Nasty wound still oooozing... any ideas??

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Arniebear

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I've taken to numbering my horses as they both have similar names! So injured number 2 (who is on loan to me whilst injured number 1 fixes!) sustained quite a nasty kick just above the knee last Wednesday by a very naughty pony! Cleaned it up as best i could shoved an anti-b in him (left over from a previous horse know doubt... these things seem to multiply just like bute!) Vet arrived the following lunch time to confirm he had done a decent job on it! Wonderful now i have 2 horses out of work! He took a swab gave him some IV anti-bs and left me with the advice of keep it clean and squirt this in twice a day! (some gel in a funny looking tube that i can not for the life of me remember the name of!)

So nearly a week later and its still oooozing yellowy gunk :( (i wont post pics because its really grim!) He finished his course of anti - bs this morning i had a call from the vet who said the swab was fine the anti - Bs he gave me should get it and his leg is back to normal size with no heat, again advice was to keep it clean, so i have left him on box rest since last wed (did put him in our lunge pen which isn't muddy and he proceeded to smash the fencing!)

i was just wandering if anyone knows of anything else i can do to help it heal quicker! i would maybe like to ride at least 1 of mine!! Vet did suggest manuka honey but im not sure plastering stuff of any kind all over it is a good idea as its clearly still draining... but maybe im wrong? the wound is quite deep - can get a finger most of the way in! Also does anyone know of anything i can put on it so i can at least turn the poor beggar back out... hes a bit lonely! i dont want to risk infection from a muddy field so have left him in, hes not at all lame on it... its just gunky!

Obviously if this continues or escalates the vet will be straight back out! Just wandered if anyone else has any great ideas before i spend £40 on a call out! :D
 
Norbrook cut'n'heal - keeps the wound soft & allows it to heal but still drain. Manuka honey will get licked off IME unless you put a dressing on.
 
I know everyone laughs at manuka honey but it will draw out anything yucky hiding in there, it certainly will not stop it draining. It will also help greatly reduce the risk of scarring and, when we used it on an abcess, the rate of healing was phenomenal. Apply the honey to a dressing and bandage to the leg, don't just glob the honey at the wound!
 
Manuka is fine to use on a draining wound, as it sucks out the gunk! It's primarily used to treat infected wounds, so would definitely recommend it. You can get manuka impregnated dressings, which you bandage into place, and then leave for 48 hours. If you want to try one, PM me your address, and I'll send you some.
 
Another who swears by manuka honey. I couldn't believe the results on a nasty injury that one of my stallions had, wonderful stuff.

Auslander where can I get some of those dressings? I'll PM you as well.
 
have PM'd you both back - but for anyone else interested, you can get medical grade manuka dressings and tubes from Dechra (Activon) and Kruuse. I'll restrict the rant to a short one - but you shouldn't use food grade manuka on a wound. it's prepared in a different way (pasteurised instead of gamma irradiated) and when it heats up in a wound, there is a chance that botulinum spores can be re-activated. Gamma irradiated honey doesn't do that, so its safer to use
 
Auslander said:
have PM'd you both back - but for anyone else interested, you can get medical grade manuka dressings and tubes from Dechra (Activon) and Kruuse. I'll restrict the rant to a short one - but you shouldn't use food grade manuka on a wound. it's prepared in a different way (pasteurised instead of gamma irradiated) and when it heats up in a wound, there is a chance that botulinum spores can be re-activated. Gamma irradiated honey doesn't do that, so its safer to use
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Holy moly, did not know that! And apparently neither did my vet who recently recommended a friend use manuka from the Co-op on her horse's nasty wound. Thanks, Auslander :)
 
Auslander said:
have PM'd you both back - but for anyone else interested, you can get medical grade manuka dressings and tubes from Dechra (Activon) and Kruuse. I'll restrict the rant to a short one - but you shouldn't use food grade manuka on a wound. it's prepared in a different way (pasteurised instead of gamma irradiated) and when it heats up in a wound, there is a chance that botulinum spores can be re-activated. Gamma irradiated honey doesn't do that, so its safer to use
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This is really interesting thank you may get some for my first aid kit
 
