Could anybody please identify what this is for me please?!

Gooby

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Having a few problems with Gilby at the moment to do with this leg (near hind). Have been looking closely at his legs everyday for the last week or so and have only just noticed this tonight. It feels like its full of fluid and doesn't seem bothered when I was having a feel of it. He seems more lame on it tonight than he has been previously and I was wondering if maybe its connected to what might be going on with his leg?

Any ideas much appreciated :)

(also in NL)
 
If he's lame on that leg and there is a little sac of fluid at that circle then he has an abcsess which is about to pop at that spot. Don't panic. When it pops, syringe it full of hydrogen peroxide 3 % (Boots sell it) every day for at least four days and he will be fine.
 
beware with the peroxide- it will sting (like hell, seriously, i managed to get it in a split on my hand when i was treating my mares thrush and its lethal) so watch that he doesnt try and kick your head in.
 
Yes ditto - I wouldn't use hydrogen peroxide on it - it'll be agony. I have only been advised to use it on thrush too - fizzes up! Use iodene or something like that. Good luck!
 
Good news, whatever it is has burst! There is no hole though, it just looks like a blister so have cleaned it up and but on some antimicrobial/anti-inflammatory cream. He is turning on a circle tonight with no lameness so will trot him up in the morning to make sure he's ok and hopefully we can avoid the x-rays that he is booked in for! Thanks everyone
 
beware with the peroxide- it will sting (like hell, seriously, i managed to get it in a split on my hand when i was treating my mares thrush and its lethal) so watch that he doesnt try and kick your head in.

Hydrogen peroxide is sold in Boots to be used as a treatment in open wounds on children at a concentration of 3%. It is a standard treatment for open wounds and for foot abscesses. I don't know what concentration you were using (or how sensitive your hands are maybe) but I use it all the time any wound or abscess that my horses get and I have never had any reaction which suggests that it stings. Iodene? Now that DOES sting like hell!!

OP PLEASE don't leave that hole to dry up. Your horse has an abscess deep inside its foot which has burst out of the bulb. Trust me, there's a hole , you just can't see it yet. You need to keep that hole open until the infection is completely cured. It cannot drain, because the exit is upwards and unless you want to risk it healing up on the surface and sealing it in, which could give you a wonderful case of infected foot bones, then you need to either flush it with peroxide for at least four days, or poultice it for the same amount of time.
 
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Yes ditto - I wouldn't use hydrogen peroxide on it - it'll be agony. I have only been advised to use it on thrush too - fizzes up! Use iodene or something like that. Good luck!

Squiff the whole point with peroxide in a foot abscess is that it fizzes up. That fizz is the release of oxygen. The bugs that cause foot abscesses are generally anaerobic, meaning that they don't multiply when given oxygen. So with a foot abscess you want to deliver oxygen deep into the foot, and the easiest way to do that is to put hydrogen peroxide in a syringe (no needle) and squirt it as hard as you can into the blister, to try to drive it down the hole that is inside the blister until it reaches the seat of the abscess.
 
Vet has been out today and confirmed it is an abscess. She has found the puncture site and has opened it all up so it can drain more effectively. It has been flushed out with hibiscrub solution today and wet poulticed by vet. She has instructed me to flush with salt water for 5 days with 3 days wet poultice and then 2 dry. Thank you all for your replies and suggestions, I'm just so relieved it is an abscess and not something more serious like the vet fist thought.
 
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