Recovering from absess..next steps

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doris2008

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Hiya, my TB is recovering from an absess caused by a puncture wound to his sole a few weeks ago. Farrier visited last tuesday & dug out - absess had underran under sole. So quite a hole was left. Have been tubbing it twice daily since in epsom salts. Leg was quite swollen too. Over weekend swelling went right down & on farriers/vets advice, poultice was left off for a couple of hours each day on dry yard to air.
Spoke to farrier this afternoon who said after telling him that no more swelling, foot nice & cold now & nothing coming out of hole, that I should go ahead & bung him out pretty much over the next couple of days.
I am pleased but cant help but think its too soon. The hole looks like it has closed over but I dont imagine it would take much to re open. Ii was thinking ok to turn him but with something protecting it, however this would stop the air from getting to it. What do you guys think?
I suppose the half way measure would be to leave it open but keep him on yard another week just to be sure? Up until now he has also had a dry poultice on over night in stable.
I am loathe to end up back in square 1 hot tubbing again!!
 
I really can sympathise. My youngster started brewing an abcess before Christmas and it originally erupted in January. I got the vet, who dug it out (but not a lot) and I went through to rigmarole of tubbing, poultice, and everything else and then asked my farrier a couple of weeks later, what I should do.

He said turn him out - which I did and a week later the abcess flared up again. To be fair, I don't think that the vet dug it out properly to start with, but neither do I think that turning him out was right either.

Two vet bills later, I am flushing it out every night with hydrogen peroxide and plugging it with cotton wool, smearing the whole lot over with vaseline.

There are so many opinions about abcesses, but I haven't had to call the vet so far this month (TOUCH WOOD!), so I will stick with this.
 
Hiya, thanks for reply!
I decided to speak to vet. She said to keep it covered up & turn out well booted/plastic bagged/duck taped! So keep it clean for another week at least just to be sure everything is healed over & settled down.
Havent used hydrogen peroxide before, where do I get it from? At moment spraying with purple spray before applying dry poultice.
 
Sticking a hoof boot on would be your best option - but turning out and movement really help clear things up... I never keep them in when they've got abcesses... if the abscess has burst I boot the hoof to keep the hole clean otherwise I just let nature do it's thing.
 
Do you mean a solid hoof boot? Am wary of them falling off! Fabric ones I have used in past - but with a plastic bag & duck tape layer!! Very paranoid of things falling off!
 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hoof-Poultice...tZUK_Horse_Wear_Equipment?hash=item563a69cbef

http://www.decron.com.au/hoofcare_kit.htm

Have a look at the links above. I bought a couple of the poultice kits and they are excellent - such good value for money especially considering there are a couple of rolls of vetwrap in it as well!

The link to the Decron site gives information about how to use it as well. The boot is not one time use either - my youngster wore it for two weeks, including having daily hooleys in the indoor school with our other two boys.

The hydrogen peroxide is something that I buy from the local chemist. I tubbed the foot, then flushed the hole out again using a syringe of hydrogen peroxide and then pack it with cotton wool, sealing it all with vaseline.

Hope some of this information is useful for you. Really would recommend the hoof care kit though - I have one extra in my tack locker that I keep as a spare.
 
doris2008 said:
Do you mean a solid hoof boot? Am wary of them falling off! Fabric ones I have used in past - but with a plastic bag & duck tape layer!! Very paranoid of things falling off!
Click to expand...

Yeah - I use Easyboot Gloves to ride in and they double as protection in the field should I need it. They don't fall off! I did a 20 mile ride in 2 and a half hours in a set of Gloves last weekend and had to prise them off at the end!
 
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