WWYD, recurring lameness...

[HufflyPuffly]

So the saga that is Doodle is ongoing, she made it 6 days into the new year before the vet was called :rolleyes3:.

Background, she is 23 this year and is Cushings positive being treated with Prascend for over 12 months now (no particular symptoms before or after diagnosis, slight hoof sensitivity was what led to testing). In April last year she injured herself in the field (massively swollen front near side fetlock that she didn't want to weightbare on) and has been on and off again lame ever since.

She had box rest, medication, rehab work (lots of walking in straight lines), started back out in the field made it out 24/7 for two weeks and then re-injured it around July time. Same process started again, made it back out to the field around Novemeber but now we're on winter fields the turnout is restricted to 5 hours a day (which suits her for the rehab anyway). Addition to this is she looked to have strained the ligament down the back of her pastern (whilst on box rest for the second time :rolleyes3:, she does not like box rest!), so is now in heartbar wedges. This injury presented as heat and some inflammation down the back of the pastern, by this point the insurance had refused to cover the injury/leg so we decided not to scan and try the wedges first.

She is hopping again , no heat or swelling (the original injury was damage to the fetlock capsual we think, as all x-rays and scans were clear) so we have a large windgall permenantly now but nothing else.

Vet is prescribing her some anti-inflammatories, and my farrier and vet are in talks now about how best to go from here. They are hoping that with some shoeing adjustments we can get it right for her. She doesn't have good hoof conformation with quite poor medial lateral imbalance, where she weightbares prodominantly to the inside. Before this week she was sound in straight lines, but on the lunge lame when the offending leg was on the outside of the circle as it was forcing her to take the weight more to the outisde.

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for to be honest. Has anyone had an injury like this where the proper shoeing management has got them comfortable again? If I'm truthful I'd love to take her shoes off, but vet and farrier dead against this, and me trailling shoes off was what led to the cushings diagnosis as she absolutely couldn't tolerate not having fronts on.

(She's been bare behind for about 10 years, so about 3 years ago I took the fronts off lasted about 3 weeks and she just couldn't cope so shoes went back on, though I know more about barefoot now. It was when I mentioned this to my new (at the time) vet he wanted to test her for cushings.)

I'm happy to accept she can just be a pet but she needs to be field sound at least! I'm not entirely convienced that her recurrent lamenesses now are from the original injury but more that the shoes are altering her hoof balance in a way she cannot cope with. She's been wonky for so long I'm not sure messing with her feet was the best idea, but then they (vet + farrier) are the experts not me...

We are this far down the rabbit hole would it be daft to declare I know better than my vet and farrier?
And for the record I do think both are excellent at their jobs and both have made vast improvements to my horses and I'm in general very, very happy with their work!

If anyone gets to the end and has the energy to reply I will be amazed but sometimes its nice just to write it all out and get some perspective!

x x

 

[Firefly9410]

It is difficult. It would seem the vet and farrier are coming to the end of the road with what to do. Let them talk and hear them out. There is no harm in that. If their ideas sound sensible to you and you can afford it, then try them. But you know your horse better than they do. You know if she has had enough of being messed with. You know if your wallet cannot take any more. It is also possible you know more about barefoot than either vet or farrier. At 23 with repeated failed medical intervention I think there is no harm in saying let us see what Mother Nature can do and if even she cannot fix it we will call it quits. Now the cushings is being treated she could well be fine without shoes. Though if vet and farrier do not believe in it as a treatment you will never get them to agree to it until perhaps after you have proved them wrong. She is your horse and after considering all the options you must do what you think is best. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[ester]

When did the wedges go on? I do understand the logic in her case but she might well not be following that

TBH I would have them off and put her back in normal shoes at the moment and see if that helps. I would do that before taking them off as I think you need to know if she is more comfortable without the wedges than she is at the moment rather than confusing the issue by taking the shoes off/using boots etc.

 

[Luci07]

Here some more thoughts but with the caveat that I can only share my experiences but am no vet! So, broadly speaking, a horse who is lame on a circle will often have changes going on in the foot. Remedial shoeing makes a massive difference and actually, it is pretty quick (changes show from 1 shoeing to the next). Could you afford for the feet t be X rayed so your vet and farrier know what to work with? Then X Ray again after a couple of shoeings if your horse is sound on a circle. The other thing is to backup what you said.. When you change 1 thing in an older horse, invariably something else will react.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

It is difficult. It would seem the vet and farrier are coming to the end of the road with what to do. Let them talk and hear them out. There is no harm in that. If their ideas sound sensible to you and you can afford it, then try them. But you know your horse better than they do. You know if she has had enough of being messed with. You know if your wallet cannot take any more. It is also possible you know more about barefoot than either vet or farrier. At 23 with repeated failed medical intervention I think there is no harm in saying let us see what Mother Nature can do and if even she cannot fix it we will call it quits. Now the cushings is being treated she could well be fine without shoes. Though if vet and farrier do not believe in it as a treatment you will never get them to agree to it until perhaps after you have proved them wrong. She is your horse and after considering all the options you must do what you think is best. Good luck whatever you decide.

