hoof abscess taking ages to drain......

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el_Snowflakes

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Hi all,

my mare went very lame with a hoof abscess the sunday before last. Since then i have done a couple of hot poultices (1 with epsome salts) and the rest dry. (she was out for 2 days without poultice as i had ran out) I poulticed her lastnight and replaced in tonight and it was still saturated in (sorry folks!) smelly black fluid. She doesnt appear lame and her foot is a little cooler tonight but still a bit warm. I have never dealt with an abscess before so I am ansure whether this is a normal length of time for the healing process. (been 9 days since it came about and 7 days since farrier came to take shoe off and drain it, although vet administered painkillers and pennicilin on the 1st day)

thoughts please??
 
my farrier told me to use babies nappies and a tick sugary paste and apply that the hoof to drain (sugary paste on the actually hoof. the nappy to have been soaked in hot water and squeezed. it worked for me.
 
You need to continue to hot tub and poultice until a day after the pus has stopped draining .If you allow the opening to dry up before all the abscess has gone you risk it building up again.
Once it is clean your farrier can come and put the shoe back on.
 
be positive said:
You need to continue to hot tub and poultice until a day after the pus has stopped draining .If you allow the opening to dry up before all the abscess has gone you risk it building up again.
Once it is clean your farrier can come and put the shoe back on.
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thanks. By hot tub-ing i assume you mean soaking in a bucket? she wont let me do this so this is whay i used the hot poultice method. I stopped using the hot (wet) poultice as i have heard that too much of that can cause damage to the hoof structure?? :o
 
My mare has lots of abscesses due to her cushings/laminitis problems.

I hot poultice religiously changing it twice a day until she comes sound and then move to dry gamgee for another 2 days to allow the hoof to harden, then finally plug the hole with cotton wool. It gets rid of them fast.
 
PS mine won't let me hot tub it either, hence the twice a day hot poultice (animalintex or similar)
 
I had to poultice my mare's abscess for ages. On the Vet's advice, I cut a small section of animalintex (which was dipped in boiled water from the kettle that had been allowed to cool so that it was warm and wouldn't burn, also the excess water was squeezed out) to put over the abscess drain hole. This was then covered by a dry nappy (which went over the whole hoof and held the animalintex in place), then some vet-wrap and then lastly gaffer tape.
 
When my horse had an abcess we had to poultice twice a day with animalintex (soaked in cooled boiled water) until no more pus came out. Then used nappies as a dry dressing to keep it clean and let the hole heal up.
 
My TB went through a really bad period with his feet and got recurrent foot abscess. ( I actually think it was the same abscess that would drain and then the hoof would close )
the last abscess i poulticed hot wet poultice or dry poultice for 14 days until it was cleared up.
I was getting really worried that it was taking too long to drain, and got xrays of the foot incase there was an infection of the pedal bone ( as everyone was telling me it was taking too long to resolve ). All was fine, it was just a really big abscess.
So, i'd give it a few more days of putting the poultice on or soaking the foot before worrying too much.
 
Hydrogen peroxide, dilute 50/50 with water and syringe into abcess, it will fizzle quite a lot, but will help clear the gunge when it runs clear (no fizzling at all) you know most of gunge gone. also keep it dry with the dry amimalintex and the excellent baby pampers( I use tesco brand):)
 
Put some Epsom salts in the tub and hot water . Dont let the water be higher than the coronary band or it will drain pus upwards. Tub the foot as long as horse will allow 5 mins prox , It will take as long as it takes to clear . I always keep poulticing until the nappy and animalintex is clear of any pus , then squirt some hydrogen peroxide in hole until fizzing stops I do this 2 days , then use a dry poultice for two days. then bung it with Stockholm tar mixed with cotton wool
 
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Ditto the flushing with diluted hydrogen peroxide in a syringe. Last year I had a yearling with an abscess that kept discharging pus for several weeks, which was quite alarming in such small feet. Dilute hydrogen peroxide syringed into the drainage hole dislodged some bits of hard cheesy pus from high up inside the sinus that would have been almost impossible to draw out with poulticing/tubbing. After 2 days of using peroxide all dried up and yearling became sound. No problems since, touch wood.
 
The penicillin may not have helped. Our vets don't usually prescribe antibiotics for hoof abcesses. It is better to let the infection drain out rather than suppress it. My OH is a farrier and his method is to use a large piece of animalintex to cover the whole hoof to allow all potential drainage holes to open up. You can use nappies instead or you can try old fashioned bread poultices or sugar mixed with iodine. But I wouldn't let a horse back out until the drainage has stopped unless you can keep it covered. An acute abcess will likely cause a throbbing digital pulse which will reduce as it drains.
 
Scrub her foot really well until it is spotlessly clean.
Have a clean sack to place it on if she won't keep the foot off the ground until dressed.

You need to keep using a hot wet poultice on it every day until she is totally sound and the abscess drained.

Ask your vet for a tube of antibiotic ointment and squirt it into the hole. This is the stuff they use for cows with mastitis. When the abscess has drained fully - dip some cotton wool in Stockholm Tar and pack the hole with it. We always used a leather pad between hoof and shoe to protect the sole while the hoof hardened up again.

You can make a poultice boot really easily - I've added a picture with instructions.

Poulticeboot.jpg
 
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