Cellulitus

My mare had it however she had in on her back, which was weird but thats just her. She had steriod creams, antibotics and danilon, took a month to clear up. No idea how she got it there really, but it was better than the other 3 suggestions that the first vet came up with and healed well in the end.
 
Yep. My 29 TB has it.

I found him in his box on Sunday with a front leg looking like an elephant's thigh. Really awful and scary. I called out the vet as I suspected Cellulitis but didn't know what to do for the best.

Vet gave him an antibiotic jab into the vein, and has prescribed a course of antiobiotic (Norodine) for a week and Danilon, 2 sachets daily. So far no change. Vet said I may notice a change after about 3 days but it could take two courses of antibios and in extreme cases steroids could be used. He suggested leaving the poor chap out at night to keep him moving around on it, but the horse isn't happy out on his own so he's in the box at night and wanders around the yard during the day. He doesn't even seem sore on it, though is awful to look at.

In our case it would seem the cellulitis is down to internal trauma rather than infection. The horse had been galavanting around the field on Saturday before i could get to him, and he was just off box rest for a flaring up of a previous bad tendon injury.

I may be able to load up a couple of shots from my phone if you' like to see them.

Hope your horse recovers soon x
 
jessicabeau1 said:
yes if you could post photos would be good. so I need a vet then? x
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I would advise a vet as a) it may not be cellulitis in which case something even more sinister may be happening and needs looking at (it of course may be nothing to worry about at all but peace of mind is a great thing), and b) as it can be caused by both trauma and infection you have to determine if there is a bad underlying injury to say, a tendon if a leg injury, or the cause of the infection and treat with the required antibiotics. If it turns out your horse has injured himself internally then keeping him moving may not be the best option. Obviously I am no vet (!) and I haven't seen any pics to speculate. All i can say is that I wasn't prepared to ignore what I saw and on a 29 yr old a possible infection that severe may not have easily been fought off.

These pics were taken within 10 mins of finding my horse - it looks twice as bad today and literally got bigger as I stood there waiting for the vet. You can see the difference in size to his other leg, the huge swelling on the knee feels like a water balloon to touch. There is little definition now from the coronet band upwards, he's 'lost' his fetlock shape, and it goes all the way up to his elbow and round the front of his chest.
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Get the vet out now! It may be that it is in early stages and you can get it treated early. My previous horse had very mild lymphangitis (just localised swelling around pastern) but I got vet immediately. He did prescribe antibiotics but the main treatment was to exercise horse as much as possible, and certainly turn out. It is serious and needs the vet
 
My Coloured had this a few times during April/May on his front right leg, looking at the pics on here his looks as bad as the bay horse. Vet came out and gave steroid injection and prescribed 5 days of anti biotics but because it kept coming and going i kept him on the anti's untill they ran out. As for exercise the first time he had it he couldnt bend his leg so instead had to twist his leg outwards so he could walk, the vet said to get swelling down either turn out or walk in hand 2/3 times daily because the fields were so wet and the cellulitis was caused by mud fever i decided to keep him in and walk in hand. The 2nd time he got it was after a few weeks this time he was lame, had swelling but not so bad so box rested him for a week and touch wood that has worked. Have now brought him turnout sox for next winter to stop mud fever coming. He is still prone to getting a fat leg duing time in stable but goes down after exercise.
 
my horse had an awful bout of it november to March, it only responded to one type of antibiotic and we only got this after we moved to a second vet. It had got in from a cut even though we kept it as clean as possible he got a second bout about 4 months later

once they get it they are prone to it
 
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