Cellulitis - tell me about it?

PolarSkye

PolarSkye

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Kal has it :(. Massive, tree trunk-sized right hind. Hot. Swollen. Sensitive/sore. 2/10ths lame. Vet came today - intravenous antibiotics, topical antibiotic cream, bandaged up (vetwrap), oral antibiotics and bute twice daily. Remove dressing, cold hose/remove all the nasty scabby bits, dry and redress tomorrow . . . leave on for 48 hours and repeat. Box rest until second bandage goes on. Sigh.

P
 
My TB had this about 5 or 6 times. In the end he had to go on a course of baytril, steroid tablets and a topical flammazine based cream to get rid of it. Did the trick, though, and haven't had problems since.
 
Back in 2010, I put my old man away one Friday night and when my friend came on Sat morning he was dog lame and leg swollen.

Emergency vet (in my absence) diagnosed tendon
thumbsdown.gif


I had to wait till Monday for another vet and I told him it was cellulitis or lymphangitis.
He agreed
wink.gif


He had 5 days of IM antibiotics and a course of bute and he was right as rein.

I also cold hosed in an upwards motion each day.

It was terrible at the time. He was dragging the leg and I was hysterical, thinking he was going to die
willy_nilly.gif


See how he's pointing it at the camera :rolleyes:

obicellulitis.jpg
 
TwoStroke said:
My TB had this about 5 or 6 times. In the end he had to go on a course of baytril, steroid tablets and a topical flammazine based cream to get rid of it. Did the trick, though, and haven't had problems since.
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Flamazine - yup, that's what vet's given us - can't remember which oral antibiotic he's given us but I think it's pretty broad spectrum. Apparently the Flamazine is good stuff. Thanks for sharing your experience.

P
 
Oberon said:
Back in 2010, I put my old man away one Friday night and when my friend came on Sat morning he was dog lame and leg swollen.

Emergency vet (in my absence) diagnosed tendon
thumbsdown.gif


I had to wait till Monday for another vet and I told him it was cellulitis or lymphangitis.
He agreed
wink.gif


He had 5 days of IM antibiotics and a course of bute and he was right as rein.

I also cold hosed in an upwards motion each day.

It was terrible at the time. He was dragging the leg and I was hysterical, thinking he was going to die
willy_nilly.gif


See how he's pointing it at the camera :rolleyes:

obicellulitis.jpg
Click to expand...

Ouch Oberon - poor horsey. Kal's lower leg looked like that . . . poor Bubba. Vet wrapped it and the swelling has already gone down so now he looks like Nora Batty with wrinkled stockings!

P
 
TwoStroke said:
My TB had this about 5 or 6 times. In the end he had to go on a course of baytril, steroid tablets and a topical flammazine based cream to get rid of it. Did the trick, though, and haven't had problems since.
Click to expand...

Baytril works wonders on Cellulitis, swelling is gone in a couple of days!!

PolarSkye, I've seen Cellulitis a few times, but never have I been advised to bandage it, nor to box rest it. Movement is the best treatment coupled with strong antibiotics. The only reason for immobilisation would be if the vet suspected something underlying the condition that meant staying still is best.

I hope your horse is much better by the morning.
 
Hmm - any idea what caused it. I ask because I've had to bring Alf in tonight for similar reason. I found him in the field with swollen hind legs (below hock). No apparent cause, but his legs are warm, swollen and look lymphy to me.

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He asked that you don't comment on his feathers - he's mortally embarrassed by them!
 
I would suggest contacting your vet to inquire precisely why you are box resting your horse? The swelling will not resolve without movement so unless a specific injury eg fracture/tendon of some description is suspected regular hand walking would be recommended, starting with 5 minutes in every hour and increasing from there, in conjunction with pain relief (bute) antibiotics and steroids (unless there is a potential lamnitis risk). Cold hosing may help, as may bandaging in some cases.
 
Interesting thread. My mare has been coming in with intermittant fetlock swelling of one hind. Vet saw her yesterday and said inflammation of the tendon sheath.
 
