Swollen knee - possibly to be drained?

9

{97702}

...
Joined
9 July 2012
Messages
14,849
Visit site
My little TB came in from the field yesterday with a massively swollen knee on his near fore :( Not a huge amount of heat in it surprisingly, no sign of any wound or puncture (I looked very very closely!) and he is only 1/10 lame at most.

Vet came out yesterday and gave him an antibiotic injection and an anti-inflammatory, pony is also on 2 Bute a day going down to 1 a day tomorrow. Vet's advice this morning was to turn him out and see if the swelling subsides over the next couple of days, if it hasn't gone on Monday they will look to drain the fluid from the knee. I am also cold hosing for 20 minutes 2 or 3 times a day.

Has anyone had this procedure done on their horse? I have had it done to me and it was incredibly painful lol, but I am wondering if I should refer the matter to the local specialist equine clinic for them to do it? The vet that has seen him yesterday has a fair amount of equine knowledge & has a good local reputation, but since I have a specialist vets handy I am tempted to use them.

Pony is insured and I am happy to go down the scan route if they feel that is necessary - I can only assume he has been hooning around in the field in the high winds yesterday and has slipped and wrenched the knee :( :(
 
My mare had one of those and the vet said to leave well alone as draining it could introduce infection. I cold-hosed and it went away with time, but the reason she had gone down on it was arthritis so it gradually went a funny shape due to bone growth in the next few years.
 
My horse came in with a huge swelling on his knee after hoolying about the field one day. The vet said to leave alone. He wasn't lame. I cold hosed and massaged it and it went down quite a lot. I kept riding him (as per vets instructions) throughout. When I moved him to a new yard he was kicked right on the knee where the swelling is (I could see the hoof mark) and the swelling disappeared almost over night!
 
I personally wouldn't drain unless it was really necessary - I would be cold hosing it, as much as you can bare, and keep out in the field, 24/7 if possible.
 
Your vets don't seem to be giving the swelling very long to go down on its own. As others say, draining involves puncturing the joint capsule with the risk of infection, so surely it would be better to give it some time before even considering this.
 
Agree with the above. A mare of mine years ago got a huge fluid filled knee which we think was from kneeling to lie down on the concrete of her stable floor (had rubber mats ever since!). It looked awful but the vet just said it was a capped knee and was keen not to drain it as it could introduce infection and/or possibly refill anyway. It used to fill up and down but never caused her a days trouble. That was 9 yrs ago its long gone and shes doing medium level BD now and has no issues at all - as others have said give it time before you try anything.
 
Thanks all, you have pretty much echoed my thoughts on it - hopefully the swelling will go down on its own, but I am going to say no to them draining it next week if the swelling hasn't all gone. If necessary I'll go to the equine hospital for their opinion.

I'm cold hosing for 20 mins 3 times a day and he is out 24/7; I'm also putting arnica gel on it & giving him arnica tablets just in case that does any good :)
 
There is a great gel you can get, I want to say compagel that is fab for this type of thing
We did it to a capped hock and got it to go!
 
dianchi said:
There is a great gel you can get, I want to say compagel that is fab for this type of thing
We did it to a capped hock and got it to go!
Click to expand...

Any recommendations are gratefully received - I'll have a look for compagel, thanks :)

ETA - ah just googled and it needs a prescription, will speak to my vet!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top