Hoof abscess question

[a kind of magic]

Sorry...another one! I suppose I've been lucky until now that in many years I've only experienced one abscess before and that was a straight forward one!

Very brief history but abscess is a recurring one in his off fore, initial abscess on white line, second burst out the heel bulb and third around the white line again. Under care of farrier and soon his vet wife (he is due an x-ray to see if there is an underlying cause) after our original vets were less than helpful.

Most recent abscess was cleaned up leaving a hole in the hoof wall and three holes along his white line. Poulticed and hot tubbed 'by the book' until there was no more gunk and no more smell. Put a dry dressing for a couple of days and are now washing daily with iodine water on farrier's instruction. Horse is sound and comfortable, no smell from hoof, however there is still some heat on the coronary band. Is this normal? Should we re-poultice? Is there anything we can use to pack the holes to keep them clean as an alternative to lots of washing?

Poor little fella has been very brave with us poking his foot about over this two month period and we are really hoping we've got it properly this time.

 

[Alyth]

Of course I'm not a vet but as I understand it an abcess is the natural method of getting rid of dead tissue or an extraneous object (like a thorn).....so it could be that there is still more "stuff" to come out!! I am sure nature will win out and eventually the abcessess will abate. But until then simply treat each one separately, tub, poultice, keep clean and hope!! In my experience it is best to let the abcess "come to a head" and then lance it if necessary....others will disagree citing "blood poisoning", but I have found, by experience, that if you subdue, or treat an abcess before it bursts you negate what the the body is trying to achieve....

 

[Alphamare]

I would ask your farrier not a forum if he feels the heat is a problem and needs repolticing let him tell you.

 

[Merlin11]

I have had a similar problem recently. Horse was sound and abcess seemed to have stopped draining but there was still heat in the hoof so we started warm poulticing again and more pus came out. But this was taking ages so got farrier out who dug out a bit of his sole and it drained again for about a week or so. Then it seemed to dry up again. Farrier came out and put on cotton wool and a pad under his shoe to keep it clean and also because his sole is now quite soft. This means he can be turned out and ridden. He will come out again to take the pad off and reshoe in about 2 weeks. Whole episode has been about 2 months! Probably best to speak to the farrier again but understand your frustration. While I was poulticing I used a shires rubber boot so that he could be turned out provided ground not too muddy. Was amazed how well the boot stayed on and held up. This made a big difference.

 

[a kind of magic]

Thanks-I was planning on phoning the farrier tomorrow but want to leave the poor bloke alone on a Sunday if I can help it (seeing as it's not exactly an emergency) so we'll pop another poultice on now and I'll see what he says tomorrow. Just hoping we can get to the bottom of it this time! He's only 8 months old so do they do poultice boots for diddy hooves? It would make it a lot quicker and would mean I could probably do it myself rather than hubby having to do it, unfortunately I've got an issue with my back and pelvis caused by my pregnancy and it's made it nigh impossible to bend over!

Alyth- interesting what you have found about subduing an abscess, the second time it burst we had tried to treat it before it had burst on vet's advice but it just came back with a very angry vengeance and burst out his heel bulb! We are getting very good at hot tubbing and poultice changes now!

 

[Merlin11]

Not sure if they do them that small! Also the pad under the shoe is no use as he won't be shoed. You can get canvas type boots as well which may work. Other people use nappies and then lots of duck tape which can work if not too muddy. Hope he gets better soon.