Manuka honey

only_me

only_me

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 June 2007
Messages
14,056
Location
Ireland
Visit site
Which is better, honey itself or the honey dressings?

I'm currently trying to use the dressings but am having problems getting the bandage to stay up, as wound is on anterior thigh so a nightmare to stop it slipping as he's walking around all the time & the ****** rolled last night too.

Or I could try just honey on it's own, but I'm worried that it will attract wasps & flies and other creepy crawlies. Plus there's a good chance Billy will lick it off as soon as I put it on lol.

Has anyone any preference? Which is better?

Also, I can add a nice gory pic of the wound now if anyone wants to see? It's only fair to warn you before lol
 
My vet is currently using the manuka honey gauze on my mares wound. The aim will be to use them, then once the wound has healed enough we'll use manuka honey and the gauze/bandages as well.
Luckily my mares wound is on her lower leg from kicking out at a fence, but it was a very impressive wound, still is at the moment.

I'd try the honey on it's own and see what happens, if it's the medical grade stuff will flies etc still be attracted to it?
 
When my horse had his leg stitched I had the dressings but I also had a tube of the medical grade manuka honey which I put on every day. I never noticed any flies around it :)

Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!
 
I just use manuka honey- didn't realise there were special dressings for it! Depending on the size etc of the wound you could try a 'sticky pad', like a dressing pad but the whole of one side is sticky and sticks to the hair- depending on the horse normally stays on 12-24 hrs then just replace. If that might work i'd put the honey directly on the wound, then a bit of normal dressing over the top so the sticky pad doesn't stick to the wound, then the sticky pad over all of that.
 
You can get gauze and dressings impregnated with manuka honey :)
With my mare, the vet bought out the medical grade manuka honey on her second bandage change, but the wound wasn't ready to have it on yet as it was still too fresh. The stitches were taken out on Saturday, so I'm hoping she can start putting the manuka honey on it now, on the next bandage change.
 
Unfortunately I've tried the sticky pads & they won't stick. All stitches are out so we can just put dressings on without pulling anything. Wounds about 2" x 2.5" & circular.

Options are really either bandage & use dressings or leave wound open & cover with honey, not sure if medical manuka honey makes any difference to flies?

Fingers crossed DB, hope the healing goes well! :)


Ets. Thanks AC, I know the gel would work and from article looks like it's just as effective as the dressings. it's just about whether the flies would come or wasps, or if bill would lick it off :p
 
Last edited:
we had a filly with a huge rip in her side requiring internal and external stitches. I washed the wound twice a day with a syringe and salt water, then applied manuka honey. It was a nasty wound about 30cm long, but it did heal nicely. We did nt get any trouble from insects, she was on box rest for about a month. I did use a lot of repellant though just in case.
I hope your horse makes a good and quick recovery!
 
You could use neem oil around it to keep the flies off, if you get a fresh (clean) bottle for it then it doesn't matter if a bit gets into the wound as it will help heal too - if it was me I would mix a tiny bit of neem into the honey as they seem to work even better mixed together than one or the other and the neem would keep the flies off. I used them both with nothing else at all to treat necrotising fasciitis in my dog's leg last year, he lost nearly half the inside of his leg down to the bone but it has healed incredibly with neem and honey.
Would it be possible to cover it lightly and use strapping elastoplast to hold it in place round the edges? The 2" really sticky stuff.
 
Neem oil might be a good idea, thanks :)

I've some physio tape so might give that a go as well. The manuka honey guaze i have isn't sticky enough to stay on
 
I put a Gelonet/Jelonet dressing over the top then bandage tape around the edges to hold down when my then 2yo sliced his cannon bone open.
 
I would try just the honey and see how it goes.

Just an FYI "medical grade honey" is a bit of a con. Vets are only allowed to give medical grade, but due to the way bees make honey it is all sterile. You might have trouble getting manuka honey in shops over hear though, as manuka is native to NZ. I got a 1kg tub for $10 (NZD) when I was last there!
 
I've never actually had much of a problem using honey with flies which is bizarre.
I'd certainly give it a try alone. You may find it melts all down her leg and causes a mingy mess but that's the only problem I've ever really had.
 
Thanks all.
The bandage I had put on this morning stayed in place but unfortunately on closer inspection the dressing itself had slipped down!

Managed to get a jar of 24+ from holland and Barrett's, stuck it on this evening And it seems to be sticking nicely to wound, so just fingers crossed Billy doesn't lick it off! :)

This is the wound currently - actually quite clean just open really!
image_zpsjhrchgan.jpeg
 
muddy_grey said:
Just an FYI "medical grade honey" is a bit of a con. Vets are only allowed to give medical grade, but due to the way bees make honey it is all sterile. You might have trouble getting manuka honey in shops over hear though, as manuka is native to NZ. I got a 1kg tub for $10 (NZD) when I was last there!
Click to expand...

No it isn't. Normal manuka honey is pasteurised, and if it heats up, which it does in a wound environment, any botulinum spores that were present pre pasteurisation can be reactivated. Medical grade manuka is gamma irradiated, and remains sterile in the wound environment. It is a small risk, but not one thats worth taking, in my opinion
 
Here we use it straight - comb honey is best if you can get it. Just slap it on - also great on toast!
 
Auslander said:
No it isn't. Normal manuka honey is pasteurised, and if it heats up, which it does in a wound environment, any botulinum spores that were present pre pasteurisation can be reactivated. Medical grade manuka is gamma irradiated, and remains sterile in the wound environment. It is a small risk, but not one thats worth taking, in my opinion
Click to expand...

Absolutely!!
 
LJR said:
My concern for leaving the wound open would be that it is likely to grow proud flesh - so I would keep it bandaged, smothered in honey or flamazine.

My horses would definitely lick off the honey :)

If you do get proud flesh, I use this - http://equinefirstaid.co.uk/collections/equaide - amazing stuff, can be used on an open or closed wound.
Click to expand...

The issue is that the bandage won't stay on - even the vet didn't bandage from the start as he didn't think any bandage would stay on. Plus the hock tendon is directly behind and would have put enormous pressure on it potentially causing more damage. As from the pic the wound is just below the curve of the thigh, where there is a dip around the top of hock between it and tendon, so any bandage will struggle to stay up. I've tried various methods but all have fallen down or the dressing has fallen so it starts to irritate it. I've even tried to just tape a dressing on with very sticky Physio tape!
This wound was deep through the fascia, and needed 3 layers of stitches to hold it so there was always a high chance of proud flesh no matter what we did, plus the wound was incredibly dirty so vet spent nearly 20mins just flushing it out. Vet is very happy with wound at moment, was out yesterday and he suggested honey.

The equiade looks interesting, is it used for proud flesh? Is it a caustic type? Wound is currently covered with honey & looks like he didn't eat it off last night which is great!
 
I feel your pain, it is a difficult place to bandage.

I put a band, not tight, of tensoplast above the area I want to bandage. I bandage up and just slightly over the edge of the tensoplast, and then tape another band of tensoplast over the first one! Never had it fail yet - the tensoplast does leave a horrible sticky residue afterwards, which takes time to get rid of at the end, but it is so sticky it does not need to be taped on with any pressure.

The Equiaide is not caustic, I can't tell you how it works, but it does. It looks like watery clay that dries once applied, I have used it for over ten years and it always amazes me with proud flesh - not cheap for a large wound though :)
 
Sorry just to add, not trying to tell you or your Vet how to manage it, as someone who has had to bandage awkward places for weeks/months at a time I just hope my experiences might help in a small way :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top