Hoof abscess and turnout

HeyMich

HeyMich

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Horse had an abscess dug out by the vet on Fri. Quite easy to find, and drained well. Wet poultice put on, and a kept in stable overnight. Over the weekend, I've hot tubbed it and reapplied wet poultice each day. I turned her out Sunday afternoon and again this morning with plastic bag gaffer taped over the poultice, and she's fine just mooching about. Question is, what do I do next? When do I stop poulticing? If I use some sort of clay/filler, how do I keep it in, and how do I keep the hoof dry? Iodine spray before the clay? I'm worried with this warm and wet weather, and with the fields being a bit soggy in places, that the abscess will come back if I don't manage it perfectly. I've ordered a medical boot in her (elephant) size, but what do I put on underneath it for turnout? And if I bring her in at night, do I just leave it open or keep it bandaged? Sorry for the million questions, I'm a bit of an abscess novice (thankfully!)!
 
What has your vet/farrier advised?

If it is still draining and smelly I would hot/wet poultice for another day or two and then start dry poulticing until there is no more discharge or smell. I would not suggest trying to fill the hole/gap unless told to do so by your farrier as if there is any nastiness still in there you'll be stopping it from draining.

Keep the horse turned out and moving as much as possible as well.

I've had reasonable success in the past with irrigating with warm water, soaking in warm epsom salt water and also irrigating with peroxide (horse hated the peroxide understandably).
 
I dry poultice for a day or two once it has stopped draining then depending on the hole usually turn out with a wad of cotton wool stuffed in after spraying, change it twice a day and ensure nothing else has come out, the holes tend to grow out fairly quickly and I have never had one come back even if not managed perfectly for whatever reason.
 
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you don't want to wet poultice too long or you get issues, if nothing much more is coming out I switch to sugardine poultice for a couple of days and holes have always been the right size to fill with hoof putty for a bit.
 
I sympathise I use a hoof boot with a clean dry nappy inside once the wet poultice palaver is done. I have had one come back despite sugar and iodine. Hoof stuff etc. Abscesses are the work of the devil!
 
Ah...abscesses! Depends on the hole size and where it is a bit, but once finished with the wet poultice I use a nappy for a few days (more as protective dressing), just because I have them around and they work well (nappy pants are the best!). Then either plug with dry cotton wool or even leave bare but keep an eye and keep clean. It does depend how big and deep the hole is.

FWIW the well known medical boot I tried lasted less than 24 hours. An oversize hoof boot works well. Or a horse croc (new name now, can't remember what it is but I bought one years ago and it's lasted forever even on clay). Croc goes over vetwrap and some plastic bag.

You'll be surprised how quickly you can just let them get on with it without having to dress it.
 
Crocs are a fabulous invention. Well worth keeping in the med cupboard, just watch the lip at the back that sits in the pastern doesn't rub. I found shoving a good wad of cotton wool between the plastic and skin stopped any rubbing.

A friends old mare had a nasty abscess recently that left a fair hole, we stuffed it with clean cotton wool, stuck a nappy on, vet wrap and croc. Changed daily for a week and all was well. The weather was dry but if wet you could put some plastic on the vet wrap before the croc.
 
I had a horse with chronic reoccurring abscesses; absolute nightmare.

My vet advised routine was hot damp poultice to draw, then 3 clean hot and damp poultices (changed poultice every 12hrs) before switching to 3 days of clean dry poultices. If pus appeared on either damp or dry then back to tubbing and hot damp poulticing.

That horse was an extreme version but I've stuck to those rules of 3 clean damp before switching to dry and 3 clean dry before stopping poulticing.

I normally use red horse field paste to pack shallow holes but have used their hoof putty too with great success
 
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