosed it twice a day. I was advised not to put anything on the wound to make it heal until the swelling was compleatly gone as I may end up sealing the infection in.

This was Barons on day 2, it had gone down considerably then. It was that bad that I could not even get near it without him trying to kick (and he never kicks).

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Our pony had cellulitis in her hind leg 4 years ago, when the other hind leg was fractured! She was out on loan and the vet had recommended bandaging the good leg as it was taking all the weight. To cut a long story short we got her back home and discovered the cellulitis. If seemed to be more painful than the fracture, poor mare. It took quite a strong course of antibiotics to cure but she has never had a problem since, though she has got quite a scar on that leg where she lost the hair.
 
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