Foreign body in fetlock, how long to abcess, experiences??

Landcruiser

Landcruiser

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An odd one. About 3 weeks ago I noticed a tiny scab on the front of the NH fetlock on my gelding. No heat, no swelling, had a poke arond and it seemed dried up and not sinister so forgot about it. 2 evenings later horse was 1/10 lame in trot when he came in, sound in walk, couldn't really tell which leg - thought he'd tweaked something in the field and decided to review in the morning.

Next morning NH fetlock visibly swollen, horse 4/10 lame on it. Called vet. By the time the vet arrived at lunchtime horse was 10/10 lame, could hardly move. IV and IM antibiotics, fetlock shaved, and tiny wound was now pouring serum and blood and a little pus too.

12 hours later, lameness was improved but swelling and discharge the same, vets took decision not to flush the joint as they thought the lameness wouldn't have improved so quickly if the joint itself was punctured/infected. X rays were clear and OK. So next day more IV and IM antibiotics, and a course by mouth too. A week later (bathing/poulticing every day), discharge was reduced and horse fully sound but swelling still all around joint.

Vets then ultrasounded and found that front tendon is massively inflamed (4 times as thick as it should be) and there is a tiny foreign body wedged in that mess of swollen tissue, next to the tendon. They thought there would be zero chance of finding it with surgery - basically it has to find its own way out. It's formed a capsule about 1 cm diameter around itself. The original wound is fully healed.
I was told there's no reason I can't ride, all antibiotics are now stopped, and we have to wait for an abcess to form which will either burst itself or the vets can lance - meanwhile expect horse to go very lame, and we can treat with bute at that time.

Anyone ever had anything like this? I'd be glad to hear any experiences, particularly with regard to time frame. I rode him today for the first time since all this happened - 100% sound and happy, but with a great big fetlock which I couldn't even get a boot on. Needless to say it was a very quiet hack down the lanes...
 
How long is a piece of string. It could even move and come out somewhere else I expect. Dogs do that all the time with grass seeds etc. what a nightmare for you. Hope it resolves soon.
 
Mmmmmmmmmmm............I think I would be wanting a second opinion. Foreign objects in joint capsules (which is implied as you said wound was leaking serum!!) or tendons are not to be trifled with. Personally, I also wouldn't be riding.

Ultrasonography and a good orthapaedic vet should be able to locate said offending item.
 
Serum, not joint fluid, gunnerdog. The ultrasound did locate the foreign body - but very difficult to know what angle it was viewed as. The screen showed an object only about 1mm - but this could have been an end on view of a longer object, like a thorn. Definitely not in the joint capsule, but only missing it by a millimetre or two, could have been much much worse.

I asked whether the object could possibly move in rather than out - the vets thought that more than unlikely. They couldn't give much idea of timescale, how long is a piece of string indeed? That's why I was asking for personal experience, really. These are vets from an equine only practice, and they haven't really seen one like this before, in that the wound was present for at least two and probably more days before there were any symptoms whatsoever.

Just to add a bit more interest, my horse had a reaction to the IV antibiotics on the second day, and had the vet sprinting for the car as he threatened to have some sort of fit - luckily he responded quickly to the "antidote" but we now know he can't have penicillin!
 
I know it's not the same but my dog had an encapsulated foreign body in his foot, no lameness though, but it had obviously been there some time before we noticed the sudden swelling. It was operated on, and it looked like a mush of fibre, which we took to be a spelk that had started to break down in the dogs foot.
 
Here in Western Australia - grass seed capital of the world I sometimes think - they can do fancy things with contrast medium and dyes to better localise the foreign body, then mark the track it has taken so it can be dissected down to and removed. Perhaps a referral hospital may have similar facilities?
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but my 5 year old has had a fb in an area just under his jaw since last June. There is a 50p sized lump which has a scab on it, every so often the scan comes of and a small amount of pus comes out.
He has had several ultrasound scans and you can see the tract but due to how close it is to the salivary gland they won't operate. It doesn't bother him at all however if it was on a leg/near a joint I think I would definatly want further investigation. Good luck.
 
When I was in equine practice our knackerman was asked to go and shoot a pony that had a chronic on and off discharging wound on its leg above its hock and had periods of lameness, would open amd be pussy then dry up. He swapped her for a lawnmower as decided she was too nice a pony to shoot. Took her home and turfed her out for the winter with his cows and leg continued the cycle, come spring he brought her in and his sun started riding her, then took her pony racing etc. She came in for us to have a look as hed mentioned it to one of the vets when collecting a deceased one and on scan there was the end of something visible. Under sedation and local the vet went exploring and pulled out a 3" hawthorn from her leg. It must have been there for 18mths!
 
Oh cr@p. Not what I wanted to hear. Vets have said poulticing probably won't do any good as it's too deep and the original wound is so well healed. They seem to think that as the FB is so near the tendon and not now causing pain or lameness, invasive surgery would do more harm than potential good at this stage. I think I'll give it a week and ask them to review. Trouble is, they are a specialist equine practice and I'm not sure where to turn next...
 
Just to update. Horse has been sound since the antibiotics kicked in, and the original wound dry and healed over, No heat, no pain even when poking around quite hard, but still a swollen fetlock joint. The swelling has waxed and waned a bit. End of last week he trotted up a scant 1/10 lame and with no sign of any abscess yet, I got the vets back for another look. We ultrasounded again today. This showed pockets of solid pus tracking around the tendon although not involving it. The extensor tendon has shrunk back to its normal thickness now thank goodness. Of the foreign body there is no sign - we all think it was probably the tip of a blackthorn, which has now become too soggy to show up on the scan. There is still a huge amount of swelling all around the area.

The vets tried to open up the pocket nearest to the skin but couldn't get anything out (with a thick needle). They don't want to actually open up the leg, because where it is, it'll be a devil to get healed with the movement of the joint. So I now have to hot poultice twice a day and see if it can be drawn, now they've weakened the skin where it is thinnest.

One tiny thorn. Or rather, the tip of a thorn, broken off deep inside. So far my vet bill is about £1000, and my season is over before it's started. I would never have believed it.
 
Not of much help, and it doesn't really compare, but a friend of mine's horse had a tiny hole in its shoulder and was a little lame. Too high to poultice so she fomented it frequently and ended up with a slug-gun pellet coming out! Horse was fine as soon as it was out and wound healed but they never worked out how the horse ended up getting shot. Unbelievably, same thing happened a few months later further down the forearm though could have been that he ended up with two pellets from the same incident and one just took a long time to come out.
Good luck with your horse. They do seem to do their best to give us worries sometimes.
 
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