Thank you for your thoughts and this is what I am leaning to, but would much rather have a good support network to try new things than 'my' experts poo poo the idea from the start. I will listen to what their proposed plans are, as neither so far has entirely agreed with the other regarding the shoeing :rolleyes3: so it could be an interesting discussion, and go from there.

When did the wedges go on? I do understand the logic in her case but she might well not be following that

TBH I would have them off and put her back in normal shoes at the moment and see if that helps. I would do that before taking them off as I think you need to know if she is more comfortable without the wedges than she is at the moment rather than confusing the issue by taking the shoes off/using boots etc.

Wedges went on when she injured herself on the second lot of box rest so around the end of August.

No she doesn't follow logic how she injured herself whilst confined to the stable we do not know lol.

This is a very sensible approach and one I have discussed with my vet, as I'm not convinced there is still an injury for the wedges to help and he did seem to listen to my thoughts. But then he did argue that wedges shouldn't make her lamer but should make a positive difference even with no issues, so there is perhaps hope that this idea wouldn't be too daft to them but we shall see.

Here some more thoughts but with the caveat that I can only share my experiences but am no vet! So, broadly speaking, a horse who is lame on a circle will often have changes going on in the foot. Remedial shoeing makes a massive difference and actually, it is pretty quick (changes show from 1 shoeing to the next). Could you afford for the feet t be X rayed so your vet and farrier know what to work with? Then X Ray again after a couple of shoeings if your horse is sound on a circle. The other thing is to backup what you said.. When you change 1 thing in an older horse, invariably something else will react.

I have asked a couple of times whether we should scan/x-ray legs and feet but my lovely vet (thinking of the £1500 already spent ), is keen to try a few changes first before we do any more diagnostics. His thinking is that with her hoof balance as it is, her age, etc, she will most likely show lots of changes and terrible things within the foot, but that it wouldn't necessarily change how we treat/manage her, so wouldn't perhaps be the best use of money. The farrier (understandably) would prefer to x-ray and know what he's dealing with, I may push for some x-rays as they aren't that expensive really.

I think your last sentance is exactly what has happened. She was wonky but coping, did herself a nasty injury which has set off a chain of reactions, so the weakend leg/fetlock has upset the wonky hoof balance and neither can quite get back to the status quo...

Thanks for the replies everyone, I will elt you know how we get on.

x x

 

[Luci07]

I agree with your farrier. He can't make changes unless he can see what is going on. I appreciate there will be changes, would put money on nervicular changes as well but I was truly amazed at just how quickly the balance was amended with corrective shoeing. My vet had a portable X Ray so it wasn't the end of the world to do this.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I agree with your farrier. He can't make changes unless he can see what is going on. I appreciate there will be changes, would put money on nervicular changes as well but I was truly amazed at just how quickly the balance was amended with corrective shoeing. My vet had a portable X Ray so it wasn't the end of the world to do this.

To be fair to my vet, he is thinking (and I agree) that even after x-raying there will still be some trial and error with what will work for her or not, so why pay for the x-rays and not just get on with the trial and error. But then I would like to know for definite whats going on in there, ah why is nothing simple! Vet does have a portable x-ray machine, will see if the farrier wins the x-ray arguement and if not suggest it again myself.

But then it's still going back to making more changes and whether this will upset things further, will see what their disscussion brings to the table!

x x

 

[Birker2020]

She doesn't have good hoof conformation with quite poor medial lateral imbalance, where she weightbares prodominantly to the inside. Before this week she was sound in straight lines, but on the lunge lame when the offending leg was on the outside of the circle as it was forcing her to take the weight more to the outisde.

May be well off the mark here... but here goes....I presume the vet has checked for suspensory branch strain? The foot confirmation you describe often predisposes a horse to this type of injury. Swelling and lameness is not always present, or a horse can present as lame on the opposite leg to the one that is damaged if the damaged leg is on the outside of the circle. Lameness is often transient, mild to moderate. Injury of the suspensory branches is relatively common in all types of sport horses.

