Cellulitis?

[Emlequss]

Last week i posted about my horses thrush infection, finally thought I had it controlled and then yesterday his leg(HR)was x3 times the size, hot, 3 legged lame, and definitely has an infection in there.. to prefix this I want to mention I AM working with my vet (and VERY experienced BO) however she just had a baby so we are treating the infection, but she hasn’t seen him yet. If need be I’ll call emerg but right now it’s being managed. I guess I just want to know what causes this? My horse has never been accident prone until this past summer, he had a pretty deep cut in the opposite leg that was also accompanied by infection but treated and healed perfect(I have heard past injury’s can have problems down the line? It’s not the same leg though.) He always comes in with cuts but hasn’t had anything in or near that leg as far as I know. He has very mild Scratches on the leg thats currently the issue. As well as a very severe thrush infection. Both have and are being treated. I’d just like to learn about it a bit. Could Anything I mentioned have caused it? Is there anything I should watch for? Anything that would indicate “I need a vet ASAP”?

 

[oldie48]

It does sound like it. My old TB had a similar issue, I never found the source of the infection but it needed very aggressive treatment with lots of pain relief. TBH I would want a vet out now. My boy went down in the stable and it was very difficult to get him up and out into the field. I walked him every hour (including through the night) for the first 24 hours and it was pretty awful to see him in such pain.

 

[DabDab]

Ditto above, cellulitis can get very nasty very quickly and often needs IV treatments to get on top of. It would be a get the vet out now job for me.

Sometimes a cause can be really hard to find, it can just be one of those things

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would want a vet to see this horse asap. I lost a lovely ID x to cellulitis and , although I dont blame anyone, I think a contributing factor was that the emergency vet from the mixed practice wasn't a horse specialist and under estimated her weight/the dose required when prescribing the antibiotics. We never found the origin of the infection either. Nowadays, I would want a Cushings test as well.

 

[HeyMich]

Are you sure it's not an absess? My mare had a really deep abscess last year, we couldn't find any reaction with the hoof testers but she was obviously sore so we treated for thrush... then her leg ballooned and she was totally non-weight bearing. We were thinking along the cellulitis lines too. Once the abscess was dug out she was instantly better and the swelling went down in a few days. Either way, I'd be getting the vet to check him over asap.

 

[meleeka]

My mother has just had cellulitis and I can confirm that it’s very painful and makes them feel awful, so I’d get the vet today if it were me.

 

[Emlequss]

Are you sure it's not an absess? My mare had a really deep abscess last year, we couldn't find any reaction with the hoof testers but she was obviously sore so we treated for thrush... then her leg ballooned and she was totally non-weight bearing. We were thinking along the cellulitis lines too. Once the abscess was dug out she was instantly better and the swelling went down in a few days. Either way, I'd be getting the vet to check him over asap.

See this is what I thought initially! But wasn’t sure if it would cause the extreme symptoms, now I am curious, will definitely have a very out by tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Emlequss]

It does sound like it. My old TB had a similar issue, I never found the source of the infection but it needed very aggressive treatment with lots of pain relief. TBH I would want a vet out now. My boy went down in the stable and it was very difficult to get him up and out into the field. I walked him every hour (including through the night) for the first 24 hours and it was pretty awful to see him in such pain.

Oh god Thank you! I didn’t realize it could be so severe, I mean obviously we are trying to manage it but my vet made it sound like it could wait so I wasn’t too worried. Will definitely have someone come out ASAP

 

[bonny]

Are you taking the horse out for exercise ? The worst thing you can do for cellulitis is keep the horse in a stable, he needs to get everything moving.

 

[Emlequss]

Yes! We are doing lots of hand walking, and he’s not “stalled” but living in a very small turn out so he does have room to move around a bit. the only reason he isn’t turned out is because the current field conditions are terrible

 

[brightmount]

Just throwing in a wildcard suggestion here. You say he’s got scratches on the affected leg. And others who have had similar experiences have said they never found out the source of the infection. Have you got any blackthorn (sloe) hedges in your field or where you ride? They have highly toxic tips that break off in the skin and always turn septic. I speak from bitter experience, so am just putting it out there.

 

[Emlequss]

I don’t think so, theres no plants actually in the field only some trees along the fence line, however that is great information to keep in mind so thank you I did not know that!