Hoof abscess - brewing for a long time

kerrieberry2

kerrieberry2

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Has anyone had a horse brewing an abscess for weeks before it comes to anything?

My gelding has always been super duper sensitive to pain, and is very angry about it. In the past he suffered with hoof abscesses every time he had his feet trimmed and he would be really horrible for a week or two before finally going lame. I swapped from a farrier to an EP and they've focused on balancing his feet properly and building his sole strength buy using boots and pads. he's been with this lady for 5 years and the change is amazing.

However, he's brewing an abscess at the moment, I found a pulse this morning after noticing him resting his foot! although he's not obviously lame, he's be really angry with me when I've been trying to groom him! He's been off for a good month, so had the vet out and we agreed to treat for ulcers, a month ago, and he calmed down for a few weeks but last weekend was angry again!

I'm starting to wonder if he's been angry with an abscess for this long or if its just a coincidence.

He's had ulcers in the past too.
 
No. I would have had my vet or farrier to check it out way before it got to weeks of having an unhappy horse. How are you sure it is an abscess?
 
Gloi said:
Have you had it x-rayed. Mine had an abscess that went on and it turned out he had a tiny bit of wire buried in his frog.
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oh blimey, that is crazy, I wonder how that got in there and wasn't visible.

I've not had an xray or anything, I only found the pulse this morning when I noticed him resting his foot! but when he had his feet trimmed they found his bar had folded over and there was grit under that! so I'm sure that is the root cause of the pain in his foot! Every time he's had an abscess its always been under his bars, and his behaviour has always been the same as how he's acting now.

I suppose I posted as I was wondering if he doesn't actually have ulcers and the reaction could have been where he was brewing an abscess. my trimmer does think so as he was not reactive when she trimmed his feet 2 weeks ago. but my past experience with this behaviour says, its always been related to an abscess! but usually he'd go lame about a week after being so grouchy!

either way, he's now being treated for an abscess and ulcers, and has had a full assessment by the vet to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong.
 
Agree on xray. If it's going on for ages vet can find it and vet or Farrier can get to it.

Mine was forever getting abscesses, it turned out to be a keratoma and needed surgery. Friends similar but it was 'just' a deep abscess that would never fully clear before healing over so needed antibiotics and to be kept draining for a while.
 
I had what turned out to be abscess that carried on brewing for around 3 months. One vet, one farrier, another vet and an x ray machine and no one could find anything. Everyone assured me it definitely wasn't an abscess but the vet on leaving grinned and said you can never be sure.

about 3/4 months later horse was sound and there was a line across the hoof. An abscess. No idea why.
 
Gloi said:
Have you had it x-rayed. Mine had an abscess that went on and it turned out he had a tiny bit of wire buried in his frog.
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A friend had one that went on for ages which turned out to be a piece of metal in the foot. It was draining but eventually needed a surgery to remove it as it had worked it's way into the foot :( . Many abscesses resolve on their own but some do warrant xrays if they don't resolve.
 
Sadly some abscesses take forever to burst, if one is taking a long time, personally I'd ask for xrays to check there wasnt a foreign body etc lurking in the foot. If nothing there and the abscess is just being stubborn, I'd soak the foor with warm epsom salts and poultice with sauerkraut, I know it sounds bizarre, but its amazing at drawing a tricky abscess.
 
thanks all. Apart from being a grump, he's not shown any signs of having an abscess until now. so not sure we need to xray yet! will poultice for a few days and see how we get on! and due to speak to the vet re his ulcer treatment tomorrow anyway, so will run it all past time!

I suppose I've was trying to convince myself that the £850 I've spent on treating ulcers was not wasted, if it could have been an abscess all along :'( but sounds unlikely, as he didn't have a pulse when his feet were trimmed 2 weeks ago!
 
Honey08 said:
Yes, my poor mare had a ridiculously big abscess that took ages to come out. It was horrible, took half her coronet out. The vet said there was nothing to do but wait and stand her in warm Epsom saltwater to encourage it.
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oh wow, that is insane, poor thing must have been really grumpy! how long did it take to come out?
 
My mare came in lame the day before the farrier was due. I got him to check and he thought abscess so I treated as such, but 3 weeks on nothing came of it, not was she ever hopping lame. I think she bruised her sole and him digging it made it sore. Never heat or bounding pulse either.
 
Yep, multiple checks and visits by farrier and vet with local vet wanting to PTS. I refused and took her to see Sue Dyson (with my vet's referral) as a last resort; she took all the long history, walked out, picked up the offending leg and found an abscess straight away. Once popped she was a much happier horse, it took a few months of box rest and careful treatment to get it under control.

This was 20+ years ago now, though, and things have come on a lot since then.
 
Jambarissa said:
Agree on xray. If it's going on for ages vet can find it and vet or Farrier can get to it.

Mine was forever getting abscesses, it turned out to be a keratoma and needed surgery. Friends similar but it was 'just' a deep abscess that would never fully clear before healing over so needed antibiotics and to be kept draining for a while.
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Agree - mine had this ... had not heard of keratoma before he was diagnosed with one and half his foot removed. Fully recovered though.
 
kerrieberry2 said:
oh wow, that is insane, poor thing must have been really grumpy! how long did it take to come out?
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She was such a stoic mare she didn’t grumble. She stood there in that bucket while I mucked out round her, not tied up. It took a couple of weeks to burst, and even then kept bursting little bits at a time, so she ended up with several holes and a huge wound to heal.
She had cushings, and got quite a few towards the end. Spent her last year on and off hobbling around every other month. In the end I decided that it was no happy retirement and we had her pts. I kind of wish we had at this point- she only had another six months anyway. The vet kept saying “we’ll get her through this.” But she was a fab horse.
 
Alibear said:
Yep, multiple checks and visits by farrier and vet with local vet wanting to PTS. I refused and took her to see Sue Dyson (with my vet's referral) as a last resort; she took all the long history, walked out, picked up the offending leg and found an abscess straight away. Once popped she was a much happier horse, it took a few months of box rest and careful treatment to get it under control.

This was 20+ years ago now, though, and things have come on a lot since then.
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Oh wow, that's absolutely crazy. I bet you were so pleased that you'd pushed for a referral.
 
Honey08 said:
She was such a stoic mare she didn’t grumble. She stood there in that bucket while I mucked out round her, not tied up. It took a couple of weeks to burst, and even then kept bursting little bits at a time, so she ended up with several holes and a huge wound to heal.
She had cushings, and got quite a few towards the end. Spent her last year on and off hobbling around every other month. In the end I decided that it was no happy retirement and we had her pts. I kind of wish we had at this point- she only had another six months anyway. The vet kept saying “we’ll get her through this.” But she was a fab horse.
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Oh that's so sad, so sorry you lost her in the end. I do thank my horse for being so grumpy when he's in pain, so i know very early on that he's unhappy about something. Must have made it hard to know what was wrong if she was so stoic :'(
 
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