how do/would you treat a horse with a abscess in the sole

mightymammoth

mightymammoth

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 May 2011
Messages
2,952
Visit site
Hi, vet came and scraped away some of the sole (there was already a little hole) some pus came out but I think there is more to come.

I've seen people talking about honey, salt and all sorts as part of a poultice. The vet has given me some dressings and said to put a hot poultice on for the next few days and see how it goes.

Just wondering what others have done to treat an abscess,

thanks
 
Can't help much with what you should put on it but I hear baby's nappies make grest poultices and are a good shape to fit round the hoof!

About a million years ago when I was young! The mare I had, had an abcess and I'm sure it was hydrochloride I put on it then covered it up? But check this out first as I would hate for you to put something on that shouldn't be!

i did see them using sugar on a wound on Great Ormond St Hospital programme the other week.
 
If you can get him to stand in a bucket, something not too deep is ideal, hot water and salt or Epsom salts 1/2 way up the foot, do this for 10 mins every time you change the poultice, it will help draw the pus out.
I had plenty of practice with a pony that had a very deep seated abscess that took 4 months to completely clear out.
 
I have used animalintex as a hot poultice mostly, vetwrap over it then a nappy & gaffer tape to keep dressing clean. Have used kaolin years ago, but luckily never had to deal with serious ones so animalintex has been sufficient.
 
Salt in hot water and if possible get the horse to stand with the affected foot in the water. The water must only go to no more than half way up the hoof as you want to draw the infection down, not upwards - the heat and salt will draw it down. Babie's nappies are great for poultices and much cheaper than Animalintex. Wrap vetwrap or similar round and then gaffer tape to hold it all on. Good luck, they're horrible things!
 
Go to Boots, ask for magnesium sulphite -the proper name for Epsom Salts. A tub of granules (like salt) is £1.68 (marmite jar size ish) or a tiny pot of cream is £3 ish-the salt granules are the ones you want, but both a great addition to your 1st aid kit as is 3% hydrogen peroxide which you can syringe into the hole (no needle) to clean it out-it will fizz & kills any bacteria in there-a very useful addition for pennies too.Just be careful and use a syringe so you don't splash or get it in your eyes. Usually your horse won't feel a thing with it so don't be frightened of it. I've tested this out on bleeding splits on my hands when i got dirt in and felt nothing. Have same prob with one of mine atm and as Be Positive mentioned, it can be a long time healing. Nappies are great too and get yourself some gaffer tape to put on over the vetwrap-makes it last a little longer & keeps the hoof clean & water tight. If you make two sheets of it but cutting strips of say 8-12 ins(depending on hoof size) and stick the tape together by overlapping the edges (aim to end up with a sheet a4 ish of tape-about 5 or 6 strips) you can use the first 'sheet' to put on the sole and press onto the hoof front & up the back of the foot and lay the other sideways so the sides are covered then you only have to do a few winds of tape round to fill any gaps & secure it..def worth the effort as its easier than trying to apply tape to bandaged hoof especially if your patient is a fidget or its a back hoof! Good luck :-)
 
When my old horse had a abcess the vet recommended an animalintex soaked in hot water with betadine (the brown/orange antiseptic) and sugar. Put it on as hot as you can stand it, then nappy, vet wrap and tape. He was a very old school vet.
 
victoria1980x said:
Hi, vet came and scraped away some of the sole (there was already a little hole) some pus came out but I think there is more to come.

I've seen people talking about honey, salt and all sorts as part of a poultice. The vet has given me some dressings and said to put a hot poultice on for the next few days and see how it goes.

Just wondering what others have done to treat an abscess,

thanks
Click to expand...

I just squirted iodine in the hole and then used hot Animalintex, vet wrap and copious amounts of duct tape.

I found movement helpful to push the pus out, so I wrap the hoof in lots of duct tape and turn out.

In the stable I use a poultice boot rather than the duct tape
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Shire...r_Equipment&hash=item564a5ac405#ht_500wt_1054



Haven't had an abscess since using balanced minerals though.
 
Ok bare with me lol! My old lad suffered terribly with abcesses towards the end so got alot of practice!

Tub with hot water and soap half way up the hoof, 10 - 15 mins vet suggested to me.

Then hot salt poltice directly over hole in sole, secure.

Dry nappy over whole site, secure with vet wrap.

THEN have yourself ready an epic gaffer tape pad to go over the entire hoof. stick strips of gaffer tape onto a brick wall, overlap them at least half way on top of each other until its wide enough to encase the hoof up onto heel, then repeat vertically on top, once again overlapping half way on top of each strip, next peel it off the wall (should come of easy) and at each of the 4 corners snip a slit diagnoly inwards about 4 inches long. place the center of your square in the middle of sole, wrap up the corners and secure the top with some more tape around the ankle (snugly not to tight). VOILA! Its water tight, won't wear through and keeps your dressing secure and dry. Plus if you take it off carefully and it hasn't worn you can use it again and again :) hope i've explained well, it really is worth your time doing!

ets by gaffer i mean duct tape or any waterproof strong tape
 
Had far too much practise with poultices :(

I've don't put a huge amount of effort into them as the heal themselves pretty quickly.

Soak foot if you can be bother but to be honest it doesn't usually help much.

Poulitices can become really expensive if you're re-doing daily, so I've become expert at using mimimal materials to maximal effect!

Slap a piece of lintex on, thats warm and got a bit of disinfectant in it (hibiscrub etc) . It doesn't need to be huge, just enought to cover the hole: about the size of your hand is ample.

Then cover in a cheap nappy from ASDA (Smart Price newborn nappies are perfect!). For the first poultic, use TWO (makes the boot you're about to make a little bigger so you can re-use it)

Vet wrap isn't cheap if you're going through a roll a day for weeks! Try and use just half a roll at time, enough to hold the nappy on whilst you faff with the duct tape.

