Update on abscess

[Birker2020]

Its day four (really five as she was seen by vet and poulticed Sunday morning) and my horse is still as lame as anything. I'd say there is a bit of improvement but not much, she is still very lame. I poulticed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday with hot poultice and yesterday morning with a dry poultice.

I walked her today without anything on her foot (other than a very thin covering of black tape to keep the hole dry) and she's still lame. Sent video of her walking this morning to the vet.

The vet had asked me last Sunday to ring the farrier with a view to him coming out yesterday or today, I got an appointment for this morning but there's no way she could be shod, she can barely pick up her opposite fore leg. So the vet looked at the video I sent her and rang me. Said she shouldn't still be this lame. I said to the vet about the fact the mud is accumulating in the foot due to the pad (although I suppose it still could with just a shoe) and I wasn't sure if the old leather pad would be better so I asked her to ring my farrier so she has done (I don't know what transpired).

So,I have booked an appointment with the vet for tomorrow afternoon. She will nerve block the foot and if my horse is sound it will be x-rayed to see if we can see anything. She really doubts its laminitis at this stage. Pulse was timed with the words 'one second only', 'two seconds only' etc spoken slowly (if that makes sense) in both fronts when I felt it this morning. Heat in bad foot but I know this can't be relied upon. No swapping weight over legs which is typical with laminitis. But who knows....I did query about the 'wing' in the pedal bone and whether it could be a fracture as she messes in the field so much and there were skids marks from the Friday night which was a good 24/36 hours before she presented with this lameness. Vet said very unlikely to be this also but xrays will show if it is. Horse is circumducting leg swinging it wide when walking so looks higher up the leg but I think that's in an effort to reduce the pain from her foot.

I'm so worried I keep breaking down in tears whenever anyone asks me how she's doing. I feel really sick with dread at what we are going to find. She looks so healthy in herself, wolfing her feed down, bright and alert. You would never know anything was amiss until you hear her come down the yard or thump on her rubber mat in her stable due to shifting the weight from the bad foot over.

Sometimes she walks really well and looks great but within seconds she's dog lame again both with poultice on and today with nothing on at all. Very strange.

Please send us some positive vibes x

 

[Birker2020]

Also her back legs are hugely filled at the moment from standing in. Does anyone know if it is safe to use Icevibe at the moment as I'd like to try and reduce them and give her some comfort and maybe try them on the opposite front leg as I'm worried about the possibility of weight bearing laminitis on that leg?

Thank you for your help, it is very much appreciated. I do try and listen to all suggestions.

 

[NR88]

Sorry to read that there is no improvement.

I don't mean this to sound harsh but when the vet is out try not to make any knee jerk reactions. Give yourself some time to think and be logical.

One horse that I owned had constant low grade issues come to light. I would frequently say "the next thing means that it is time" but then the next thing would "only" be an abscess and it seems unthinkable to pts for an abscess. However it was never really "only" an abscess it was a myriad of things happening because of issues elsewhere.

When I did follow through with putting her to sleep it was almost a relief. A relief that she would never suffer any pain or discomfort again and a surprising relief that I wouldn't be stressed out of my mind worrying about her. With hindsight there would have been no difference to her if I had pts initially compared to all those years later.

I am content that if anything she went sooner than was necessary rather than a second too late.

If you do make the decision it is not "only" because of a bruised sole but because of the list of ailments that you posted that have led you to this point.

It is so tempting when it is "only" X, Y or Z but I do think if it were "only" anything the treatment that she has received so far would have produced a sound horse.

Regarding the filled legs could you speak to her physio or massage therapist and get some guidance on massage techniques for the lymphatic system? With vet approval I'd use standing/stable wraps or bandages. The vibe part of ice-vibe boots are simply a gimmick and if you are looking to cool her legs then cold hosing for approx 15 minutes at a time would be the best option. The filled legs are due to lack of movement and ice boots will not get her system moving.

I am very sorry that things have ended up like this for you and your mare.

 

[Gloi]

Could you get some boots and pads for her for the time being to make her more comfortable

 

[Birker2020]

Could you get some boots and pads for her for the time being to make her more comfortable

Yes I will probably bandage her legs again and possibly back legs as well. I've been bandaging the fronts overnight since Sunday evening due to aiding the opposite leg. And I will pop into the chemist and buy some nappies/sanitary pads and tape that to the bottom of her foot and do the same tomorrow morning so she will be more comfortable, I went to three chemists for some cotton wool roll but no one had any unbelievably.

If you do make the decision it is not "only" because of a bruised sole but because of the list of ailments that you posted that have led you to this point.

It is so tempting when it is "only" X, Y or Z but I do think if it were "only" anything the treatment that she has received so far would have produced a sound horse.

The vibe part of ice-vibe boots are simply a gimmick and if you are looking to cool her legs then cold hosing for approx 15 minutes at a time would be the best option. The filled legs are due to lack of movement and ice boots will not get her system moving.

.

