Screw stuck in foot/pus in the foot - how long to heal???

[siant2]

My girly got a screw stuck in her foot 6 days ago

Vet thinks she has a low grade infection as she is sound now but the hole is still oozing gunk. Im poulticing it every day and its draining well. But im wondering how long the hole will take to heal over or how long these typically take to stop producing pus....

Vet wants me to keep poulticing until clear and she says hole will close over after this!

Any experiences???? Much appreciated

 

[Ezme]

When half of chuzzy's hoof fell off (and I'm not exagerating) once the infection was gone they reconstructed it with resin. I guess the vet would just be worried about sealing anything in. When theres no puss coming out it may be worth asking about a sealent though

 

[PeterNatt]

The secret is to keep it clean and allow the puss to drain out. Your vet may suggest using Hydrogen Peroxide ay a specific concentration (use an old syringe to squirt it in) to keep any infections at bay.

In soft tissues the wound would normally be allowed to heal from the inside out and then allowed to heal over .

 

[ladyt25]

We are just going through this with our oldie at the mo and he was quite bad (both feet affected). You shouldn't really poultice for too long though, normally 3 to 4 days max. I would hot tub twice a day in hot, salty water then use hydrogen peroxide to clean out the wound (after you've picked out the worst).

Normally once the initial infection has been cleared through poulticing, providing you keep the foot clean as much as possible - by the tubbing, cleaning out with hoof pick etc and using hydrogen peroxide the rest of the gunk should drain out by itself.

At the moment we are just vet wrapping ours up once we've done all the above just to stop the worst of the dirt getting into his foot but he does have a large hole in each foot! Usually once the pus is draining the horse will go sound quite soon as the pressure is released.

 

[mattilda]

My WB got a bolt stuck in his foot and it took around 2 weeks to get the gunk out and another week or so for the hole to close completely.

 

[TheFarrier]

If you are atill wet polticing i would probably advise that you stop as you will soon be drawing out proud flesh. Keep the wound clean as suggested above and keep an eye on it, has the vet not given antibiotics in this case?