Leg wound, poultice?

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HappyDayz

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Horse had a superficial cut to his canon bone about 3 days ago. It was flushed, hibiscrub and had some flamazine put on it. Tonight it was swollen and warm, a light squeeze and some pus came out, I'm assuming this was the start of an infection. I have cold hosed and hot poulticesd tonight. I will take it off and do another hot poultice in the morning then evening cold poultice and leave for 24hrs depending on what I find. Is it best to put some padding between poultice and vet wrap? I've only ever done hoof's before, not legs and anything else I should be doing? If it is dramatically worse I will call the vet in the morning.
 
Yes, you would put a nice pad of clean gamgee or similar on top of the poultice and then bandage.

Is the cut on the front of the leg?
 
amymay said:
Yes, you would put a nice pad of clean gamgee or similar on top of the poultice and then bandage.

Is the cut on the front of the leg?
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Yep I have stable bandaged on top as well as the other 3 legs. It's on the front/inside, quite a nice place, if there is such a thing, as it isn't over anything important!
 
I would never use vet wrap for bandaging a leg, it's expensive nas often applied roo tightly. To be honest if you are having to ask if you need to put padding under a badge on the legs they you need someone else to show you how to apply a bandage correctly.
Hope it is all OK though.
 
twiggy2 said:
I would never use vet wrap for bandaging a leg, it's expensive nas often applied roo tightly. To be honest if you are having to ask if you need to put padding under a badge on the legs they you need someone else to show you how to apply a bandage correctly.
Hope it is all OK though.
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I asked to make sure I'd done the right thing and hadn't unnecessarily put another layer on the leg. It has poultice-sofban-vetwrap then normal stable bandage
 
You should be calling your vet sharpish - you are out of your depth. This sort of wound has no place for a cold poultice.
 
I have just had to do similar to my lad tonight, came to him this morn to find a filled hind leg and a small cut with scab over. Been out and also had a short hack as was totally sound and wanted to help with swelling, the swelling been down all day since moving around, no heat or anything but when coming in tonight I was investigating it and knocked scab off- nice clean looking wound and horse not sore but just to be on safe side I have hot poulticed and SoftBan then vetwrap (havnt stable bandaged as happy vet wrap will stay in place)
Unfortunately after having previous horse with leg surgery and numerous cuts and scraps I am quite adept at dealing with these things.
I have had previous horse who sounds similar to yours and we managed to avoid vet call out as poulticing did work to draw out all infection (if I remember rightly it was 3days hot wet poultices 24hours a day) then dry for another 3 days then I had to keep bandaged for about another 2 weeks in total to prevent scan being knocked off! I used fleece with elastic bandages in field and normal stable bandages in stable (I know many would think not ideal but she needed turnout and that was not way to keep clean- she was monitored while turned out with bandage on)
 
SusieT said:
You should be calling your vet sharpish - you are out of your depth. This sort of wound has no place for a cold poultice.
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Thanks for the comment. If you read my post it has been hot poulticed tonight and it will be again in the morning. It was a tiny amount of pus that came out. That probably wouldn't have been noticed unless I pointed it out to someone. Depending on what the poultice shows in the morning I will either call my vet or hot poultice again before a cold or dry one in the evening. This thread wasn't an open post for people to crisitise my horse care. They want for nothing and trust me I will call the vet if I feel nessessary. I have never needed to poultice a leg before hence wanting to know I had done the right thing in putting extra padding, rather than potentially holding more heat into the leg. Had the leg been a balloon, red hot and oozing pus then of course the vet would have been called 🙄
 
I know it's to late for this thread now, so I'm posting for anyone else who reads this in future with a similar problem. There is a world of difference between poulticing a foot abscess and poulticing a wound which has got pus after a couple of days of happening. A foot abscess is usually encapsulated, and is not going to get into the blood and surrounding tissues. Once open and properly draining, it won't spread. However this turns out, I'm with everyone who thinks this horse should have had antibiotics last night.
 
ycbm said:
I know it's to late for this thread now, so I'm posting for anyone else who reads this in future with a similar problem. There is a world of difference between poulticing a foot abscess and poulticing a wound which has got pus after a couple of days of happening. A foot abscess is usually encapsulated, and is not going to get into the blood and surrounding tissues. Once open and properly draining, it won't spread. However this turns out, I'm with everyone who thinks this horse should have had antibiotics last night.
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AS we all know there are far too many antibiotics being used and a massive danger to humanity that we are creating superbugs that will not respond to antibiotics. Honey is a natural antibiotic and has been used for years to heal wounds and is now used even in human surgery.
 
sport horse said:
AS we all know there are far too many antibiotics being used and a massive danger to humanity that we are creating superbugs that will not respond to antibiotics. Honey is a natural antibiotic and has been used for years to heal wounds and is now used even in human surgery.
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I don't accept that using antibiotics for a wound several days old which has new pus running out of it is a danger to humanity. The danger has come from misuse. This is not misuse.

I hope it turns out well. It probably will. It's not a risk I would have taken. Several other very experienced people have given the same advice above. I repeated it because the OP made a connection between knowing how to poultice a foot abscess and poulticing a leg wound, when the two are very different beasts.
 
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An update for all those who want to pick holes in my horse care. The poultice had nothing on it this morning and the cut looks perfectly clean with no pus, swelling or heat. It was caught early enough to not need antibiotics. Had it looked worse this morning the vet would have been called. It will be dry poulticed tonight to be on the safe side and will then have a light dressing on for a few days.
I posted on here for some advice not to be slandered. My horses want for nothing and are cared for in the best way possible.
 
Happy dayz glad your horse is ok- mine too had nothing on the poultice- other than the horrible poultice glup which I always forget about but for some reason hate the feel of! Haha
He had another hot on today just to be sure nothing to draw and now has dry poultice tonight with wound powder tomorrow and dressing to keep from any gunk getting on it til it scabs over!
 
Glad your horse is on the mend, mine had the same thing three weeks ago unfortunately I didn't catch it in time and the infection was horrendous. I called the vet and poulticed but he advised not to poultice but to use gamgee and vet wrap and let it drain. She is still on the mend but wound is still pretty ghastly. Thankfully she is sound again. Good luck OP with your horse.
 
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