First aid, warm water, no electric on yard

[SEL]

My beloved Appy obviously heard me yesterday stupidly say out loud that we hadn't run up any major vet bills yet this year. I should know better....

So she came in this morning with her nose and mouth covered in fresh blood. It looks like she scratched somewhere on the hedge, got a stick up her nose and pulled backwards taking a chunk out of her nostril. I was halfway to cleaning it up when I realised how deep it was and most of my hedgerow is blackthorn - so vet it was.

I'm not on mains electric nor mains water. Our well water is clean enough for the horses to drink but obviously I can't boil a kettle. Called home and asked OH to bring a flask of warm water (as an aside the conversation went HIM: how hot do you want it? ME: well hot enough to clean a cut without burning her HIM: I'll have to let it cool down then because I've just boiled the kettle ME: Or you could just add some cold water from the kitchen tap?)

So we had clean warm water for the vet to use once she'd had a bit of sedative and he flushed out the new hole she's made

No long term damage (except to my pocket) but it got me thinking about whether any off-grid people out there have ideas of magic equipment I could safely use to heat water without electricity? I'm happy to keep bottles of drinking water there and it would be useful for extra coffee when I'm waiting for the vet and its wet and cold as well as first aid.

Until recently I would have asked the house opposite but its been sold and being gutted so I'm not sure there's anyone around now.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I have electricity so not experienced

I have a small camping gas stove which I guess I'd use if I had no power but I know some off grid hardy types are more likely to bring a flask or two of boiled water.

ETA for wound care you want boiled water that has cooled, don't add unboiled cold. Just put it in a dish on the floor and it will cool soon enough.

 

[[153312]]

Camping stove?

 

[[153312]]

Though have always just used a flask personally

 

[Marnie]

What about a car kettle? There are lots around but something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/VIFERR-Ket...-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

 

[MuddyMonster]

Would something like this work?

Amazon.co.uk

 

[Pearlsasinger]

We used to have a kettle that plugged into the cigarette lighter in the car. I'm sure there will be an up-to-date equivalent.

 

[Mynstrel]

How about a jetboil (or unbranded equivalent)?

 

[splashgirl45]

Small camping stove would be useful. I’m in a village that gets power cuts every winter and it has been a godsend as I can have a hot drink and heat up soup as some of the power cuts have been over 5 hours …

 

[SEL]

Though have always just used a flask personally

Ah but I'd need advance notice of an injury to put one in the car.... It's what I'm doing tonight but she caught me by surprise with blood at 7am

Camping stove I should think about and I'd forgotten about the old element type things that used to plug into cars - I had one once upon a time. Something like that I could easily keep at the yard.

I could have done with a hot drink standing around this morning!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I've a single camping gas burner (takes the small canisters) that lives in its case in the horsebox, plus a 2 burner camping gas one in my feed store (thanks for reminding me to get bigger ones gas bottle changed).

I also take flasks from home should I know in advance that I might need them...

 

[FinnishLapphund]

We've been without electricity for a few days 2 times during the over 20 years we've lived here, and both those times we used this simple set up:
(sorry, photo includes the inspector cat's paws)

The little metal thingy to the right is the thing you're supposed to use to "kill" the fire, the can is the "homemade" thing we actually use for that purpose. The bottle contains what I think you call Methylated spirits in English. All you would need to that is a saucepan with a lid, preferably big enough so that you can store the few items needed inside the saucepan when they're not being used. ETA: You would of course also need some matches, or a lighter. /ETA

Hope your horse heals quickly {{{{{{Vibes}}}}}}

 

[SEL]

What about a car kettle? There are lots around but something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/VIFERR-Kettle-Portable-Cigarette-Lighter/dp/B0816W4V9T/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=3JIR51GEY6FU3&keywords=car+kettle+12v+fast+boil+cigarette+lighter&qid=1698331020&sprefix=car+kettle,aps,77&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

My OH has just told me I have a 12v socket in the boot of the car so this would be perfect - especially as I had to use my coffee flask to defrost the gate latch last year! Thank you

 

[SEL]

I've a single camping gas burner (takes the small canisters) that lives in its case in the horsebox, plus a 2 burner camping gas one in my feed store (thanks for reminding me to get bigger ones gas bottle changed).

I also take flasks from home should I know in advance that I might need them...

Oooh hadn't thought about keeping something in the horsebox - should do that.

Flask from home tonight for washing out the hole. She'd washed all the cream off in the water trough so it was a bit weepy and I could see how deep it was. Fortunately I think it's far enough up her nose to stay out of the mud.

