Vet originally said arthritis now it's an abscess??!

[karenjj]

Hi everyone, I'm a bit confused..
Had vet out a month ago when my 17yo New Forest went lame. She diagnosed arthritis of the coffin joint through various nerve blocks etc. and put her on bute for a month, she said to take her off it after that, give her a week and then re-assess which is what I did. She was still lame. Vet came back yesterday and said it now looks as though it's an abscess there appears to be some black pus but not much so she wasn't sure. So now she's poulticed her hoof and put her back on bute. She did x-rays and a blood test and said there were little pulses in her legs but not that much so it might be laminitis but she didn't have pulses the first time the vet came out so she had ruled laminitis out last time. I'm confused!!!!!
Surely it can't be arthritis, laminitis and an abscess?!! My mare has never had laminitis before and I did think because she wintered without shoes the lameness was originally due to riding out with no shoes on the hard ground.. sorry this is so long, I'm just a bit confused!! Thanks for reading! Any advice gratefully received!

 

[TPO]

A very similar thing happened to me!

My mare passed 5 stage vetting then when I got her home had 6 weeks to settle and chill out (ex-racer). When I brought her into work she was slightly lame. No one could see it, even the vet. I finally convinced him she was and he x-ray and found a swelling on her off pastern.

He diagnosed high ringbone and told me I should look into proceedings for sueing the vets who had passed her vetting! She was scheduled to go into the vet school for further examinations as nothing was showing clearly on the x-ray and the day before the appointment the swelling on her pastern burst. It was an abscess all along.

This was Sep 07 and it re-occured regularly until May 08 when I had enough and insisted that she be referred. They couldn't find anything on x-ray, ultrasound or from testing the cells they took from the swelling so performed investigative surgery thinking it was cancer/a tumour and found 2 tiny specks of grit that were causing the problems all along. How they got there we'll never know!

The point of my story is if in doubt ask for a referral/second opinion. I lost all faith in my vet because of this and numerous other things. I have been fortunate enough to have now found a fantastic practice.

Good Luck, I hope everything turns out ok for you and your horse.

 

[SDH]

Vet originally told me my horse had Arthritus. Even after numerous nerve block tests, x-rays etc.

He seems to get gradually better on a diet of joint supplements and gentle exercise but never sound.

6 months later, however he went badly lame again. So was sent to vet hospital to have an operation to pop a camera into the joint to see what was going on.
Before operating, they did a full lameness workup...... and diagnosed a suspsory ligament problem! no arthritus!

My own vet (who originally diagnosed the 'arthritus') has alwasy insisted he has ligament problem and arthritus. The vet hopsital say it was always ligament ...

 

[Marchtime]

Mine was diagnosed with bruised soles, then coffin joint arthritis that actually turned out to be collateral ligament damage. I can't blame my vets though because the damage only shows on MRI. I'd be asking my farrier what he thought about the lami and abscess as they sometimes are more knowledgeable and then ask for a referral.

 

[alsxx]

A similar thing happened to me, my mare had lameness issues anyway and went to the RVC for an independant opinion at the request of the insurers.

Her lameness had resolved, yet when she went to the RVC (she was there for a week) she was slightly lame RF which kept getting worse. A very well respected vet said he suspected a DDFT injury, even though I said that was ridiculous, she had been sound...but this vet does have a thing for tendons....

Anyway he referred her for an MRI....the day before she went I called my own vet out because she suddenly went non-weight bearing, and an abscess was found. The MRI showed an abscess.....

So if someone like this 'highly respected' vet (

) can miss an abscess for a whole week, I wouldn't be surprised if a lesser vet can!

 

[karenjj]

The vet just rang me and said it is laminitis and an abscess! She thinks the laminitis might have been brought on by a hormonal problem through old age ( I didn't think 17 was that old?) and has sent off bloods?.. She's walking though just a bit hobbly, I thought ponies with lami could barely walk? Am probably all wrong! Am worried about it all!

 

[UKa]

Hi, my horse was once diagnosed with laminitis by a vet (she never had it before and is not the typical type either) - at next vet visit the diagnosis was taken back and I also had the farrier look at her feet who said no way she had laminitis. - mine just had very sore feet as she started to be unable to cope with the grounds around. I since got her shod in the front and we have not had the problem again...

 

[salee]

hi, have you considered IF he may have early cushings?

one of the problems is they get repeated foot abscesses and prone to laminitis even if not fat.

my old mare has been diagnosed as 99% certain of having it through clinical observation. she has had reccuring foot absecces for....

........NINE MONTHS!!

sometimes up to 6 nasty weepy monsters at the same time along the corronnett band and lower pastern.

she has been on antibiotics, bute, foot soaks and poultices.

she was not lame except while a new monster was forming, as soon as they burst she was relieved and sound-ish,

the Xrays confirmed that 1 side bone had 'died' and broken up and the abcess was the necrotic tissue coming out. now she is down to just 1 small slightly gooey abcess, but her corronett and hoof are perminantly distorted, we will have to see if long term she will be sound enough to plod out for the odd hour like we did last summer.

Xrays also showed a tiny bit of arthritis, but hey! at 25y waddya expect!

she still looks like sh*t, with her wonky foot, *yeti like coat and general skinniness, she lost loads of weight and at 1 point we considered getting her PTS as she would not even eat.but she is on the way back now we hope, good luck with your horse, bye.

* yeti like coat trimmed with scissors as not got any money over from paying vet for clippers just yet, but they are on my list of whats getting bought next.