Deep rooted abscess - eroding the pedal bone

[Abandluc]

Has anyone had experience of this?

Basically pony been intermittently lame for 4 weeks, had xrays today which has shown an abscess against the pedal bone. It has in simple term eaten the pedal bone.

He is being treated with mega strong antibiotics for 4 weeks to kill the infection. If there is no more pedal bone corrosion then the vet sees no reason why the pony will not go back into full work.

Would love to hear your stories

 

[Tnavas]

Not the best place to have an abscess - what is being done to clear the abscess apart from antibiotics?

If there is a foreign object in there then it needs to be opened and drawn out. Foot then needs to be kept in immaculately clean conditions - stabled with the foot well and truly protected until absces is totally clean and the hole packed with cotton wool & stockholm tar and a leather pad between sole and the shoe.

I've always had the farrier open an abscess and then poulticed them clean without the use of injected anti biotics. We would use the same tube of antibiotics that they use for cows with mastitis. Each time the poultice is changed - twice daily - the antibitic ointment was squuezed into the hole before replacing the poultice.

Below is an easy, cheap and very durable poultice boot that you can easily make.

 

[Brownmare]

I had something similar with a horse of mine years ago. Not an abscess but he had a small horizontal crack on the front of his hoof from a knock to his coronet. As it grew down this crack opened a little (it was still barely noticeable) and filled with sand from the school. We didn't see any problem until he was turned away for a holiday over Christmas when the sand swelled up from standing in wet mud and he went hopping lame overnight - the vet thought it was a fracture the lameness was so severe! On x ray the vet found the pressure of the sand had eroded the front of the pedal bone so the crack was opened up, flushed out then packed with stockholm tar and he had 8 weeks box rest then came back into work sound as a pound and never looked back.

He was 6 at the time and as it happens I passed him on to my Mum as her hack and he is still with us at 20! Last year he had laminitis and was x rayed again and there were no abnormalities to the pedal bone (other than a significant rotation but that's another story )

 

[threeponies]

I'm not sure if this is similar but my pony had quittor, an abcess in the foot infected his lateral cartiledge. He had oral antibiotics and a regional perfusion where the antibiotics were put straight into the area through a vein - as Evelyn says, it's not a good place to get an infection, very hard to clear. Anyway, after weeks of oral treatment plus the perfusion treatment he was still lame and we opted to have surgery, he had the infected material removed under GA. There was a tiny wound where they went into his hoof at the coronet band which took a while to heal, but he is now absolutely fine. Good luck with your horse, I hope you can get it sorted out

 

[Abandluc]

Thank you all so much for replying.

I'm now more worried, he is only having antibiotics and if in 4 weeks there is still signs of infection (on an xray) then he will have to have surgery.
I never really thought about where the 'dirt' that caused it would go.

He is wearing a pink putty pad which is to relieve the pressure on the toe. I'm going to ring the vet tomorrow and ask a few more questions I think.

This is not covered on the insurance as he is only on a veteran policy which covers for injury

 

[eviebabes]

Hi, your thread came up whilst I was doing a search for insurance companies (my nfu renewal came through today... almost double last years!)

My boy, Chicco, pulled up mildly lame in august last year, after a week of resting/buting with no change vet dug around for an abscess, hot-tubbed, politiced rested... nothing came out and still lame. He went into the clinic for a lameness work-up, 4/10's lame, after nerve blocks found to be in right foot. X-rays showed septic pedal osteitis, you could clearly see where part of the pedal bone had been 'eaten' away. He had surgery and a long recovery, but in february this year I started bringing him back into work, had a two week set back due to an abscess in march, but now he's back to his old self and full work!

Interestingly they refused to put him on anti-biotics whilst we waited for surgery as they said it would make matters worse?!

eve
xx

 

[debby1]

someone i knew had a similar problem, the foot was operated on to cut away the infection, as antibiotics didn't work

 

[brighteyes]

Brilliant!

OP if the infection is speedily resolved, a large number of horses return to full work, but usually after a period of rest in the field.

 

[kizzyjerry]

I dealt with this years ago, so things may have changed

A flint punctured my boy's sole, initally thought to be fine but the infection tracked up through his foot and into the pedal bone.

The vets opened the wound twice at the yard but it kept re-infecting (would heal up and seem to be clean then all of a sudden i would get very small traces of pus on the poultice)

He ended up being hospitalised for almost a month as this kept happening - it turned out that the infection was in the pedal bone and when the wound started healing it would 'brew' and erupt.