Do u not need more antibiotics? It sounds like its not even close to healing at all. My girl had an op and the wound got infected and it oozed like no ones business. She was on antibiotics for 6 weeks and it was only on the last week when it was quite obvious that it was starting to clear up that I could call it quits. It was deep, hence the long time scale but if u can still poke a finger up into the injury and its that gunky id be inclined to get vet out again. Just my opinion thou :-)
 
You will need probably more of those mushroom shaped single use dispensers intrasel gel, and I would also ask for sterile saline bags for the final cleansing rinse. You can use dilute hibiscrub for cleansing the wound and surrounding area, but the sterile saline is pH balanced etc. I think your vet should attend again and advise on bandaging etc.
Use disposable gloves and medical gauze swabs, there is a risk of infection being introduced by the sounds of it.
Take the temperature twice per day and check for abnormality in leg [heat/swelling] and also lymphatics [throat]
Keep the bedding clean, even if you have to add a lot of fresh every day.
 
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I think its intrasite gel in the mushroom shaped plastic bottle, another for manuka honey, I did use that Hypocare spray on a fairly nasty cut back in the summer and it cleared it up, I was hosing it twice a day and bandaging it when out in the field though and spraying the hypocare 3 times a day.
 
Buddy'sMum said:
Holy moly, did not know that! And apparently neither did my vet who recently recommended a friend use manuka from the Co-op on her horse's nasty wound. Thanks, Auslander :)
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I've done a lot of work with a veterinary wound specialist, mainly writing articles with her about manuka, and its one of her biggest bugbears, that vets as well as horse owners think its ok to use the food grade stuff. ok - the risk is small, but its a risk nonetheless. personally, if I'm dealing with a compromised wound, it's not a risk i'm prepared to take.

I get shouted at every time I say this - but Hey! I have broad shoulders!
 
linperrie said:
Do u not need more antibiotics? It sounds like its not even close to healing at all. My girl had an op and the wound got infected and it oozed like no ones business. She was on antibiotics for 6 weeks and it was only on the last week when it was quite obvious that it was starting to clear up that I could call it quits. It was deep, hence the long time scale but if u can still poke a finger up into the injury and its that gunky id be inclined to get vet out again. Just my opinion thou :-)
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it's not necessarily infection though - just prolific exudate, which is a good thing as it's drawing out any bugs. If the area isn't hot or swollen, I'd be inclined to use the honey, which in itself is a really powerful natural antibiotic. It's actually used in human medicine where wounds aren't healing and antibiotic resistance is suspected.
 
My vet is happy for me to send photos as a follow up to a visit - he has a look and decides whether it needs a call out for closer inspection or further treatment along the same lines. Last year when horse had terrible mud fever he asked for a progress photo every 3 days so he could keep an eye on it without having to come out unnecessarily. It's a really helpful way of making sure you're doing the right thing!
 
Yeah, manuka! Trev bashed his eyelid, saw vet, did a couple of weeks of anti bs but it just would NOT heal properly. It was still leaky. At the tack shop, they sold manuka cream especially for horse wounds. It was quite £££ at £11 for a little tube... but the wound was pretty well finished healing in about 3 days. And it had been leaking about the same amount for maybe a month beforehand.

T x
 
Yep, another honey advocate here, but I think I would also be hosing that wound for 10 minutes every day too, perhaps finishing up with a saline flush as well. Goop/exudiate is not necessarily bad as long as the heat and swelling are going/gone.
 
Cortez said:
Yep, another honey advocate here, but I think I would also be hosing that wound for 10 minutes every day too, perhaps finishing up with a saline flush as well. Goop/exudiate is not necessarily bad as long as the heat and swelling are going/gone.
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Honey is on its way :) it gets washed with an iodine solution and hosed twice a day theres no heat and no swelling anymore so its deffo on the mend! Ill try some honey bandages and if its still the same or worse vet will be straight out of course :)

In answer to some other questions! you can get less of your finger in it now so it has healed since the vet came :) its not oozing all the way down his leg or anything just around the wound, once ive cleaned it you can squeeze it and more doesnt come out which makes me think its just oozing throughout the day/night when its not being cleaned (if that makes sense!) hes not lame and not bothered by it other than being a pansy when i wash it but hes not a fan of water anyway! You can poke it and hes not fussed. I just want it to close up a bit more so i can turn the poor sod out!!
 
Search on the internet how a wound heals from the inside out, it is interesting reading about the different stages it goes through, it will help answer your questions
 
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