Help re hoof abcess

[pricklyflower]

Just wondering if anyone can give me some ideas with regard to a horse with a hoof abcess?

Wednesday night the horse came in on 3 legs, at first I thought he'd broken it or something as he was hopping lame. On inspection, noticed no lumps, bumps or swellings but heat in the hoof. I called the vet - there are only 2 vets I'd use at a particular practice so was praying one of them would be on call but unfortunately they weren't so asked to speak to one of them about it (row ensued with receptionist but that's a different story).

Anyway, got the farrier out in the meantime who said it was an abcess and dug a hole in his foot to try and drain it which didn't work as it's very high up apparently. Farrier spoke to vet on phone and both were happy to hot poultice that night. yesterday morning took poultice off and nothing, hot poulticed again and last night farrier came back and had another dig about, nothing came out and we hot poulticed again, and again this morning. Horse is still very lame.

Spoke to vet yesterday who said these things can take between 3 and 5 days to come out and he is going to come out tomorrow if horse is still lame and no sign of abcess.

It's just awful seeing him so lame so was just wondering what other people's experiences were with these things and what timescale I should expect. Also, anything else that I should be worried about / asking the vet when he comes out tomorrow?

Cookies and hot chocolate if you've got this far!

Thank you
PF
x

 

[ihatework]

Hoof abcess are very painful for the horses but more often than not they clear up relatively quickly with no lasting complications.

You are doing the right thing, just hot tub and hot poultice, the pus should work it's way out eventually, if its high you may well find it bursts out through coronet band.

Sometimes if the abcess doesn't burst within a few days the vet might take an xray to try and locate the infection.

 

[Sprout]

My two both got an abcess last year, with one the pus came out withing about a day or so of hot poulticing, but with the other it took over two weeks for any pus to come out, the vet was on the point of doing an x- ray, so dont worry, it can take quite a while, you are doing everything right.

 

[Lyndz]

It maybe coming out of the top of the foot in that case! Try putting the foot in a bucket of warm water for a few mins, worked great for my mare, abcess came out next day, poulitced it to get the rest out and the day after all was well! Only we now have a new problem!

 

[pricklyflower]

Thanks for your replies, good to know from other people's experiences that it takes time. When I changed the poultice today there was some black gunk, not a lot but a bit so hopefully it's the start! He was putting a bit more weight on it too so fingers crossed it's on the mend, just so awful seeing him so lame!

 

[Donkeymad]

It sounds as if it is now near the top of the hoof, Check the coronary band for any swelling or soft areas. In the meantime, put hot towels around the coronary band for ten minutes once or twice a day would help.