Cellulitis/Lymphangitis - advice needed

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JoBird

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My mare had a bout of this about 2 months ago and her hind leg swelled up like an elephant's leg. She had a course of antibiotics and it went down but although the pain went away I did notice it was slightly filled most days but went down when I rode her.
Today she looked lame and I can see it is swelling again and I bet by tomorrow she wont want to put any weight on it. The entire leg swells up from hoof to stifle.
I had been told that once they have had a bout of this it tends to keep flaring up but can anything be done to keep it at bay? The vet is coming anyway at the end of the week but she can be on antibiotics forever.
Any ideas?
 
My mare had this about 3 months ago and had to have the vet out - there are supplements you can feed to keep this at bay - (think its NAF). I have fed this to my mare and not have a repeat episode - but think you will need the vet out to get rid of this attack.
 
My vet recommended keeping my pony out 24/7 after she had it, as their legs will always be prone to filling a little thereafter, that and regular work. It's supposed to be as a result of an infection from a cut normally, so I guess anything you can do to keep cuts/minor injuries at bay would help.
 
For a while it'll keep coming and going. Especially in the morning if she is stabled at night. As long as she's not in terrible pain, take her for frequent short walks and keep cold hosing every day, and if she is in work, keep it light untill its gone and shows no signs of coming back, as this can only pre long the recovery time

Once the wound has healed (i presume the cellulitis came from something like a puncture wound?) even if not, just make sure theres no cuts or anything, use some arnica, worked a treat with a gelding of mine that had cellulitis.

Good luck. Its a pain to deal with, but youll get there!!
 
One of ours suffers from this, we give her as much turn out as possible, keep her legs clean, but dont 'over' wash them. She has Clivers added to her feed, ad when stabled wears leg wraps, keeping legs warm helps venous return and help stops the legs swelling. So far this winter, despite being stabled for long periods during the bad weather and now having very wet fields her legs have been really good.
 
Poor horse ,lymphangitis is so painfull. All you can do ,is give maximum attention to everything that causes inflamation. Once it has happend badly ,it is a problem for life. But there is a lot you can do. Already you have had a lot of good advice, but I will throw in a slightly obscure bit (but honestly it is true)avoid any feed with Barley in it. I dont know what it is about the stuff,but it predisposes filled legs.
 
Hi

Don't despair. My horse had it 3 years ago from a serious fence injury. He was in agony and couldn't move. He ended up down at my veterinary hospital and stayed for two weeks. He had to have an intravenous feed of high strength antibiotics and after his initial 48 hours of observation and drugs then got turned out 24/7 (luckily it was summer).

However, touchwood, he has never had a recurring bout of this. I do however made sure that he gets adequate turnout as I think it's better for their legs anyway but it needn't mean that you will always have this problem. It isn't possible for your horse to permanently be on antibiotics but with careful management you may be able to prevent if from recurring. I know someone else suggested (and I agree with them) feeding Clivers which is a herb type supplement which is amongst other things a diuretic and can help to support the lymphatic system including lymphatic drainage, and is therefore useful for all manner of fluidy swelling, but care should be taken if the horse has any history of or proneness to diabetes or EMS. If things look bad initially and appear to be getting worse instead of better I would get your vet in sooner rather than later as cellulitis and lymphangitis can have dire consequences if not dealt with in a timely manner. Good luck, I hope you get it all sorted out quickly.
 
I'm currently dealing with the 3rd bout of it since xmas day........this time, my vet give my boy a steroid injection that should last about 2 weeks and he's also having anti biotics for a week. My vet also said cold hosing for 15 mins twice a day, as much excercise as possible and stable bandages at night. One week later and it's definitely hugely improved but I think this is going to be a long haul........
 
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