My mare got it in one of her hinds last year. It was a Saturday and I wasn't at the yard so YO called vet as horse was not weight bearing when stood still but walked ok when asked.
YO is very experienced and told vet she suspected celulitis as horse had gone to bed fine, there was no bed disturbance to suggest any major issue over night and no wounds.
Vet was duty vet for the weekend and not an equine one so took one look and decided he didn't want to deal with it :eek:
Rang me and insisted that I take her to Rossdales for a full work up and x ray as he wasn't sure what it was and could be anything from an infection to a fracture ....refused to treat her with bute and antibiotics and wait until Monday when the equine vet could see her. So I loaded her (she walked out fine and up the ramp on 3 normal legs and a tree trunk for the 4th) and off we went.
So one full lameness work up, an x ray, £120 diesel later, the diagnosis came....Cellulitis followed by a £1600 bill :mad:

I've now changed my vet
 
I agree with Mohawk - very short bouts of gentle walking - only for a few minutes though. It's important to keep a bit of mobility to try and reduce the fluid retention. The swelling does usually take a while to go down though so don't be alarmed if there's no drastic improvement for a while.

Cold hosing should help also, but only for short periods of time.
 
Thought I'd share, as it may be worth others checking. I clipped Alfs legs out completely, from the hock down - and found a couple of tiny mud fever type lesions right down by his heels. Because of his common ancestry, he has very dense leg hair, and you couldn't see or feel anything until the hair was no longer. I had scrubbed with Hibiscrub, and gone over his legs like a monkey looking for fleas, and not seen a thing.
 
Vet recommended keeping him in yesterday b/c he was lame on it and said I could turn him out a) if the swelling went down; and b) it was dry out. The vet wrap is to keep the dressings on/the wound clea - and the dressings need to stay dry. We changed the dressing this morning - and cold hosed - and the swelling has nearly gone - just a bit of puffiness left around the actual rub (as opposed to all the way up to his hock yesterday). After we had thoroughly dried his leg, added the Flammazine and redone the dressing/vetwrap, my daughter walked him in hand on the yard for five minutes. We'll do the same this evening and again tomorrow. He's on bute and antibiotics - but no steroids b/c of the potential lami risk.

I plan on putting him out for an hour or so tomorrow while I muck out and before I change his dressing - again depending on how sound he is on it, how much swelling there is, etc.

All-in-all I'm very pleased with his progress so far.

P
 
Puddleduck said:
My mare got it in one of her hinds last year. It was a Saturday and I wasn't at the yard so YO called vet as horse was not weight bearing when stood still but walked ok when asked.
YO is very experienced and told vet she suspected celulitis as horse had gone to bed fine, there was no bed disturbance to suggest any major issue over night and no wounds.
Vet was duty vet for the weekend and not an equine one so took one look and decided he didn't want to deal with it :eek:
Rang me and insisted that I take her to Rossdales for a full work up and x ray as he wasn't sure what it was and could be anything from an infection to a fracture ....refused to treat her with bute and antibiotics and wait until Monday when the equine vet could see her. So I loaded her (she walked out fine and up the ramp on 3 normal legs and a tree trunk for the 4th) and off we went.
So one full lameness work up, an x ray, £120 diesel later, the diagnosis came....Cellulitis followed by a £1600 bill :mad:

I've now changed my vet
Click to expand...

Vet didn't want to deal with it? Sigh. Mind truly boggled. Hope your mare is alright now.

P
 
Auslander said:
Hmm - any idea what caused it. I ask because I've had to bring Alf in tonight for similar reason. I found him in the field with swollen hind legs (below hock). No apparent cause, but his legs are warm, swollen and look lymphy to me.
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Kal's was caused by a combination of a rub from his xc boots at Fair Oak the other weekend coupled by a nasty bout of mud fever. We just didn't manage to get on top of either quickly enough :(.

P
 
PolarSkye said:
Vet didn't want to deal with it? Sigh. Mind truly boggled. Hope your mare is alright now.

P
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Thanks :)

She had another smaller bout a few months later but we spotted it straight away and I insisted that the vet gave me antibiotics & bute so we could sort it out (thankfully they did as I asked with not issues).

She's been fine since touch wood.
 
My mare had it in a hind leg last winter - to begin with, there was no obvious injury, but after a couple of days there were crusty scabs around a teeny tiny nick towards the top end of the swelling. She had a course of oral antibiotics, it went away, came back, had another course and she has been fine ever since.
 
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