From a website: Although injuries to the suspensory ligament are relatively common, often they are not diagnosed, or are misdiagnosed for a period of time. There are several reasons for this. Frequently there is little or no visible swelling in the limb, so there are no physical clues. The lameness may be mild and sporadic, often resolving after a short period of rest and returning after periods of work. Horses are often affected bilaterally, which means that they gain little advantage by limping and instead just shorten their stride and appear weak or don’t perform well. Often when lameness examinations are performed, little to no lameness is seen and nothing definite is seen on radiographs. Finally, horses with suspensory injuries may show a transient response to joint injections or systemic medications, which may lead us to believe that the problem is joint related.

My horse is currently on rehab following his suspensory branch injury last week. I've spoken to the farrier this morning as the vet has advised me to ask the farrier to build up on the inside of the lateral part of the shoe from toe to heel (if that makes sense - the farrier didn't understand what I meant so is ringing my vet to discuss the horses requirements). This scenario will make the horse more comfortable and assist with his recovery as the outside of the foot will be better supported.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

May be well off the mark here... but here goes....I presume the vet has checked for suspensory branch strain? The foot confirmation you describe often predisposes a horse to this type of injury. Swelling and lameness is not always present, or a horse can present as lame on the opposite leg to the one that is damaged if the damaged leg is on the outside of the circle. Lameness is often transient, mild to moderate. Injury of the suspensory branches is relatively common in all types of sport horses.

From a website: Although injuries to the suspensory ligament are relatively common, often they are not diagnosed, or are misdiagnosed for a period of time. There are several reasons for this. Frequently there is little or no visible swelling in the limb, so there are no physical clues. The lameness may be mild and sporadic, often resolving after a short period of rest and returning after periods of work. Horses are often affected bilaterally, which means that they gain little advantage by limping and instead just shorten their stride and appear weak or don’t perform well. Often when lameness examinations are performed, little to no lameness is seen and nothing definite is seen on radiographs. Finally, horses with suspensory injuries may show a transient response to joint injections or systemic medications, which may lead us to believe that the problem is joint related.

My horse is currently on rehab following his suspensory branch injury last week. I've spoken to the farrier this morning as the vet has advised me to ask the farrier to build up on the inside of the lateral part of the shoe from toe to heel (if that makes sense - the farrier didn't understand what I meant so is ringing my vet to discuss the horses requirements). This scenario will make the horse more comfortable and assist with his recovery as the outside of the foot will be better supported.

Well everything scanned clean from the inital injury, so there was no ligament/tendon damage that could be seen, and the swelling was very localised to the fetlock joint itself so fairly conclusive of where the injury was. The secondary injury from around August time could have been something similar, but we didn't scan and went with the wedges, rest and then rehab which got us to sound in straight lines, lame on a circle.

Her current lameness is very apparent and is obvious which leg it is (no subtle bilateral lameness but cannot rule out being lame in the other leg). All through this it has been obviously her near fore though I do worry about the strain the other leg must be under. Previous to this current episode, her lameness on a circle is when the comprimised leg is to the outside and she is still lame on that leg, so it doesn't switch as described above.

Can I ask how your vet checked for a suspensory branch strain?

 

[ester]

I thought it might have been more recent. From August would be a long time for most people to want to use them though and I'd wonder if they have aggravated other things, the m/l imbalance and or/any arthritis or djd she might have.

It doesn't sound like a suspensory issue to me.

If you are happy lameness is feet (not sure if nerve blocked?) if I were you I would X-ray front feet so you know what you are working with then make decisions. Even as a barefoot peep I think I would still err on the side of shoeing with plain shoes to the X-rays to start. If she is not comfortable then then give more consideration to taking her barefoot but with boots to help this time. I assume she is suitably supplemented and diet ok?

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I thought it might have been more recent. From August would be a long time for most people to want to use them though and I'd wonder if they have aggravated other things, the m/l imbalance and or/any arthritis or djd she might have.

It doesn't sound like a suspensory issue to me.

If you are happy lameness is feet (not sure if nerve blocked?) if I were you I would X-ray front feet so you know what you are working with then make decisions. Even as a barefoot peep I think I would still err on the side of shoeing with plain shoes to the X-rays to start. If she is not comfortable then then give more consideration to taking her barefoot but with boots to help this time. I assume she is suitably supplemented and diet ok?

