Poulticing horse's jaw

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Marilyn

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Hello,

My vet suspects my horse has an abscess under her jaw and has told me to poultice it. I have tried animalintex which falls off and is very difficult to bandage on because if its position, and my current solution is Epsom salts and glycerine (on vet recommendation) but I haven't tried heating it- when I tried to make a hot paste with water tonight, it just dried out and fell off. I used some Kaolin the other day but it's SO sticky and messy that I worry when the abscess, hopefully, erupts, it'll get kaolin in it.
Any ideas/experience?
 
Marilyn said:
My vet suspects my horse has an abscess under her jaw and has told me to poultice it. I have tried animalintex which falls off and is very difficult to bandage on because if its position, and my current solution is Epsom salts and glycerine (on vet recommendation) but I haven't tried heating it- when I tried to make a hot paste with water tonight, it just dried out and fell off. I used some Kaolin the other day but it's SO sticky and messy that I worry when the abscess, hopefully, erupts, it'll get kaolin in it.
Any ideas/experience?
Click to expand...

I wonder what your vet is on!:confused: Why would he 'suspect' an abcess. If he can feel it, there IS an abcess. If he can't, then there probably isn't one - and what the hell are you meant to poultice?

When you say 'under her jaw' do you mean in the space between the jaw bones? This is a common site for an abcess - either from Strangles - or (much more common) the little poppets scratch the area on top of a wooden fence post and get a splinter in there!

For either scenario, hot fomenting is FAR easier - and just as effective - if you do it at LEAST 4 times a day for at LEAST 6-7 minutes at a time. Use a clean tea-towel, and VERY hot water (as hot as your hand can stand) with a good handful of Epsom salts added. Hold the wet tea-towel against the area where vet SUSPECTS the abcess is - and keep refreshing it in hot water as it cools.

But - TBH - you're probably wasting your time if you can't feel a lump that shouldn't be there!
 
JanetGeorge said:
I wonder what your vet is on!:confused: Why would he 'suspect' an abcess. If he can feel it, there IS an abcess. If he can't, then there probably isn't one - and what the hell are you meant to poultice?

When you say 'under her jaw' do you mean in the space between the jaw bones? This is a common site for an abcess - either from Strangles - or (much more common) the little poppets scratch the area on top of a wooden fence post and get a splinter in there!

For either scenario, hot fomenting is FAR easier - and just as effective - if you do it at LEAST 4 times a day for at LEAST 6-7 minutes at a time. Use a clean tea-towel, and VERY hot water (as hot as your hand can stand) with a good handful of Epsom salts added. Hold the wet tea-towel against the area where vet SUSPECTS the abcess is - and keep refreshing it in hot water as it cools.

But - TBH - you're probably wasting your time if you can't feel a lump that shouldn't be there!
Click to expand...

i totally agree this is far easier and most effective in that area
 
I have been poulticing for 8 weeks due to strangles, difficult to keep a dressing in place.
I started off with Kaolin which I had in First Aid kit, it was soft and stuck on just fine, it was impossible to keep warm.
I then tried a warm sausage thing with wheat inside, again impossible to hold in place for more than ten mins.
Neither of these treatment resulted in the abcess bursting.
When it did burst, I used animalintox to draw out the pus, held in place with a "headcollar" made of vet wrap. I did use a small headcollar, but it has left white hair on his face.
The animalintox was the best thing as it was kind to the skin and easy to use ... important when you have to dress the draining abcess up to three times a day.
 
My ageing TB has recently had an abscess under his jaw. It started out as a rock hard lump and so I firstly poulticed it with heated kaolin and then later with Animalintex. All I could do with the kaolin was heat it, smear it on and hope for the best and with the Animalintex I soaked it in boiling water, waited until it wasn't too hot and then held it against the lump, refreshing it every half minute or so until he and I both got fed up (did this daily over a period of about 5 days).

There is no point trying to wrap a poultice on as it will never stay on.

Anyway, my method worked as after 5 days he had lost all the hair in the area and we had a nice hole oozing pus!

Silly old bugger actually acquired the abscess by pulling the struts away from a metal gate and impaling himself on a sharp point during a furious weaving session!
 
I had to poultice my mares jaw I put a lycra hood on zip up variety with a babies nappy on the wound sight it stayed put and was changed twice daily.
 
Friend's horse had an abcess under his jaw, we did the fomenting thing and eventually out came a small piece of chipped tooth. No idea how that happened, it's a mystery to vet, dentist and us. If I needed to leave a poultice on I'd use a very snug fitting lycra hood.
 
snip away any long/thick hairs from the area and warm bathe it twice a day using a bit of pressure when bathing it to help stimulation of the abscess, this will bring the abscess to a head and it will burst, when it has burst continue to warm bathe for at least 4-5 days to make sure there is no pus still inside then apply a healing cream to form a scab, if it heals to quickly it might come back as there was still pus left in it.
 
You can make a cradle for th epoultice using an old sheet. Cut on the bias with a wide piece for under the jaw and long strips at each corner that are tied over the top of the head and around the nose.
 
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