Septic Pedal Bone

[looby37]

Hi im new to this site. My horse showed signs of lameness around 4 weeks ago,on his off fore, had the farrier pull the shoe and he found a hole which we hot poulticed. He became sound enough to put the shoe back on and lasted about 4 days when he was hopping lame, more so than he was first time round. Organised a visit from the vet a couple of days later and he had improved again, able to walk but lame in trot. gradually imrpoved then a day later took a step backward and was lame again, with on and off heat and in the foot, vet did xrays yesterday and he showed me what he suspects is a septic pedal bone, just wondering if anyone has had any experience of this and its success rate of the surgical procedure to removing the infected bone, my horse is nearly 18, had no history of lameness

 

[loopylucifer]

one horse at my yard has just had this (or simmilar) he trodon a nail out on a hack went in to coffin joint had op to get rid of infection still on boxrest but doing well. dont know prognosis with infection on the bone though but gd luck

 

[MistletoeMegan]

Mine had an infected pedal bone last summer but it was caught early and injected with a sodium solution to flush out the infection; as it hadn't got to the point where the bone separates, he didn't require surgery fortunately.

Your vet should be able to talk you through the options, and if you can minimise the risks associated with having the procedure done under a GA.

Hope he heals soon x

 

[teddyt]

One of mine had this last year. The vets did operation under heavy sedation, she didnt need a GA. Apparently it is easier to do under a GA, so vets prefer this but it can be done under sedation. This is obviously cheaper and much safer for the horse. The hoof wall is taken away then they remove the infected bone. The next day she had an egg bar shoe made for her, to help stabilise the foot. The foot was dressed for several weeks then the hole was filled with plastic. Gradually this has grown out. She was on box rest initially then allowed out into a dry paddock and walking in hand after a few days. Basically the dresings had to be kept clean and dry for obvious reasons. Once the plastic was in she went out all day, foot cleaned before stabling at night.
The operation was a total success. I had no setbacks. She is now better than ever and although it cost almost £1000 in total from beginning to end there was no alternative and it was worth every penny to get her right.