No it's been a long time and one of the reasons I want them off! Both vet and farrier seem to think they are not causing any issues (no collapsed heels or anything) so to leave them on.

Not nerve blocked her feet no, as all previous diagnositics were for things higher up. Hmm I think I will call my vet again and ask for those x-rays, or maybe nerve blocks to pinpoint where this current lameness is coming from. If we can definitely say its feet then it gives us more to go on, as although I think it's feet I'm not sure if he is as certain.

Current feed is:
Alpha A mollasses free
Micronised linseed
Grass nuts
Solution mash

She was also on a muscle supplement as she had dropped so much weight with all the box rest (Myostem Mass), but has finished that now. I've debated supplementing her but previously not found it made much of a difference (had her on Pro-Hoof by progressive earth for a while). The solution mash was added to help the weight gain and she's on three feeds a day now and is starting to look better. Her general skin and hoof quality is very good, so I'm not sure she is lacking much but would be willing to try something else (feed or supplement) if it does a better job.

If I did take her shoes off, she would have boots when needed, but at this point I would be happy to keep her in shoes if they make her comfortable enough.

x x

 

[ester]

I would nerve block the foot just to check before bothering with the xrays.

Poor old girl, she was doing so well until just recently.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I would nerve block the foot just to check before bothering with the xrays.

Poor old girl, she was doing so well until just recently.

Yes it makes sense really to know exactly where it hurts!

I know, I told her she was retired from competition and she has been on the sick list ever since! 10 years we've had her so can't complain about the vet costs now, but just want her comfy .

x x

 

[ester]

I know, horrid to see them sore when at least you want to give them a bit of nice happy comfy retirement after that time.

 

[Birker2020]

Can I ask how your vet checked for a suspensory branch strain?

By lifting the leg so it is bent at the knee and then palpating over the area where the tendon branches off. Inside the leg is called the medial branch and the outside is called the lateral branch. There is not always an obvious swelling. My post which is in the veterinary section at the moment about my horses suspensory branch injury gives further information. I think he had a good idea it was this from my description about the horse galloping about on a twisted shoe two weeks before executing a large spin in the dressage arena on his forehand when we competed two weeks later. Bit of a giveaway.

Unfortunately for us, the horse is not always consistent in his reaction to palpation. One minute he can shoot through the roof and literally two minutes later the vet can palpate the area again only to be met with total indifference! However he was consistent with his pain response upon palpation this time.

I couldn't detect any heat or see any swelling on the day and I made a special effort to check his branches due to his previous two branch injuries (on different legs). It was only the day the vet came out four days after that the swelling was visible. I was really suprised to see it as it had not been there the evening before, it must have come up during the day of the vets visit as it was very noticeable that evening and I do not visit the horse in the mornings as he is on assisted DIY.

To be fair the vet did say that sometimes it can go a few days and then show up which is what has happened I think.

I am only glad that the day of his injury I iced both his front legs with my ice vibe boots.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

By lifting the leg so it is bent at the knee and then palpating over the area where the tendon branches off. Inside the leg is called the medial branch and the outside is called the lateral branch. There is not always an obvious swelling. My post which is in the veterinary section at the moment about my horses suspensory branch injury gives further information. I think he had a good idea it was this from my description about the horse galloping about on a twisted shoe two weeks before executing a large spin in the dressage arena on his forehand when we competed two weeks later. Bit of a giveaway.

Unfortunately for us, the horse is not always consistent in his reaction to palpation. One minute he can shoot through the roof and literally two minutes later the vet can palpate the area again only to be met with total indifference! However he was consistent with his pain response upon palpation this time.

I couldn't detect any heat or see any swelling on the day and I made a special effort to check his branches due to his previous two branch injuries (on different legs). It was only the day the vet came out four days after that the swelling was visible. I was really suprised to see it as it had not been there the evening before, it must have come up during the day of the vets visit as it was very noticeable that evening and I do not visit the horse in the mornings as he is on assisted DIY.

To be fair the vet did say that sometimes it can go a few days and then show up which is what has happened I think.

I am only glad that the day of his injury I iced both his front legs with my ice vibe boots.

Ah ok, will have a specific nosy to see if I can see anything, she's had icevibe boots on in her previous lamenesses but they didn't do much (as my vet had told me as they're for a different sort of injury than she had, but using them made me feel better lol). Could dig them back out and see if it helps.

Though I'm still confident it's not the leg as I have given it all a good poke about and not had any reaction and she is very dramatic about these things, but I'm not a vet so I could be entirely wrong!