Make a solid boot out of duct tape. First use enough to make it secure, then layer it up strip by strip, reenforcing the toe especially. If you don't have a hoof boot to use, make one out of tape. Bit of duct tape, than a big square of plastic (Dengie feed bags are perfect!) then LOTS more tape.

When you take it off, carefully cut down the front and slide it off. Give it a wash, let it dry, stick a few more strips of tape on and re-use it for the next poultice, taping over the cut. (using two nappies the first time makes it big enough to reuse)

If you have a hoof boot (Boa/cavallo etc) it saves you SOOOOO much time ands effort and materials.

I always turn out for an abcess as the movement helps drainage and healing. As long as the foot stays clean, it can get a wet as it wants.

You will also find that the frog often becomes smelly so give the whole foot a good wash in strong disinfectant before you poultice it: it just spray it with Dettol Antibacterial cleaner! (of in fact the own-brand, far cheaper, equivelent.
 
Another recipe:
My boy would not stand in a tub so I scrubbed [dandy brush] sole with salt water [boiled then cooled], be careful at first as can be sensitive.
Take a sole size animalintex [one sixth of one] and pop in on, warm and wet.
wrap with half a vetrap [half price of ebay bulk buy].
Wrap with duct tape.
Turn out if you have learnt to keep it on, my vet said box rest for 14 days, but I just ignored him after a week, as horse would be mental. Keeping the "boot" on was very difficult as field was muddy. He was stood in at night [winter]
I had plenty of salt, it took three /four weeks, well I got fed up with poulticing and effectively crossed my fingers [not recommended] and only did the scrubbing by this time it seemed lot better.
I do not recommend Hibiscrub, salt is cheaper than Epsom salts [this is the drawing agent in animalintex] My nappies blew up and disintegrated, but i could have removed the "stuffing" and would have had a pad.
 
Boxers said:
About a million years ago when I was young! The mare I had, had an abcess and I'm sure it was hydrochloride I put on it then covered it up? But check this out first as I would hate for you to put something on that shouldn't be!
.
Click to expand...

NOT Hydrochloride, but Hydrogen peroxide.

Sorry.
 
Some good advice here, none of which I would disagree with. We have also found that turnout/movement helps to drain them and have made temporary "boots" to go over the whole poultice/vet wrap/gaffer tape affair by cutting the corner off a strong plastic bag (feed sack rather than carrier bag). Slot it over the hoof, gather it in and gaffer tape it around and, if necessary, underneath to flatten. It doesn't always stay on but when it does it keeps everything dry and tidy and makes it easier to remove and reapply the dressing.
 
When one of mine had a nasty abcess, we got the vet straight out on the recommendation of my Farrier, who dug it out and I was told to box rest my horse for about 7-10 days, he had it hot poulticed, and the vet gave me Antibiotic swabs to put in the hole in his foot.

Once he could have the shoe put back on again, my farrier put a pad on his foot so he couldn't get any dirt in it.
 
Oberon said:
I just squirted iodine in the hole and then used hot Animalintex, vet wrap and copious amounts of duct tape.

I found movement helpful to push the pus out, so I wrap the hoof in lots of duct tape and turn out.

In the stable I use a poultice boot rather than the duct tape
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Shire...r_Equipment&hash=item564a5ac405#ht_500wt_1054



Haven't had an abscess since using balanced minerals though.
Click to expand...

I agree. If the horse is weight bearing enough, out and moving around will help enormously.

Remember only hot poultice for a day or two, then dry (or a nappy).

Hot tubbing will also help (using something like epsom salts).
 
epsom salts all the way! i have a rubber feed bowl i use for a nice hot epsom foot bath, i also put a spoonful of epsom salts on the animalintex as well and give it a good squish over the hole to work it right in.
 
We got our horrendous sub solar abscess to burst with the usual - animalintex, vetwrap, duct tape "criss-cross" cover and restricted turnout if dry enough. We were also told movement will help to burst it.
 
First I will apologise for hijacking this thread but i thought it silly to start a new one on same topic... :o

I am in a similar situation, and my farrier and i are dealing with a stubborn abscess at the moment, but i am only getting a little pus out each day, and she is still quite lame (but weight bearing and grazing happily)..
At what point do you think I should be getting the vet/anti-biotics involved? My farrier says not to worry, but it's been 5 days now (2 days hot wet poultice, 2 days dry and back to hot wet now with tubbing in the evenings) and i'm worrying!!:o
 
I would expect them to be almost 100% sound after it's burst (which it has, since you're getting pus). It's the pressure that makes them lame. I wonder if there's a secondary abcess?

5 days isn't much: I'd worry after a week and a bit usually. Antibiotics won't help (can't get into the infected bit) but pain relief will. If you're worried, call the vet anyways.
 
i'm not getting much pus, and it's only when i dig around in the (very small) hole.

Farrier says he thinks it is old pus, as it's quite dry, and that the abscess has gone up higher, but as her feet are so small (TB with cr*p feet) he cannot dig any further for fear of causing damage, so i don't think the main abscess is draining yet :(
 
We first found our abscess Nov 2011, IMO buting the horse caused the abscess to not come out properly and we have only now blown the whole lot (sole, heel bulb, coronet) leg had started to swell up too :o and now, suspiciously sound horse ;)
BFT came back twice and said no no, leave it, it's coming and my God when it did, it's quite something, you can search on my posts to see photos of how deep and big mine was :)
 
Thank you!

Yours certainly is impressive! I think i'd have a nervous breakdown if that started happening on my girl...

Farrier thinks it may be heading towards coronet band though, as her feet are so small and it's not coming down readily :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top