Keratoma Recovery Experiences Needed!!!!!

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PowerPlay615

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Hello All,

I am new to the site but desperately seeking advice. My 8 year old Arabian gelding had Keratoma removal surgery back in July. He had 4 reoccurring abscesses in his left front foot over the period of 6 months. He had an MRI done at the University of Florida and a complete hoof resection afterwards. The first picture shows pics from surgery. Everything in the yellow dotted lines was the keratoma. The picture on the right is after the removal. The surgeon said it was the biggest he'd ever seen.

Fast forward to now he has been recovering great. He was special custom glue on shoes with gel inserts to support his foot. His resection tissue has since hardened and the vets were very happy with how it healed. He hasn't taken a lame step since the surgery..... until today. I go out to his stall and his whole ankle and tendons are swollen which is what happened every time he abscessed previously. He is lame and his coronary band is soft and painful in the same spot where all his other abscesses formed and blew.

I am at a loss..... I don't know how or why he can have another abscess. He has an inch and a half of healthy new hoof and has been great for three months. My worst fear is that they didn't get it all and that's what's causing it. However with as much as they respected I can't imagine them missing any.

I would be so blessed and grateful to hear and and all experiences with Keratomas and and reoccurring events. This horse is my whole world. I have spent so much time and effort and money trying to fix this and it breaks my heart to see him in pain again after months of solid soundness.

The second picture was taken just a few days ago. You can see his new healthy growth and how hard and keratinized the tissue is. The vets said it's healing looks as it should and very happy with it.

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Hello :0

My arab had a keratoma removed about three years ago, I think he was 5. The tumour was nothing like that size though, so what you're dealing with isn't exactly comparable. If you search keratoma on here I put up photos of my horse's foot and the shoes he had. The hospital and my farrier did a super job and my horse is absolutely fine now.

I think, looking at your photo, I'd expect general problems with that foot until, basically, it looks like a normal foot again. Even though the tumour's gone its still very compromised and will be susceptible to abscesses and stuff. I don't know, but from what I read when learning about keratomas, I think your horse has every chance of having a normal, healthy foot again, but you have to wait for him to grow it, until then I think you just have to deal with the problems as they come.

I hope your horse makes a full recovery. :)
 
Thank you for your reply! It's such a rare thing that not many people can say they've been through so I appreciate hearing your experience. The only thing that makes me really nervous is how it's abscessing in the same spot that all his others did. Hopefully it is just a one time thing but I have heard that they will keep abscessing if they didn't remove it all. Hoping to hear that someone else went through this and it ended up being just a simple healing abscess.
 
A horse at my old yard had a keratoma removed. I don't remember him having anything other than a straightforward recovery. He returned to full work.

I'm so very sorry that your boy has had a setback. I hope it's nothing serious.
 
I wasn't sure if I should reply to your post or not as my experience hasn't ended happily but, in my case (well, the horse's case) there were additional issues.

My lad presented with what we all thought was just an abscess but, long story very short, the abscess kept re occurring. CT scan revealed 2 keratomas and these were successfully removed with a wide margin around them both. Horse on box rest until defect grown out.

First time he went back out he abscessed again (soul destroying). He only ever abscessed when it was muddy which my farrier said was more seedy toe / white line disease rather than keratomas. Anyway he went back to vets for another surgery to resect hoof again (this was now 18 months since 1st abscess).

Came back from this surgery, more box rest but all appeared fine for 4 months, even went back out paddling in the spring mud!! Farrier came for routine shoeing and lo and behold there was the abscess smell again when he did his feet - always in the same place. He wasn't lame at this point though.

I had already made the decision that if he went lame again he would be put to sleep as I wasn't going to put him through anymore surgeries or months of box rest and as selfish as it sounds, I'd also had enough of spending every day for the last 2 years wondering if he would be lame.

Anyway, the shoeing day, we gave him the benefit of the doubt but it was to be short lived as the first time it rained, just a few days later, the poor chap was on 3 legs again and severely lame. Shoe was pulled off immediately, abscess drained (full of blood again) and he was put to sleep the next day (July this year).

My reply isn't intended as a 'poor me' post and I don't want to scare you to death with my tales of woe but what I can do I guess is offer cyber support as a fellow keratoma person! My farrier was the only person that never let me down with Tommy........I did feel abandoned by the vets at one point but it's no use crying over spilled milk - what's done is done.
 
Thank you for sharing Deb. I cried while reading your post and it breaks my heart you had to put your boy down. I know the feeling all to well of waking up and walking out to the barn not knowing if he's going to be sound still or come up lame.

Did the vets or farrier ever tell you why he kept abscessing? Even with the keratomas removed what kept causing him to abscess? My fear is that they missed a piece of mine and he will have to have a second surgery but after reading your post I realized a similarity. For the past week it's been raining non stop here. I don't have any mud just all grass pastures but I'm wondering if all the rain and moisture somehow made his foot soft enough for something to enter that tissue that's revealed. Normally it's very hard and dry as the pictures show but it was a little softer and spongy during this wet week.