Hopefully the anti-inflammatories have arrived and the vet and farrier have come up with a plan in the morning, I've also left a message for my vet about x-raying and nerve blocks, so will see what tomorrow brings!

x x

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Update, so vet has agreed to at least nerve block so we know which bit hurts. Depending on what this finds will mean whether we x-ray or not.
Though they're not coming out till Monday so I'm going to have a stressful four days worrying about it! She's on her anti-inflammatories now so should be a lot more comfortable in the mean time. Farrier is still silent so a jivvying phone call later to him and hopefully we will have a plan, but I think he will definitely want to wait for the results of Monday before making any decisions.

Thanks for the replies and support.

x x

 

[Pinkvboots]

I think your doing the right thing having nerve blocks done, I know through experience horses often aquire new problems on top of old ones, have you ever considered natural balance shoes they may not work in your case but one of my horses had foot balance issues and they were the only thing that worked.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I think your doing the right thing having nerve blocks done, I know through experience horses often aquire new problems on top of old ones, have you ever considered natural balance shoes they may not work in your case but one of my horses had foot balance issues and they were the only thing that worked.

Thanks, yes I feel a bit better now we're being proactive. I know she's 23 and will only ever be a light hack now, but I don't care I want to know whats wrong and really want her fixed! She is really a unicorn and will live forever in my head .

She has had those shoes on before, I think they stopped when I had a change of farrier, can't remember the reasoning now but it could be something to go back to!

x x

 

[ester]

Good, always makes you feel better to have a plan.

If she can't do without shoes you might also want to look at some of the plastic ones about, the makers of easyboots now do a few different versions of the easy shoe which can be nailed on (so you aren't relying on glue )

 

[Pinkvboots]

Thanks, yes I feel a bit better now we're being proactive. I know she's 23 and will only ever be a light hack now, but I don't care I want to know whats wrong and really want her fixed! She is really a unicorn and will live forever in my head .

She has had those shoes on before, I think they stopped when I had a change of farrier, can't remember the reasoning now but it could be something to go back to!

x x

I hope you get some answers on Monday and hope it's not too serious I love your little horse she is so pretty and of course being a bit of Arab and bay makes me totally biased

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Good, always makes you feel better to have a plan.

If she can't do without shoes you might also want to look at some of the plastic ones about, the makers of easyboots now do a few different versions of the easy shoe which can be nailed on (so you aren't relying on glue )

Yes though knowing the baggage she will be sound come Monday .
Yes I've seen them online, though didn't know you could nail them on, farrier is up for trying new things and is keen to try a smaller lighter shoe than is on at the moment. He thinks the weight of the shoe isn't helping things as she's so dainty and the current shoes are quite big and heavy. He did talk of a lighter shoe with a plastic wedge combination, so maybe plastic shoes could be an option.

I hope you get some answers on Monday and hope it's not too serious I love your little horse she is so pretty and of course being a bit of Arab and bay makes me totally biased

Thank you, she is the best and knows it too . She's a proper diva in her dotage, with being fed on tap, only rolling on clean white shavings, refusing to go out in the rain, etc, but all in an adorable way. There will never be another Doodle for me! I did try and buy another Arab or Arab cross but it didn't quite happen, one day maybe I'll get my second one.

Picture as she's pretty modelling her Christmas present of Gold boots! (Don't judge me I love them and they are reflective so also practical for hacking )

 

[Birker2020]

It might just happen to be the way she is stood at the time the photo was taken but her off hind is very much underneath her, what the vet or physio would term 'midline'. This is usually because a horse is trying to take weight of the hock and therefore moves in an alternative way to prevent pain. Sometimes they will swing the leg out, other times they swing the leg in. My spavin horse does this (had recent inflammation in top hock joint) and he is now in lateral extensions on his hinds to prevent the foot from being placed under his body. A month down the line and the improvement was amazing, didn't start noticing his foot placement had changed until about two weeks after shoeing, amazing how quickly it worked.

As I say it might just be the way the photo is but I thought I would mention it to you. I might be totally wrong, I'm no vet more's the pity or I would be very rich now! She also appears to be base wide at the front, maybe this is in an effort to steady herself. Photo's can be very deceptive I know. Would be interesting to see if she does walk swinging that hind under her body.