They ended up scraping part of the pedal bone away (only millimetres but it seemed like half his hoof at the time!)

Good news is that he made a full recovery and it has never affected him.

I'm sure that you've got a plan of action now - but my advice at the time was after the inital wet poultice (2-3 days if i remember correctly) ANY sign of discharge needed a call to the vet (which is when they re-opened and flushed the wound and after the second time they wanted him with them)

When i got him home my farrier put a hospital plate on his foot - 100 times more efficent at keeping the wound clean than bandages/material boots (mine used to scape the front away though) and much much cheaper than vet wrap (only needed duct tape and lots of swabs from vets)

 

[Abandluc]

I thought I'd give you an update on Joey.

We have been very very lucky, he was on Metronidazole and Tramidaone (sorry about spelling) for a month in total. He went off his food quite quickly because of the Metronidazole so I had to up the dose and give it rectally for 2 weeks until he began to object and tried to kick me everytime I went to his back end!
So went back to orally which didn't affect his appetite quite as much as the first time.

He was re xrayed after 4 weeks which showed no shadows on the pedal bone and you could see the void growing out his foot.
He trotted up more or less sound on this visit which was a surprise in itself as he didn't have a shoe on.
I then got him shod with gel pads over the frog to take any pressure off the toe and he was sound from that time on!!

We are now drug free for 3 weeks and the chances of the abscess returning are vitually zero!

What I didn't realise at the time of writing my last posts was that the abscess was caused by a deep bruise. He has quite poor confirmation where from the knee down his legs turn out which causes more pressure on the inside of the foot. The vet and the farrier are now working together to try to correct the confirmation a little.

Joey is now back out in the field overnight and coming back to full work!!

Thank you for everyone's advice

 

[Oberon]

This happened to my beloved Arab, 25 year old in 2010.

He had perfect feet in December (as commented on by the trimmer) and then in January he had his annual vacs.

10 days later and he went lame. He had never been lame in his life before.

Vet diagnosed abcess and said to poultice. Things grumbled on and we tried oral antibiotics.

Then we got him x-rayed and she found abcess had turned into osteomylitis - basically eating away at the pedal bone.

He stayed in the horspital for IV antibiotics for a week, then back home for more antibiotics. (all with dry poultice).

After that he took a month or so to 'come right' but he came sound again and has been ever since.

All the while he was having the antibiotics (and Danilon) he was also getting Global Herb's Restore to support his system and detox his liver.

I even used a homeopathic remedy at one point!

After the fact I looked again at his diet and started feeding Vitamin E and herbs to boost his immune system - it turned out his teeth were getting poor and this caused his nutritional input to dip - affecting his immune system.

I also got a body worker to look at him as the prolonged spell of lameness caused some tightness to his muscles.

He hasn't had a problem since (I've avoided vaccines or harsh wormers too).

 

[Abandluc]

That's interesting Oberon, luckily we weren't hospitalised I managed it all at home, I stopped poulticing after a few days as I was told it wouldn't expel anyway, which it didn't at any point.

I started to feed pink powder but I will look into the Vit E and herbs.

Do you think the abscess and the vacs were related then??

 

[Oberon]

The vet just thought it was an abcess caused by a crack in his sole.

But...

I do know that the entire shape of his sole (his concavity) went splat just after the vaccines. He had good, hard feet before that.

How the sole became weak and the abcess began can be up for debate.

How the infection got hold of him is (IMO) a combination of factors....vaccine toxins, age, poor dentition and weakened immunity.

A few months after that episode he got an infected salivary gland - another spell in horspital.

That's when we discovered his teeth were poor (I was having them checked annually then).

Then (a few months after that) he developed cellulitis to a leg.

That's when I really looked hard at everything.

This year (touch wood) he has been fine. Last winter I had a foreage analysis done (£47) and bespoke diet done (£35) so I know EXACTLY what I should be feeding him for the best results.

I can't stop the clock, but it's the best I can do

 

[PapaFrita]

My mare had an abscess that just wouldn't clear up; no amount of poulticing made any difference. Eventually we got her to Rossdales and they x-rayed and found pus right up her hoof and in her pedal bone. To cut a long story short, they did a local anaesthetic, dug all the nasty stuff out and put a plate on her shoe. I had to pack the hole with iodine soaked swabs, but she was able to go out and her recovery was uneventful. Never been lame since.
These are the x-rays;