Quick question, poultice on open hoof wound, change daily or not

[MDB]

As title. Vet went digging for abscess in sole of hoof yesterday with hoof knife. No abscess found as yet. Vet advised to leave the dressing, animalintex,on till Friday, but I doubt it will last, and it is filthy. I feel like I need to change it.

 

[AandK]

Yes, definitely change at least once a day!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I do personally change any dressing daily (if not twice) however st my work they will often leave a hoof poulticed a few days/til
It falls off and tbh the horse is usually sound by then, often quicker than mine would be but I just hate gammy bandages!

 

[AFB]

I would - I'd assume they meant to keep it pouliticed until Friday but change the dressing

 

[JillA]

The instructions on Animalintex say leave on no longer than 24 hours

 

[be positive]

As title. Vet went digging for abscess in sole of hoof yesterday with hoof knife. No abscess found as yet. Vet advised to leave the dressing, animalintex,on till Friday, but I doubt it will last, and it is filthy. I feel like I need to change it.

I would tub it and reapply a fresh poultice at least once a day, twice if you can, if there is an abscess somewhere the more frequently you do this the more chance of it coming out, it will also help heal the open area and keep it clean, assuming they have gone into soft tissue, I wish vets would not open up without clear evidence of an abscess, did they xray first to see if there was an obvious area to try?

 

[MDB]

Thanks everyone. No, they said keep the whole thing on until Friday. But I will change it. I don't have any animalintex, they didn't leave me with any. I dont think I can buy it anywhere. The best thing I could do would be gauze and nappies. Is there anything I can apply directly on the hole in the hoof to potentially draw out the abscess?

 

[MDB]

I would tub it and reapply a fresh poultice at least once a day, twice if you can, if there is an abscess somewhere the more frequently you do this the more chance of it coming out, it will also help heal the open area and keep it clean, assuming they have gone into soft tissue, I wish vets would not open up without clear evidence of an abscess, did they xray first to see if there was an obvious area to try?

No, they wouldn't x ray. Which annoyed me, especially since they said on Friday they didn't have time to x ray cos they were too busy, so they would do it Monday, which didn't happen, then I was told they would do it yesterday. And she is not insured and was happy to pay there and then for it, They said there was some tenderness near the toe which indicated an abscess, so they went in there. But my concern was that she had been hopping around on her toe all week not wanting to put her heel down, so I wanted the x ray to exclude anymore serious issue first. I pray that they have got this spot on and that an abscess comes out. They said they will x ray Friday to exclude a fracture if there is no sign of abscess. And I will seriously unhappy if the cause is not an abscess because then I will have a horse with a musculoskeletal problem plus an unnecessary hole in her hoof. Fingers crossed.

 

[be positive]

I feel for you as it sounds as if the vets are just not what we would expect or put up with over here, you are paying for a service that is not up to standard, if she is reluctant to put her heel down that is pointing to the heel, back of the foot being the area of pain and gives a reason for the sore toe.

Soak in hot salt water for 10 mins and apply whatever you have, the main idea is the heat draws out the abscess and the hot water/ keeping it covered and damp will soften the horn so it can find a way out more easily, a proper poultice will help but is not essential, keeping it all wet and covered is.

 

[MDB]

I feel for you as it sounds as if the vets are just not what we would expect or put up with over here, you are paying for a service that is not up to standard, if she is reluctant to put her heel down that is pointing to the heel, back of the foot being the area of pain and gives a reason for the sore toe.

Soak in hot salt water for 10 mins and apply whatever you have, the main idea is the heat draws out the abscess and the hot water/ keeping it covered and damp will soften the horn so it can find a way out more easily, a proper poultice will help but is not essential, keeping it all wet and covered is.

Thankyou. I am just reading about sugardine. Do you think that would help?

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

Sugardine (sugar and iodine?) is used to harden the hoof which is exactly what you don't want when trying to draw out an abscess. Hot water and epsom salts to help soften and draw out infection.

 

[MDB]

Sugardine (sugar and iodine?) is used to harden the hoof which is exactly what you don't want when trying to draw out an abscess. Hot water and epsom salts to help soften and draw out infection.

I have read in several places that it is a drawing agent.

http://www.horses-and-ponies.com/health/equine-first-aid/how-to-make-and-use-sugardine/

By if not, what else can I use?

 

[Fun Times]

I would hot tub with Epsom salts if you can get them there. I believe slippery elm powder is meant to be a.good drawing agent but you would need to research it as haven't used it for that purpose before. I am another one who would change the poultice daily.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Iodine dries anything up, so is contra-indicated at this time. I prefer to tub x2 daily but must admit that when Draft mare got absolutely fed up of the process, we went down to once per day and on the few occasions when she had to stay in because of the weather, left the poultice in place.

 

[Auslander]

I have read in several places that it is a drawing agent.

http://www.horses-and-ponies.com/health/equine-first-aid/how-to-make-and-use-sugardine/

By if not, what else can I use?

