Stubbon foot abcess ?

The_snoopster

The_snoopster

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Thought i would try putting this in here as it,s slipped of the page very quickly in NL, 10 days ago vet diagnosed foot abcess and did try to expose it but could not get to it and said it was proberly deep in the foot. I was told to poultice it for one week giving 1 bute a day then ring back with results, it still had not drained so the vet said get the farrier out to have a go has it may of worked its way down more after the poulticing.

Farrier came last night and he could not get to it either and was not happy making a very large hole which could course yet more problems, he said her other front foot is starting to get bruised now due to the problem of the abcess on other foot.

He did mention about taking poultice off and letting nature take it,s course, because if it deep it could be making it,s way up to the coronary band and the poultice may be pulling it back down making it a slow process. He also mentioned putting some shoes on to take the pressure off her soles. I did not think you could shoe on a abcess, and told him I would talk to my vet about his thoughts first before I took any action.

The mare is in foal which is why the shoes were off and I do not have a problem having her front shoes put back on, farrier said it looks and is acting like a abcess but could just be severe bruising and shoes would help.

As anyone else had a abcess that took weeks to come to a head, I am now getting very worried over this especially as she is in foal and she really could do without this pain in the foot.
 
Hi, these can be very troublesome to resolve. My approach is to hot poultice, then wrap the whole foot with loads of cotton wool to provide a nice soft, but even weight bearing surface for the foot. Then put the whole thing in a big hoof boot and turn the horse out. The movement encourages the abscess to find its way out, either up through the coronary band, or down through the white line, frog area. Don't scrimp on the padding, make her as comfortable as possible and if you're worried about the other foot taking a pounding, pad and boot that as well.

Once the abscess is draining, switch to a dry poultice, but keep the padding until you have a hard, dry, sweet smelling foot again.

Good luck.
 
Yes I have been hot poulticing I was relieved when vet said it was an abcess as I thought it was something serious but this as gone on now for ages and is getting me and the poor mare down now.
Its my first abcess and i,m feel like i have let her down by having shoes taken off on the fronts, and do feel if they were left on this would not of happened as she is not being ridden and is turned out 24/7 due to being in foal.
Waiting for the vet to ring now to see what she has to say, i,m hoping since the farrier has taken a bit more away at the area of the abcess that it will have a better escape route.
 
I agree with Andalucian. Also, bute can have the affect of 'damping' down the whole problem - almost shutting down the process of the abcess.

Shoes may well help - depending on where the abcess is located. But padding and TO can often work as well.

They are such troublesome things - and a heavily pregnant mare can be so uncomfortable with the additional weight.

Hope it resolves quickly for you.
 
Must also add that some people who do not know how much time and money I have committed to this abcess, because lets face it animal lintex is £6.50 a pop and the animal wrap and gaffa tape nearly the same when you are poulticing twice a day. Plus vet and farrier visits costs, these people are stopping me and asking "do you know your mare is lame", can they not see the poultice on her foot.
I bought a proper poultice boot off the internet and when it arrived it is a pony size not the cob size they advertised that just put the cream on the cake this morning. I am also due to go on holiday in a week with my termally ill mother in law as a treat for her, it,s only 2 hours away and my friend is looking after the horses but do not want to go now. Ok I shall breath now rant over.
Thanks for you replies The snoopster.
 
I had heard of people using nappies but doe,nt the lintex have some sort of poultice stuff embedded in it, would nappies draw out a abcess I was going to use the nappies once the abcess had fully drained using them untill the abcess hole had healed.

If I use nappies do I need to put something on them to draw the abcess, and would you put them on wet or dry ? that might sound a numpty question but I shall never know unless I ask :D
 
Well, you can only hot poultice for a few days - after that you start undermining the structures of the foot.

So if that has failed, but you still want to padd out the foot - nappies are fantastic. You just slap them on - don't wet them in any way.
 
My Arab had an abcess at the beginning of the year that was very stubborn and turned into osteomylitis!

He has been in excellent health for his whole life previously.

Interestingly it happened after he had been wormed with Pramox in winter and then routine vaccines in Jan. Ten days after the vaccines, both front feet changed shape and the soles became uncharacteristically soft and he developed an abcess from a small crack in the sole.

Does your mare's abcess come from an infection site or is it internal?

Either way I would hot poultice once a day (nappies are good but get Pampers, not cheaper ones that will shred), vetrap (buy a box cheap from ebay) and duct tape. Then throw her out in the field.

I have heard a theory that poor nutritional balance can increase the risk of abcesses.

In addition to all the standard vet's treatment I also used Sill, a homeopathic remedy as a once off dose and Global Herb's Restore as a detox treatment.

As your mare is in foal I am not sure what she should have though.
 
My old boy had a very deep abcess nearly 2 weeks ago now, luckily im used to dealing with abcesses. However my old boy suffers Ataxia & quite bad arthritis now so this abcess was one of the worst ive had to deal with because of the problems with the other legs it made poulticing a nightmare & obviously really put him through the Mill. He had to go on a very high amount of Danilon to try to help.

My advice is to Tub the foot at least twice a day use ideally Epsom salts but if not use normal salt. Hot poultice but if you can't as you've already done this dry poultice with Animalintex. What i normally do is Animalintex & then a Nappy or 2 over the top then Vetwrap & gaffa tape this seems to give some relief.

Movement is the key to drawing the abcess down. I however was surprised when i only drew a tiny amount from my boy within around 3 days he was definitely walking better, im just hoping it's not sitting waiting to go again.:eek:
Ive had him turned out in my manage ever since just in case something more was going on in the foot. Soft surface is the best thing to T/O on.

Really hope you can get it to draw.

ETA- will 2nd GH Restore my boy's on it atm, maybe not good for in foal mares though.
 
What is the name of the boot?? Im looking to get one now as mine's brewing up another abccess!!! Just so many to choose from?? Im leaving his for natauel to take over as had farrier out and he didnt fleech when tested!! I used anmiemx sp? then gamage and two nappy's I use Tesco number 3 I think then he does have big feet!! And fed sacks with tape works great. I did make a boot out of this as I layerd up the bags and tape. I then cut down the bulb of heel to pull it off. So much easier this way then to start all over again the next time!! I made sure the first nappy had tape on the toe where it took more wear so no change of any thing get's in with the pouilcte. Tubbing it's a right pain in the bum with mine as it normaly ends up everywhere!! Getting better now due to doing it so many times!!!! Holding up his other front legs helps too!! Good luck hope it comes out soon
 
This year I have had 2 horses with abcesses one in feb and one in march .Both were incredibly hard to clear up and ended up having both x rayed to check for damage to foot (poss pedal bone chip with one and the other one with the flint injury abcess to see if any flint was left in)
Both i was poulticing twice a day for 2/3 weeks using initially animal lintex and later epsom salts and nappies (which did work out cheaper)as well as tubbing twice a day in warm salt water for 10 minutes each time.
Both had shoe put back on to lift the foot off the sole as very lame.Both had a clean dry dressing on changed daily for two more week safter end of poulticing so it stayed open and prevent it re occuring as well as ots of padding .
I felt I should have shares in cohesive bandage and tape .I used the canvass poultice boots which lasted well and held up for the whole time I needed them.
In all i seem to spend my life dealing with bandaging horses feet!!!
Keep going I'm sure you will get there in the end.
 
Having just been through one of mine having an operation for septic pedal osteitis, I would get x-ray's NOW. It was caused by a deep abscess that worked it's way through into the pedal bone.
 
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