Abscess?

[Jeane&Kinko]

Hi I am a new horse owner and we have a problem. Kinko is a 5 year old Paint that I purchased the end of October. The farrier was in the barn the next week and watched him work but we decided to let him go till the next visit since he was so new in the barn and he wanted to change his angles and his feet didn't look bad.

On Saturday, December 10 he started limping a bit- favoring is left front. The day before he had been out for a bit in the paddock and showed no problems when he was brought into the barn. The next day (Sunday) he would put no weight on that foot at all. We kept him stalled and called the vet. Vet came on Wednesday and checked him thoroughly and suspected an abscess. She pulled the shoe and trimmed some looking for the problem but couldn't find anything. His entire hoof was tender although more so in the front about halfway up on the inside. That hoof does have some heat, there is a bit of swelling up the back of his leg and she said there was a strong pulse there. We decided to take some x-rays because there was no obvious abscess. The vet called the next day and said the x-rays all looked good to start poulticing with icthammol. He appeared to be getting better on Friday and was walking on that foot much better on Saturday actually running and bucking a bit in the arena. On Moday morning we were greeted by a three legged horse again. I had the vet back again that Wednesday and she was still unable to find the abscess but said to keep doing what we were and it should come out. We added a warm epsom salt soak to the routine everyday and that does seem to bring him some relief and it definately helps with the swelling. Today is three weeks since he first went lame and we still have not seen the abscess come through. Our farrier is coming on Jan 6th. Is this an unusually long time for the abscess to break? Is there anything else we can do to make it come out quicker? Should I call the vet back out to see him this week? The girl who runs the barn where I keep him has never had a horse with an abscess before so we both really don't know what to expect.

Thanks!

Jeane and Kinko

[Forger Rabbit]

Hi I am fairly new to this site as well.Anyway you should post some picts. A rear view of the of the front legs,and a side view of the leg that is lame.Make sure there is a flat surface.With that going, everybody can get a birds eye view and you should get some good feed back.Hope all goes well with your new horse.And if i remeber correctly you said on the inside of the foot in question is showing sore you should post a pic. of that view as well. And you might also keep his bucking down a bit :)

[Jeane&Kinko]

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow morning. His foot really looks quite healthy although he is in bad need of trimming. We really do not know who worked on him last or when it was. When we bought him on Oct 29th his feet didn't look bad although our farrier wasn't happy with the angles when he watched him move, and was going to change that on his next scheduled appointment which was supposed to be on Dec 23rd. When it was moved to 1/6 we we were actually happy thinking by then the abscess would have broken and then our guy could clean it out good and he'd be sound enough to do the other feet. Now here we are on 1/1 and it still hasn't come out and he is strating the show the tiredness in his other legs. Because of the other feet being so long and his hopping around I am scared to death he is gonna mess up something else.

He hasn't been doing much of anything lately. Poor guy just hops around his stall or the paddock a bit. He is very reluctant to move but there is no fever and he's eating well and is still his sweet self.

Is there anything else this could be? Is there anything else I should be doing? Call the vet back in for more x-rays?

[Forgewizard]

Is there anything else this could be? Is there anything else I should be doing?
Yes, if the hoof is not in correct form(overgrown) the horse could be suffering laminitic damage. It may not be an abscess at all. If the hoof is hot- cool the leg from the knee down in water that is at least 40 degrees F for at least 3 days.

The bounding digital pulse tells you there is inflammation in the hoof and the circulation is compromised. Compare the pulse in the bad foot to all his other feet.

Did your vet give you any meds for the horse to aid circulation?

I personally opt for limiting the horse's movement when it is lame. So a small corral or paddock and no stimulation that would cause the animal to run, jump and do "airs above ground". Pain is a limiter so if he is hurting they usually won't tool around - unless they feel ike they HAVE to keep up with the herd.

So I am cautious about the use of medicinal pain killers - unless the horse is in excruciating pain and the meds will take the edge off a debilitating pain response.

Digging for abscesses often creates more issues than the abscess itself. Often a horse with the symptoms of an abscess doesn't ever have an abscess develop and "pop out" the horse's body resolves it internally.
Some abscesses take weeks or a couple months to work out. The soaking allows the hoof wall and sole to soften which in most cases makes exit of the infection easier. If your horse's hoof is thick & dense this can take a LONG time -IF it is effective at all!


Most abscesses begin life as a bruise or a puncture so evaluate your environment and hoof care protocol.

Get and KEEP your horse on a hoof care maintenance schedule - don't wait until the hoof "looks" poor to get the work done. KEEPING the hoof properly maintained is MUCH more beneficial, easier and less costly than constantly correcting bad form!

Pictures would be nice!
Kim

[Jeane&Kinko]

Thanks for all your help. My farrier and vet were both there on Thursday. As soon as Roger started looking/trimming the hoof he said there is no abscess - I think there is a fracture. He aslo suspected ringbone. We did another set of x-rays - thinking the first was too soon after the "trauma" and that is why nothing showed. Still no fracture lines to be seen, however my vet says it doesn't even look like the same hoof. She says looks like ringbone but not in the right place on p2 and p3 but so far the joint still looks good.

We started some bute and a cream - Surpress just above the coranary band to see if we can stop it. They are coming back next week to re-evalute and then give me some kind of prognoses. I am worried sick!

[mwmyersdvm]

I have found most abscesses to be focal laminitic events. Sometimes they are more generalized laminitic events. If your veterinarian is seeing some odd bony changes in the coffin bone a venogram can show some interesting details.