As per my post on your other thread - hot, wet and mobile is what you need. Drawing agents are pretty useless on hoof tissue - it's too dense/hard for anything you put on it to suck out an abscess. Think about pushing it out (movement) rather than pulling it out (magical potions) Your abscess will find the path of least resistance, so if you can soften the horn by saturating it, that's where your abscess will emerge

 

[MDB]

As per my post on your other thread - hot, wet and mobile is what you need. Drawing agents are pretty useless on hoof tissue - it's too dense/hard for anything you put on it to suck out an abscess. Think about pushing it out (movement) rather than pulling it out (magical potions) Your abscess will find the path of least resistance, so if you can soften the horn by saturating it, that's where your abscess will emerge

Thanks Auslander. Would it not push out through the hole they have created in the sole?I am bit confused about saturating and soaking it so soften the horn, since we already have a hole into live tissue. Sorry for being daft. This is all new to me.

 

[ROMANY 1959]

Just remembered my grandad used to use bread on his poltuce when he was a carriage horse groom in the pre war days...

 

[Auslander]

Thanks Auslander. Would it not push out through the hole they have created in the sole?I am bit confused about saturating and soaking it so soften the horn, since we already have a hole into live tissue. Sorry for being daft. This is all new to me.

Yes - it would. At the moment, the sides/top of the hole are still hard - the soaking will soften that tissue, and create an easy exit.

I think I've just figured out why you're confused - the following may make it clearer. The hole they made is not actually a hole - it's more of a crevasse. At the apex of the hole they dug - there is still hoof tissue, not an abyss. That tissue still needs to be softened to allow the pus higher up to come through

 

[MDB]

Yes - it would. At the moment, the sides/top of the hole are still hard - the soaking will soften that tissue, and create an easy exit.

I think I've just figured out why you're confused - the following may make it clearer. The hole they made is not actually a hole - it's more of a crevasse. At the apex of the hole they dug - there is still hoof tissue, not an abyss. That tissue still needs to be softened to allow the pus higher up to come through

Ok, that makes perfect sense. Thankyou. I was thinking that it is just the hoof wall that needs to be softened. But now I realise that at the end of the hole which they dug, the tissue there also needs to be softened, so the abscess can work its way out.

 

[MagicMelon]

I had an absess dug out of one of my horses hooves - they took a big section out of the side. Someone suggested a nappy to keep it clean, it worked surprisingly well. It wraps round easily to keep it clean, I changed it twice a day when she was stabled to keep it dry, then I wrapped duck tape over the top of it once she started going out.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

As title. Vet went digging for abscess in sole of hoof yesterday with hoof knife. No abscess found as yet. Vet advised to leave the dressing, animalintex,on till Friday, but I doubt it will last, and it is filthy. I feel like I need to change it.

Def- it is an important area to keep sterilised or ultra clean with all the bacteria's around.

I would change at least twice.

 

[Topgreyhound]

Clean the cut out with warm salt and sterile water (boiled water if you don't have purified water BP)

Pack the cut out with a thick PASTE of sodium bicarbonate and common salt and cover with a thick layer of sterile gauze and either wrap the foot with cotton wool and vetrap or fit a rubber boot to keep the foot warm
Change at LEAST twice per day ....this should draw out any pus within 24 hours

 

[Casey76]

I don't know what it is about continental vets and leaving dressings on. One mare on my yard had a wet bandage on a foot abscess for over a week without it being changed :sick:

If you don't have animalintex, you can use other materials in your poultice, using a nappy as a base.

Soak the whole foot in hand hot Epsom salts for 20 mins. You need to cover the whole foot, as often an abscess will erupt out of the coronary band or heel bulb as it is an easier path than through hard horn or sole.

Although Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) are a drawing agent in themselves, you can add a pack of French Green Clay (either from a pharmacy, or the "beauty" aisle at the supermarket) or add a layer of Ichthamol (from a pharmacy) to the sole and coronary band (wear rubber gloves, it's smelly!)

Wrap the whole foot in a nappy and then again in vet wrap. People have many ways of stopping the toe wearing through - I use a "mat" of overlapping duct tape and another layer of vet wrap.

A wet poultice should be removed and replaced every 12 hours (or twice a day), for at least three days (to give the tissues time to soften), normally by then the abscess has erupted from somewhere. Keep wet poulticing until there is no more gunk and then you can dry poultice with sugardine to harden everything up again.

If you don't know how to bandage a foot at the beginning... you will by the end

 

[MDB]

Thanks all. I changed the dressings today. The hoof is clean and there is no smell. We soaked it in warm water then reapplied new dressings... nappies and duct tape. I have ordered epsom salts online and they should arrive tomorrow.
Spoke to the vet on the phone and explained that that the hoof is clean. He tried to explain what he plans on doing tomorrow but the line was bad and I couldnt hear. I asked again about xray and was told 'maybe.'
Horse is just the same. Hobbling around on her toe and reluctant to put her heel down.
Pic of the incision in her toe hopefully included in this post. Ok it didn't work. Photobucket not allowing sharing any more?

 

[Casey76]

. Photobucket not allowing sharing any more?

No :mad3: you have to pay an extortionate amount now. You can use a different facility such as Imgur, or if you're on a PC, you can right click and use an image link from facebook (though it won't work from a tablet)

 

[Leo Walker]

No :mad3: you have to pay an extortionate amount now. You can use a different facility such as Imgur, or if you're on a PC, you can right click and use an image link from facebook (though it won't work from a tablet)

It does work from Ipads etc, you just have to tap and hold, then you can open image in a new window and copy from there