Hi thanks for your post. Yes I hear what you are saying about the list of ailments that have led her to that point and I understand where you are coming from. I need to see what materialises tomorrow. I also need to give the Arthrimed time to work (it may have already worked but i just can't tell due to the bruising and abscess making her lame). It's a difficult one.

She's had so many troubles in the past and got over them all but I agree that these together have probably caught up with her. I'd like to give her more time to see what materialises, she is hardly in the 'suffering' camp at the moment, no more than any other horse that has an abscess or foot problem is anyway.

As for the Ice Vibe boots I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on that. The previous vet felt they were instrumental in helping her with her previous suspensory branch recoveries and had seen other results with similar injuries on other clients when using Icevibe. As you know, when an area is healing scar tissue is formed, the movement created by the vibration and massage helps to break down adhesions and scar tissue whilst increasing blood flow to assist healing. This is certainly what happened with my horse anyway. Apart from the one bad suspensory branch injury that was beyond anyones help - she's not had any issues with that for around 2 years now.

I thought about using them for massage on the back legs. From their website condensed: because the ice vibe boots use vibration they are the equivalent of someone massaging the legs. The vibrating motors are set to work intermittently so that when you are treating soreness the damaged tissue does not get overworked and tired. The Ice Vibe boots have packs in them that can be placed in the fridge or freezer, when very cold these packs reduce blood flow, slowing down inflammation, whilst the movement created by the massaging effect similar to exercise can help to stimulate the lymph system to move out existing inflammation.

However I also know after reading their Q&A section that I can't use them in the case of abscess as 'due to the increase in blood supply when applying massage, infection has been seen to increase' so will ask the vet tomorrow.

Also we have the same old age problem about giving pain relief whilst an abscess is there. Bute initially (on vets advice) as 2 Sunday morning, one Sunday night and then 1.5 a day since may not have helped bring out the abscess but I don't know how you can keep a horse comfortable without pain relief.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I am surprised that you are taking shoeing into consideration when arranging this farrier appt. I would want the farrier to be looking for, and hopefully opening up the abscess. Shoeing can come later. IME farriers are much better at finding an abscess than vets are.

 

[Birker2020]

I am surprised that you are taking shoeing into consideration when arranging this farrier appt. I would want the farrier to be looking for, and hopefully opening up the abscess. Shoeing can come later. IME farriers are much better at finding an abscess than vets are.

I really wasn't, tbh I was actually very surprised at the vets optimism, maybe most horses would be alright in a few days. However, previously I've box rested for 10 days, hot poulticed for the first two or three then done a 'dry' poultice of iodine and sugar mixed into a porridge like consistency and put on the bottom of foot and wrapped up for the next four - seven days. That was before even thinking about getting the farrier out to nail a shoe back on.

I'm happy for her to have another weeks box rest and dry poultice tbh or just support with nappy/pad. I just though maybe it would be better to keep the appointment so he could have a look but didn't seem much point after I'd spoken to the vet this morning as she is seeing her tomorrow anyway.

From what the vet said about her having really thin (but very hard soles) she said when she first opened up the abscess that a) she was suprised there wasn't more gunk coming out and b) she didn't want to dig deeper for fear of exposing the bones in the foot. That scared the hell out of me. So I assume the farrier would be in the same position. I don't know.....

Anyway, I am more than happy to continue to nurse the horse on box rest for as long as it takes. It's no skin of my nose.

 

[NR88]

I do not know how to quote only one section of text.

However the vibe part of ice vibe boots is a marketing gimmick with no real application. There are no muscles below the knee or hock.

Off the top of my head I would hazard a guess that it was Dr David Marlin that wrote about them years ago when they were first released. There was also a long thread in competition riders about them when they were released too. If I recall it was the user Tarrsteps that had a conversation with the manufacturer as the blurb on their marketing was nonsensical. I am 70% sure that equine vets also commented on the thread nay saying the company's claims about the effects of vibration on lower limbs.

As ice boots they are fine but the extra cost for the "vibe" is simply marketing.

 

[HorsesRule2009]

sorry to hear there's no improvement.
You say the vet is coming to see her tomorrow and will be blocking the foot. If she does block sound to the foot i would be keen to have it x rayed and see if there is anything a miss.
It could be that the infection/abscess has hit the pedal bone or similar and she may need some anti biotics to help clear this.

I hope you see improvement in her soon and hopefully get to the bottom of this

 

[alibali]

I'm sorry to hear she is no better

 

[Birker2020]

sorry to hear there's no improvement.
You say the vet is coming to see her tomorrow and will be blocking the foot. If she does block sound to the foot i would be keen to have it x rayed and see if there is anything a miss.
It could be that the infection/abscess has hit the pedal bone or similar and she may need some anti biotics to help clear this.

I hope you see improvement in her soon and hopefully get to the bottom of this

Thanks, in a way I am hoping she is sound when she's blocked because then we can get the xray and it will tell us more and give us more answers one way or another than if she is still lame trying to work out what part of the leg is affected.