infected tendon sheath

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odd1

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im worried sick just back from leaving my 2yo at the vet school where she was x-rayed and had a tap done and the x-ray was clear but the tap wasn't so she has an infected tendon sheath and will be operated on tomorrow morning
anyone had any experience of this?
i noticed her lame in the field on Sat afternoon, vet called out and she had a small local swelling over the tendon so was box rested and put on danilon, Monday morning swelling much worse and right down her leg, i started to think abscess so called vet out again and i also poulticed vet arranged a scan to be done on Wed
had to get vet back Mon pm as she was very distressed but there was loads of greyish clear puss on the poultice so she got IM antibiotics then and was put on metacalm (didnt eat danilon) and noredine whcih she got Tue pm & Wed pm
thurs am i called vet to ask for x-rays to be done as she was no better so rather than muck about up here vets suggested to get her to Glasgow
sorry for the ramble but i am worried and just hope she pulls through and we have caught it in time and i get my baby back
 
Hi
I am sorry that you are going through this - i know from experience how you are feeling.
I do have an experience of this, although slightly different. My horse had surgery to flush the tendon sheaths on both hinds after developing sepsis from a traumatic barbed wire injury. The general oppinion when any kind of infection is present in the tendon sheath - is that is flushed through under general anaesthetic within 72 hours for a good prognosis. However - this is not always the case. My lad made a full recovery after his surgery and was back into full work six months after surgery (only that long because he had serious tissue damage). I hope this helps you.
Please try not to worry too much - easy for me to say that I know.
Sending you hugs and wishing your horse a speedy recovery.
xx
 
Thanks
she had the op today and the vets are very optimistic they flushed it all out and are pumping antibiotics into the tendon sheath, they checked her hoof when she was under and all is ok in there
all we can do has been done and its just wait and see now but they are happy with her and she came round from the GA very well
if the infection comes back they will pop her under again and re-flush it this is quite common but they hope it won't be needed
its hard to stay positive and i can't just nip down to see her either as its approx an 7.5 hr round trip
i hope to get down on Tues to see her though, they are going to call tomorrow to let me know how she is doing & the bandage will be changed on Sunday
 
That's great - the biggest hurdle is out of the way! They told me that a second flushing was likely with my horse, but thankfully it wasn't needed. I will keep my fingers crossed that further surgery isn't required for yours.
Do keep us updated on the progress. There is now a long road to recovery, but no reason why your horse can't now go on and have a very fulfilling life and this whole episode will be far behind you!
Good luck
xx
 
so sorry to hear this but lance and the crew are a fantastic team and will have her as right as rain in no times fingers crossed. my young boy is under lance and we nearly lost him in novemeber but with lance and the teams hard work he is getting better every day
 
she needed a 2nd flush yesterday it was done in the morning and i managed to get down to see her by the afternoon & she was bright enough a bit sleepy but i expected that
because they can't find any wound or any sign of the infection getting into the sheath that it may be a bacteria that she has in her body apparently all young horses fight different bacterias and they think this one she hasn't managed to fight and its settled in her tendon sheath which is not unheard of but not common either - i think i have the above right its so hard taking it all in at the time and i lack on the brain cells at the best of times even more so when i'm so stressed out
its back to wait and see, it was day 3 she started to show signs of going down hill again so hopefully she will fight it and get back home again, i am trying to stay as positive as i can but am also thinking the worst
 
Your horse is in the best place for things like tendon and joint flushes. It usually takes 2 flushes to clear everything out but it should all be ok now. We sent one down to Edinburgh Dick that to all eyes and fingers had no injury to the flesh but somehow an infection got into his tendon sheath and then into the tendon itself. 60% of his tendon is now scar tissue as that is how much the infection ate it away. Sorry, I'm not trying to scare you! What this horse did is so incredibly rare that the vet school see one every 5 or 6 years. He went on to make a full recovery and race again.

I wouldn't worry overly much about your horse just now. There is nothing more you can do for her until she comes home. I have every faith in the Glasgow vets to sort out anything that needs flushed. They do do a very, very good job!
 
Glad your horse is getting better! I had a similar experience back in September. My mare got a small over-reach cut and the vet came out to clean it and staple it. All seemed fine and then a few days later she started going lame quite dramatically! Went to the horsepital and the joint wasn't infected but the sheath had a possible infection. So under GA to flush the sheath. Vets still don't know how she got the infection as the cut was no where near the sheath. Anyways, she only needed one GA and her recovery was quite quick and easy. She had to stay at the horsepital for a week (kept her on strong antibiotics, injected into the sheath) then she came home and was on box rest for a further 2 weeks (while her leg was bandaged, vets out every few days to change them). When the bandage came off she trotted up sound and we brought her back into work slowly and by the end of October she was back jumping :) Fingers crossed your horse has a smooth recovery like mine did!!!
 
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