Proud Flesh

[mishmash]

My Boy is recovering from a very deep gash to his off hind about half inch above his coronet band. Its taken weeks to heal up but he now has a lump about the size of half a walnut of proud flesh instead. Any suggestions for the best mode of treatment? My vet is quite keen to cut it off but surely this is going to involve weeks more of treatment and box rest to heal again........ any ideas/help would be appreciated. Thanx

 

[faerie666]

Cutting it off is by far the best thing you can do, and it won't take anywhere near as long to heal as you might think. We've had it done on a horse with a similar injury to what you described, and it healed within about a week. He was also able to go out as long as the ground wasn't too wet.
All the other chemical treatments take much longer and are a much bigger faff as well, and they can damage normal tissue as well.
Hope that helps.

 

[hotellie]

well people have told me it is best to cut it off...but to prevent it...cut and heal works.

 

[Marnie]

I agree - my horse developed proud flesh after an infection post surgery, and the vet cut it off - be warned, it does bleed a lot as it usually has a very good blood supply, however there are no nerve endings in it, so it doesn't hurt. It was a lot easier than chemical treatments - I have seen really nasty damage to healthy tissue after using copper sulphate which took even longer to heal.

Good luck!

 

[fairhill]

My mare had proud flesh after breaking her knees. The vet had to cut it off twice, and it didn't take long to heal afterwards. She was left with a flatish scar that, after using aloe vera on it, was quite small considering the original damage.

 

[mishmash]

Thanks everyone for replying, and your very re-assuring comments. Looks like we'll be cutting it off! and hopefully back in work before too long!