wound/swelling

[ladyearl]

Hello and thanks for having a look at this posting. Any experiences would be welcome..

My horse has a kick injury just above her near foreleg. There is a small wound which has been seen by the vet. He advised us to clean it out twice a day (with hibi scrub), put a barrier cream on it (vaseline/sudocrem) and keep her out in the field. He also left a course of anti biotics for her.

It happened on Tuesday (not sure of exact time but I caught her at about 5ish and saw it then, vet thought it was quite recent)

Last night it had swollen up around the wound (in a bit of a hoof shape) and was tender. This morning it was no different. The wound is healing and looks clean. However, tonight it looks even more swollen.

Is this normal?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

It's quite normal for damaged tissue to swell for a day or so. Think black eye! The swelling brings white blood cells to the area to help fight any infection. I'd expect it to start going down rapidly from now though, especially as the horse is on antibx. It may be that the kick has caused a haematoma, the rupture of small blood vessels under the skin. This can cause substantial amounts of blood to collect at the wound site. Sometimes, if there is a significant amount of trapped blood, the "swelling" will droop away from the site of the original injury. If it is a haematoma, it's not usually anything to worry about and the blood is eventually re-absorbed.