How would you best treat a puncture wound?

[JadeWisc]

Chester has a small puncture wound under his Cheek area.
It is about half an inch deep and surrounded by healthy tissue. No sign of infection.

I am leaving it open and keeping it clean. Treating twice a day . I clean the area with peroxide and apply a triple antibiotic ointment. I am applying fly spray around the area to keep flies at bay.

Any other suggestions on how to quickly dry up and heal a puncture?

It seems tricky to have to heal from the inside out.

also want to add that he is utd on his tet

 

[samp]

Is there any foreign body in there? You coould syringe the wound with hibiscrub? I would just keep an eye on it really and check temperature to monitor if he starts getting an infection etc

 

[Natalie_H]

My Mum's horse had a similar thing Jade. He went for an X-Ray to make sure there was nothing in there. This was followed by syringing a solution (can't remember what) into the hole once or twice a day. It actually healed very quickly & there is nothing there at all now - you would never know he had ever done it.

 

[Morrigan_Lady]

Sounds like your doing everything right. Id maybe put some wound power on it to help dry it up.

 

[JadeWisc]

Ok...I am almost 100% positive nothing is in there. You can see right in pretty clearly and I did use a q tip(cotton bud) with ointment to go in it gently.

Here is a pic I just took, although it is very blurry as he would not stop moving!

 

[Natalie_H]

Looks clean from what I can see. Our horse actually had a deep hole. I think you are doing everything right from what you have said. I usually put a gel that you can get over here on all my horse's wounds & it seems to accelerate both healing & hair re-growth - I am sure you have something similar. I bet it will take no time at all to heal!

 

[JadeWisc]

The pic makes the "hole" look huge, but in reality the hole is actually a small area in the center of the red part showing in pic.

 

[Natalie_H]

BTW - the puncture we dealt with was oozing gunk & the like & was a lot nastier than that from what I can see!

 

[JadeWisc]

You all are very reasurring. I really thank you for the comments and advice !

I am such a worry wart about these horses!

I used to call out the vet for every minor scrape!

 

[Natalie_H]

I still would call the vet out for every scrape!!! but for the fact that my Mum is a district nurse and stops me! (I am useless

)

 

[amandaco2]

has the vet seen it?he could have something in there-like piece of wire.if he did it could close over but then abcess or cause a systemic infection.
puncture wounds are best seen by vet

 

[JadeWisc]

hmmmmmmmm. No, a vet has not seen it. I did not think it serious enough to call him out. I can clearly see inside and there is nothing in there that I can see. It has been there for a few days now and not getting infected. Do you really think it an issue to have a vet out?
My instincts tell me no.
I suppose it is never a BAD idea to have a vet out however and surely does not hurt.
I am fairly sure though that if I phoned my vet and explained things just as I have to all of you he would not want to get here in a hurry. He is not one to "want " to show up to an unnecessary call just for the money. He really wants to make sure he is needed and would most likely tell me to come in and pick up an antibiotic jab just to be safe and have him come if it became infected.

In fact....just to see if I am right and be on the safe side I am going to phone him right now.

 

[K27]

My advice would be to always get a vet straight out when its a puncture wound- it's the small ones that can be the worst. Also- are you sure its not an abcess? has your horse had a runny nose? - Your vet may need to take a swab of it- or x-ray to check there's def nothing in there. Puncture wounds need to be kept open and prevented from healing too quickly- you could clean with Hibiscrub for the first couple of days and use the antibiotic cream. I know its easy to panic and get the vet out however I'd call them for advice. Good luck......

 

[JadeWisc]

No runny nose. waiting on call to be returned from my vet atm.


It is prob this deep (see how long this line is) ___

may not even be considered a true "puncture"

why would you say that would be worse than one say this deep? _________________

Just curious why the smaller are worse.
do you mean smaller as in how wide the hole is?


I can see in it very clearly , very clean flesh and red. No oozing and no sign of infection.
Nothing in it. The only thing that could be in there I couldnt see would be a thin wire and it is not possible that the injury was caused by that.

Hmmm.....I was at first reassured, now feeling like I may be wrong in being so casual about it all.

Hope vet calls soon...curious to see what he thinks

 

[JadeWisc]

Spoke to vet in detail. He said pretty much what I thought other than the fact that he did not suggest stopping in to get an antibiotic jab.
He said keep it clean...keep flies off and let air get to it. he said that peroxide was not the best idea as it can also kill off some good bacteria???? In other words it sounded like he thought it was too harsh?????
I am to keep putting ointment around it but not smother it in ointment.(

 

[Sparklet]

Yours looks from the photo more open than an actual puncture wound. The bad thing about true puncture wounds is that it is difficult to determine how deep they are and they tend to heal from the outside in - leading to trapped infection and particles of muck.

Just keep it clean and watch for any hint of infection and you should be fine.

 

[Leg_end]

Legend had one of these last year the day i went on holiday! It only looked tiny from the outside but was actually over an inch deep when the vet came. He needed antibiotics and then we flushed the wound with a syringe and covered it with vaseline. It cleared up really nicely

 

[Shilasdair]

I would suggest that, if your horse is not already vaccinated against tetanus, you get the vet to come out. Tetanus bacterium thrives in airless conditions....just like your puncture wound.
If your horse has had tet vaccs, then keeping the wound clean and open (saline solution aka salt water is good and won't damage cells) will help it to heal from the inside.
Good luck with him.
S

 

[filly190]

My mare just recently had a bad puncture wound and the vet said the best thing in the world is to keep it open, clean and draining.

 

[JadeWisc]

[ QUOTE ]
I would suggest that, if your horse is not already vaccinated against tetanus, you get the vet to come out. Tetanus bacterium thrives in airless conditions....just like your puncture wound.
If your horse has had tet vaccs, then keeping the wound clean and open (saline solution aka salt water is good and won't damage cells) will help it to heal from the inside.
Good luck with him.
S

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you!

Very good advice! I mentioned in my original post that he had it

It is one of the most important vaccines imo...if not THE most important

Had not tried saline. I was using peroxide and vet said that was a no no

He said it was ok the first time, but after that it would be too harsh. Saline sounds much more mild to use

 

[amandaco2]

he sounds like a good vet!you can always call and just ask how best to treat.
if its not infected and very clearly has nothing in it then the vet will be best to advise you what to use.
try to steer clear of anything harsh if its not infected as this also slows healing as well as killing the bugs!