 

[SEL]

We've been without electricity for a few days 2 times during the over 20 years we've lived here, and both those times we used this simple set up:
(sorry, photo includes the inspector cat's paws)

The little metal thingy to the right is the thing you're supposed to use to "kill" the fire, the can is the "homemade" thing we actually use for that purpose. The bottle contains what I think you call Methylated spirits in English. All you would need to that is a saucepan with a lid, preferably big enough so that you can store the few items needed inside the saucepan when they're not being used. ETA: You would of course also need some matches, or a lighter. /ETA

Hope your horse heals quickly {{{{{{Vibes}}}}}}

I'm sure my parents used to have something like this - I'll ask if it's still hiding in the garage.

The poor girl is feeling a bit sorry for herself. Antibiotics and Bute aren't great for her gut but fingers crossed it'll heal without issue.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Whatever suggestion you go for, I hope you find something that works for you with the water heating. Fingers crossed for that your poor girl have no complications neither with the gut nor the wound healing.

 

[criso]

Buy a bottle or pouches of sterilised water or sterile saline to keep on the yard for cleaning wounds. It's actually what my vet has in his car and uses to flush out wounds.

 

[marmalade76]

Camping stove or Tilly kettle.

 

[Patterdale]

I just use cold.
I have a Lucozade sports type bottle with a dilute dettol solution in which is always ready to be squirted into wounds, cotton wool to scrub and engemycin spray. Works quite well!

 

[RamblingRosa]

I have a camping kettle. You just need something to burn I usually use paper feed bags.

 

[shortstuff99]

Just as an aside from someone who works in the water industry, tap water is disinfected but not sterile. If you boil water to make it sterile to clean up wounds, don't add cold water to cool it as it won't be sterile anymore.

I would use sterile wash if needed (like the eye wash bottles) or a little canoeing stove to heat.

 

[GemmaRuby]

I'd add some Leucillin to your tack room, superior to saline solution and doesn't need to be heated.

 

[SEL]

I hadn't even thought about keeping a bottle of saline solution there. I was going to get some bottled water so at least I knew I had something clean if not warm.

She dunked her head in a bucket of water for a drink which did help clean the worst off before the vet got there - obviously stung but at least it was her choice rather than me trying to wipe bloody gunk off a painful nostril

Live & learn. I have a huge first aid kit but it's the first blood injury since we moved & I came up short!

 

[TheMule]

Warm water is pretty essential for tubing for colic/ chokes so a very good thing to have access to. I have a camping stove.

 

[callybbi]

I have a camping stove and also some saline solution in my tack room for these just in case moments.
A few years ago my horse was on grass livery with absolutely nothing to hand when he decided to somehow rip his cheek open. The vet flushed it out with lots of saline and something else I can't remember, before stitching him up in the middle of the woods.
I then took a flask of boiled water daily in case it needed cleaning but the vet did say to leave it alone unless it was mucky. For a gory looking wound it really did heal up nicely with little interference from me thank god.

 

[JFTDWS]

I hadn't even thought about keeping a bottle of saline solution there. I was going to get some bottled water so at least I knew I had something clean if not warm.

You don’t want a bottle as once you open it, it’s no longer sterile. You can get 5ml eye wash pods which you can use as required with limited wastage.

 

[criso]

You don’t want a bottle as once you open it, it’s no longer sterile. You can get 5ml eye wash pods which you can use as required with limited wastage.

Depends on the wound. When my vet was flushing out a cut on my horses cheek, he used several pouches the size of a drinks pouch so a 5 ml pod wouldn't have worked.

But agree need to think about waste as once you open it has a use by. Contact lens bottles say 3 months.

 

[JFTDWS]

Depends on the wound. When my vet was flushing out a cut on my horses cheek, he used several pouches the size of a drinks pouch so a 5 ml pod wouldn't have worked.

But agree need to think about waste as once you open it has a use by. Contact lens bottles say 3 months.

Nothing stopping you using a dozen or more if necessary - I buy them by the hundred. They’re easier to target into a small wound too.

Use by date is a bit irrelevant- once it’s open, it’s not sterile.

 

[ihatework]

No help for hot water. But for wound care I used to keep saline medical IV bags for that purpose.

 

[I'm Dun]

A small generator would be handy. You can pick them up new for a couple of hundred quid and they will sit unused without issue till you need them. Gives you options for using power tools for repairs and clipper etc