eperience with bandadge sores...anyone???

[scazza]

Hi to cut a long story short my mare had op on her left hind leg for annular ligament and manica flexoria at Newmarket 3wks ago,came home 2wks ago and everything was going fine until a week ago she became very lame so vet was called and they have said it is bandadge sores as she has had an enormous bandadge on which has been gradually reduced in size every 3 days,so the decision was made to remove the bandadge a week early than planned and she was crossed tied for 3 days,but today vet was due back to access and told us not to give bute last night and this morn so nothing masked her examination and she was really uncomfortable wouldnt weight bear through not having the bute vet said oh yes it was still from the bandadge rubs and to carry on giving bute!! tonight after having 2 bute after the vet visit today she is still so uncomfortable,sorry for rambling but my question to you all is if you have had any experience with bandadge rubs are they normally this sore and lame im so worried that there is something else going on!!!

 

[Sparkles]

They can be - they can be extremely painful and often are a lot more worse than they look as they can go down so deep as far as I'm aware. When our lad had surgery the bandage was left as long as possible each time before changing so he didn't get new sores each time. He only ever got one small one down the back of his leg above his hock from 6 weeks of bandages - and even this was very sore.

I'm no way qualified, only repeating what we were told!

All the best.

Are you sure the bandage wasn't done over-tight? Any usual signs of heat/swelling/etc?

 

[scazza]

Hi,yes maybe they were tight as they were there for support as she had key hole surgery but my vets did every bandadge change there was a total of 4 changes since she came back from Newmarket,but just cant believe how sore she is..

 

[billy2]

My old boy got pressure sores following surgery to remove a shattered splint bone, he kept trying to move the bandage to relieve the pressure. He never went lame though, even though they were quite deep. The bandage has to be tight to prevent the leg swelling, but this doesn't always agree with thinner-skinned horses. Is your horse normally good about pain or can she be a drama queen? Might she not be stiffening up through being able to move freely, or perhaps her leg has filled uncomfortably since the bandage was removed and the bute stopped?

 

[scazza]

Hi Billy shes not a wimp at all quite a tough little cookie,welsh cob x new forest,and yes the vet did warn us her leg could swell dramatically but it hasnt,yes there is swelling but not a lot!!

 

[billy2]

Hopefully the bute will kick in and she'll be more comfy in the morning. Wouldn't hurt to keep badgering your vet though if she isn't. Was the vet who saw her today involved in the surgery?

 

[scazza]

the vet today is my home vet and she was the one who referred her to Newmarket where she had surgery so she knows the full history.

 

[billy2]

I'll keep my fingers crossed - hopefully she'll be bouncing round the paddock soon, just like my loon (37 going on 3...)

 

[wattamus]

My horsey had a cast sore that ended up getting infected. it takes a long time to heal (hers took 2 months to fully heal) but it was quite a bad infection. Bute won't always work straight way, it may take a couple of days and also remember if it was really uncomfortable she might not want to walk properly on it for fear of hurting herself. Give her a couple of days with bute and see what happens. Don't panic too much just make sure it is kept clean xxx

 

[scazza]

thanks wattamus,so yours took quite a while to heal,the trouble is she is supposed to be walking in hand 10mins twice a day and the vet has said we must make her as its important as they dont want scar tissue to form in her tendon sheath where shes been operated on,we just feel so cruel as she doesnt want to move if only they could understand we have to be cruel to be kind

 

[itsonlyme]

Our gelding was operated on to remove a shattered splint bone. He was bandaged to the max & got very sore. To the point where all of the skin all the way down the front of the leg died. Vets were debating doing grafts, but decided to see how it was when left open. It all healed eventually, although the hair never grew back. It is a very sore thing to have on an already-sore limb. Id recommend a salt water hydrotherapy spa if your vet will refer u - they're amazing at healing up sores like that, as well as promoting healing of thru initial

 

[itsonlyme]

Grrr, stupid phone! "the initial operation site"!

 

[Sianage]

Oh poor pony

I have seen one horse who had a Robert Jones bandage on for a P1 fracture. Wasn't changed for 3 weeks and had a huge bandage sore on the back of his leg, almost down to the tendon! He was in a lot of pain, almost non-weightbearing lame, but amazingly after a little while he came sound again and was fine!

 

[Ginger Bear]

My horse was operated on at newmarket & had a cast & then bandages on his leg.. his sores were very day & looked awful & were so sore.. once he his operation sight had healed the vet thought it best to take the bandages of to let the sores dry out & heal which they did surprisingly quickly.. we also bathed it in iodine.. he has no scars although he has white socks so not sure if the hair came through white..

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

My mare ad the most horrendous bandage sores when she had a really bad connon injury a year ago. You can still see the scars from the bandage bow/sores but not really from the actual wound

When she did a similar injury 6 months later I took the bandages off after a week as I could see the skin dying off. The leg healed fine without the bandages and the scar isnt any different.

My mare ended up with 2 secondary infections and two abcesses with bandage sores. Some really nasty bouts of cellulitis as well. Spent more treating those than the actual injury.

I just cleaned the leg daily with warm salty water removing the scabs the dressed them with dry wound powder, allowing them to dry up. Once the scabs had all cleared and i was left with raw skin I let it sit dry for a few days to make sure no more hair and skin died back then I started rubbing cornucrescine into it and the hair came back. I was lucky there was no dmage to the tendond on the front of her leg or her fetlock but I wont be bandaging her again for weeks with ANY injury as the cellulitis and secondary infections cost me way more than the actual would to treat

 

[qaz]

From past experience of bandage does I found that covering the sores in Sudocrem then a couple of layers of Sofban bandage covered top to bottom with a tubigrip before putting the support bandaging was the only thing that let the sores heal whilst allowing the bandaging to stay on.

 

[EstherYoung]

We had nasty bandage sores on our TB - the vet (not my usual vet) convinced me against my better judgement to bandage him when he tweaked a ligament. He has firing bands from his racing days and due to the bandaging the thin skin on the firing scars broke down and went horrid.

It did heal up once the air got to it again, but it was very very very sore for him, far more sore than the original ligament tweak. His legs still look a mess now

So yes, I'd say it is perfectly possible for them to be very sore indeed.