She looks a lovely girl. Good luck for Monday x

 

[HufflyPuffly]

It might just happen to be the way she is stood at the time the photo was taken but her off hind is very much underneath her, what the vet or physio would term 'midline'. This is usually because a horse is trying to take weight of the hock and therefore moves in an alternative way to prevent pain. Sometimes they will swing the leg out, other times they swing the leg in. My spavin horse does this (had recent inflammation in top hock joint) and he is now in lateral extensions on his hinds to prevent the foot from being placed under his body. A month down the line and the improvement was amazing, didn't start noticing his foot placement had changed until about two weeks after shoeing, amazing how quickly it worked.

As I say it might just be the way the photo is but I thought I would mention it to you. I might be totally wrong, I'm no vet more's the pity or I would be very rich now! She also appears to be base wide at the front, maybe this is in an effort to steady herself. Photo's can be very deceptive I know. Would be interesting to see if she does walk swinging that hind under her body.

She looks a lovely girl. Good luck for Monday x

Well that photo is probably not the best as she was following me in the hope of treats .

She is old, creaky and more than a little wonky and so no doesn't stand very square. She is showing in that picture how she likes to put most weight to the inside of her fronts but then she isn't normally base wide so I think that is just the photo. In walk she is perfectly sound and straight moving normally (asides from the current issues with her front near side).

I think she does have hock issues beginning to show, very occasionally (over the last few years) she feels odd behind and can look to be either swinging the hind legs out or doing an exaggerated step when trotting, currently it's so intermittent that I've not managed to show the vet yet and with her other issues it's not quite a priority. As it's only a couple of steps with maybe months of being fine inbetween, we're not too concerned. She will never be expected to jump or be schooled really from now on, so until it becomes more pronounced there isn't much to go on or have much cause to investigate.

She is bare behind and it would take an awful lot for me to consider shoeing behind now.

I'm keeping everything crossed for good news on Monday!

x x

 

[HufflyPuffly]

So the Vet had been, we were there all ready for hours of poking, stabbing and debating, and really it was all over in about 20mins!

Doodle went downhill rapidly on Sunday, completely non weight bearing . As the Vet was booked we gave more bute and kept her in, but really I was thinking it could be the end as it was so similar to how she looked at points last year.

So Vet arrived picked foot up, gave a poke with a hoof pick and she flinched. Got his hoof testers and good God I thought she may kill us all! Both of us were thinking it couldn't really be could it? Then tried to remove the shoe from what appeared to be a feral stallion with a fetish for smooshing humans on walls... Eventually got the shoe off, (lovely Vet was a little red and said it was the longest amount of time he'd ever needed to remove a shoe lol), tried to have a dig about but Doodle said no. So as a cavity had already occurred between the frog and inside hoofwall, he stuck a needle in and PUS glorious PUS! I've never been so happy to see an abcess.

Couldn't get it totally open as we valued our lives, so she's being hot polticed and we might get the farrier out to see if he can do any more, if it seems to not clearing quickly.

Bonus of Vet agreeing to normal shoes to see how she goes .

Thanks again everyone for your ideas and support.

x x x

 

[Pinkvboots]

I am so glad it's just an abscess they can brew for weeks sometimes she must be feeling more comfortable now it's been drained, nappys are good for an abscess once you have done with the hot poulticing keeps the foot clean and gives it a bit of padding, hopefully once she gets her shoes back on she will be fine

 

[ChestnutConvert]

It took a relatively small accident to bring out the real effects of changes in my then 11 year old, without xrays which led then on to mri etc we wouldn't have known so quick and just thought it was the accident that had gone the damage. Always worth having a look inside to see what you are dealing with.

 

[ester]

Ha Pus!

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I am so glad it's just an abscess they can brew for weeks sometimes she must be feeling more comfortable now it's been drained, nappys are good for an abscess once you have done with the hot poulticing keeps the foot clean and gives it a bit of padding, hopefully once she gets her shoes back on she will be fine

We honestly couldn't believe it she never has 'normal' things wrong with her , though the vet conceeded that it's in an odd place. She's starting to put more weight on it now, relief wasn't instant as she wouldn't let us burst it properly, but hopefully it will clear up quickly.

I'm so hopeful now that once this is done and we put normal shoes back on she will be a little better on her legs.

It took a relatively small accident to bring out the real effects of changes in my then 11 year old, without xrays which led then on to mri etc we wouldn't have known so quick and just thought it was the accident that had gone the damage. Always worth having a look inside to see what you are dealing with.

I agree, we x-rayed and scanned the leg initially but it didn't show much, I would still like to know what's going on in her feet but think it can wait until we've sorted the abscess out and got normal shoes on her.

Ha Pus!

so pleased, even if she did think we were trying to take her foot off

x x