I do have 2 vets working with him and an amazing farrier. However I haven't gotten any straightforward answers as to why he would be abscessing in the healthy new hoof that's growing. Especially it abscessing in the same spot all his others did (through the coronary band).

Again thank you so much for sharing as im sure its still very painful to talk about. Any other explanations they gave you or reasons would be much appreciated.
 
To be perfectly honest I've never had a decent explanation off anyone as to why Tommy's hoof just refused to heal. Everyone (me included) just kept guessing and making random assumptions.

One theory, which holds the most water, was the change in his environment prior to his first abscess. I'd moved both my horses to a new yard where the pathways from the stables to the fields were made up of teeny tiny bits of grit. It then rained practically non stop for days.

As soon as my farrier saw him, on the day he first abscessed, he said "that's what's caused this" and pointed to the path!! Very wet feet, lots of tiny stones, only needs one bit of grit to track far enough into the hoof and hey presto it's infected.

Despite the surgeon reassuring me that they had cut back to healthy hoof on both occasions, I still believe the initial infection had created some sort of cavity in the hoof that would never grow out normally again. Again though, this was all guess work.

I carried on soooo long with Tommy because he would go for weeks and weeks being perfectly sound, which always gave me hope. Last winter my farrier successfully managed to plug his hoof with silicone but this didn't work every time.

Following the 2nd surgery in Feb of this year, the lad was allowed back out in the field following a period of box rest. It was VERY obvious that he was loving being back out and the spring grass had him bouncing like zebedee!! We were back out riding and he was loving that as well. I decided there and then if he was to go lame again I wouldn't make him come back inside for weeks on end, despite the fact he had never once been a bit of bother on box rest.

The piccie below is one occasion when my farrier had to cut back his hoof to release the abscess / infection. It does look quite dramatic but you can clearly see on the right of the picture the inside of the hoof is healthy and clean but the other side is full of mud and muck and crap that has tracked right up into the hoof.

What saddens me the most I suppose is that I couldn't get to the bottom of it and find a cure. The ironic thing is his feet were in immaculate condition. I know that sounds a daft thing to say but I've always lived by the 'no foot no horse' saying so whether my horses have been barefoot or shod, their feet have always been a priority.

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Hi
I know exactly how you feel. My Horse had a Keratoma removed back in March, although not as large a resection as yours but the vets had said it was quite deep and compressing on pedal bone. She has been turned out almost full time since September and the new hoof wall is growing down nicely. The old hoof wall is somewhat distorted and a part of the inner aspect has collapsed inward slightly . She has been sound in walk but slightly lame still in trot.
Today when I went to check her she was hoping lame in walk, only slightly warm hoof wall but she always has had this since her operation. My Farrier is coming out on Wednesday but will phone first thing on Monday to see is he will come earlier as the toe is long and her shoe is loose. It's been less than five weeks since she was last shoed but the old hoof wall is now poor quality.
Fingers crossed that it's nothing too serious .
 
Storm Queen-

Wow your situation sounds just like mine to. My keratoma was also very deep and pressing on his pedal bone and has caused some sinking and rotation. I would love to privately message you and talk to you! I feel like we could be great support friends for each other! My farrier and vet will be out tomorrow to take radiographs and discuss shoeing and his new abscess. Where are you located? Are you in the US? Im in Orlando Florida.
 
I’m in a similar place to you at the moment – my boy had a keratoma removed at the beginning of August in the same foot as your gelding. The surgery wasn’t quite so major, but he still had a big chunk of hoof removed. The keratoma had caused some remodelling of the pedal bone, but thankfully no rotation.

As with your horse, he was sound immediately after surgery, and aside from one day when he seemed a little sore, he’s been sound since. I do wonder if the rain and moisture has affected your horses foot – my feeling with mine is that although the structures have keratinised, they are still very vulnerable to damp. Living in the soggy uk, I’m being incredibly paranoid about this – my boy still has his hoof covered for turnout and much to his annoyance doesn’t go out on the rainy days.

I’m afraid I don’t have much help or advice, but wanted to offer my support and thoughts - I know how horribly nerve-wracking this is, and how frustratingly slow the recovery seems. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that it’s just a minor blip in your horse’s recovery.

Storm queen – crossing my fingers for you, too. Hope your horse is feeling better now
 
Sarah_Jane on here (Shoestring Eventing on Facebook) went through this with her advanced eventer. She did a photo album on FB of the operation and recovery which is interesting to see...and the subsequent competition photos.

Good luck with yours OP and Stormqueen.
 
j1ffy said:
Sarah_Jane on here (Shoestring Eventing on Facebook) went through this with her advanced eventer. She did a photo album on FB of the operation and recovery which is interesting to see...and the subsequent competition photos.

Good luck with yours OP and Stormqueen.
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Whoops - must read all posts before replying!
 
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