swollen leg?

[emmilou]

Hi all (again)!
my horse came in with a tiny circular cut (like a puncture wound) but not at all deep to the inside front leg above the knee. it was clean and not bleeding. i cleaned it up and put him out as normal.
he has now come in with a massive swollen leg. its swollen top to bottom! he's not lame but tender around the nick. nothing came out of the poultice?
what would you guys do?
thanks

 

[djb]

I would get the vet - probably an infection

 

[emmilou]

even tho the poultice is clean? the wound just seems to be pink and healthy? x

 

[sally2008]

I would recommend a visit from the vet too as puncture wounds can be such traps for debris and you have no way of knowing what caused the injury.

Hope he's okay.

 

[samp]

Recommned vet as sounds like it is probably infected and needs antibiotics?

 

[emmilou]

hmm, its so akward as its an odd wound,...it is circular but not what id call a puncture, just like the skin has been scraped off.
will wait a bit as i dont really feel comfortable with my vets at the moment.

 

[threeponies]

Echo the others a puncture wound is not just on the surface, really would have vet check it out.

 

[emmilou]

no, i understand what a puncture is but what i mean is that it is not a puncture, more like somthing has nicked him, possibly another horse....
x

 

[djb]

It would be the swelling that would be worrying me not just the cut in itself.

 

[Louby]

Hi, sounds similar to my boy. On Sunday morning I was about to put his boots on to ride and noticed his lower canon, fetlock was swollen and hot, checked for a cut and found the tiniest scratch, so small I'd missed it the night before and I do check his legs. Thought infection so asked the vet to have a look. Hes now on antibiotics for a week and has a bandage to keep the tiny wound clean. Felt really pathetic as it was so tiny but Im glad now I called the vet.

 

[emmilou]

Ok, thanks all.
i think its going to be antibiotics!
Bloody horses! thanks x

 

[eekmon]

Hi, I too would get the vet! My horse had a similar injury and ended up with an infected tendon sheath. Could not see any wound but it was a tiny puncture wound, also the day before he was operated on he was cantering round the field

Best get it checked to be safe! Good luck

 

[Tierra]

Echoing the person above. My horsey had a tiny tiny cut above the knee of his foreleg a few months ago. We opted to call the vet to be on the safe side and examination showed it had penetrated through the tendon sheath leaving it pretty susceptible to infections.

We played it very very safe with the cut and he had a quite hefty course of antibiotics, was bandaged and had a few days box rest and the result was that it healed damn fast with no complications (the amount of bandaging and treatment for the size of the cut was almost comical)

On the other hand, a friend had a very very similar injury two days after my boy and their vet took quite a different course of action. The result was a badly infected tendon sheath and the horse is still off work

 

[AmyMay]

Amymay had something like this last year. Vet called immediately - wound flushed, intravenous anti Bi's for three days - powders for a further five. Cost me a fortune, but the wound was rather near a tendon - so better safe than sorry.

Would rather a gaping great socking hole than a tiny little piddly thing you can't see what's going on with!!

Vet for me.

 

[Peanot]

I would agree with getting the vet for anti-biotics. I am not one to call the vet unless I really need to, and I have had a similar incident, but only bottom bit of leg slightly swollen. My farrier had a look, as I trust him impeccably- he is old friend of family, and he noticed a small nick in her leg, I hadn`t noticed it, just the swelling, but it was just like a tiny scab had formed over it. He picked the scab off and he told me to clean it, use anti bacterial healing cream, and bandage leg. The next day, it was back to normal, so I just kept the nick clean. No further problems.
But with your horses leg being swollen up a lot, there could be a big infection that needs anti-biotics. Best to do it now rather than let it get far worse. I hope he is ok soon.