Absolutely. Unless they hold weekend hours (in which case you’d call the office), weekends are emergency only - IF the practice does emergency. Some don’t.
Is there another vet you can contact? Your posts make it seem like this is very worrying to you and you haven’t got anyone IRL giving you the support you need - either through more tests or simply talking it through. That’s a valid reason to look for a second opinion. Even if it is “just” an abscess, the best vets I’ve used are very good at talking owners back from the cliff and giving detailed instructions.
Is the horse lame, and what’s the temp? If you haven’t taken a temp, do that ASAP. They rarely look feverish until it’s BAD. For one, knowing your horse’s normal temp is very good info; for two, if he is running a low fever that tells you something more than just a mild abscess is going on.
I typically recommend stopping the soaking once the abscess has opened and is draining.
Might flush it, depending.
Usually advise using mastitis ointment in the tract, with a cotton plug to keep it clean and a wrap as well.
I’m a bit concerned the soft tissue swelling has persisted if the abscess is open and draining in your horse.
That usually subsides pretty quickly.
@hj.eq.xc, this is now two weeks? I would be very concerned about this situation at this point.
I battled a bizarre swelling/no swelling/swelling/etc situation years ago on a horse (hind leg). It went on for months, with repeat vet visits at the farm. I finally packed her up and got to a vet clinic. Diagnosis: abscess that did not drain, and was now threatening the coffin bone. Next stop: surgery.
I would not mess around with this much longer. Get your horse to a clinic where you can get intense, integrated help with resolving this situation.
Thank you! I appreciate your response, it makes me feel a lot less like I am over reacting. Unfortunately, the responses I have gotten from my vet definitely come across, intentional or not, like I am making a mountain out of a molehill. I have called another practice so I am hoping to get somewhere with them, even for just a second opinion. I am just the type of person that needs to be able to talk with the professionals I work with to understand what’s going on and what to look out for and if they don’t have the time to talk with me (I understand weekends are generally for emergencies only but the practice I use has office hours open Saturday as well) and check in with how my horse is, especially while he is actively on meds for undiagnosed/unknown swelling then we just aren’t the right fit
Thank you for your reply! The info on wrapping and soaking was not explained to me, actually nothing really was explained to me in terms of how long I should do treatment with exception being the timeline for SMZs being written on the bottle. He isn’t visibly lame at the walk, but he isn’t 100% comfortable in that he is unwilling to move forward at more pace than a walk. I need to do an updated jog and see how he is landing. Antibiotics and bute are finished, the swelling is not going down and it is not going anywhere and this is now the third week that this has been going on. Also wanted to add, bute ended on Friday, he seemed more comfortable Friday and Saturday, but today he seems like he is slipping back comfort wise again.
I contacted the vet Friday because on Tuesday he told me to reach out if the swelling was still there in a few days. To me, from Tuesday evening, that would mean on Friday I should let him know so I did, I mentioned that yes there was swelling, asked how long I should be wet poulticing the hoof (at the beginning of the week he said to continue treatment ie soaking and wet poulticing and bute through Friday) and could he please come out ASAP. The practice has office hours on Saturdays, considering the timeline of this whole situation for something that should have been a benign abscess and the fact that it takes 30 seconds to send off a quick message and say, yes keep soaking and wet poulticing and check with the office but I should be out Monday or Tuesday at the latest to see what’s going on or say whatever instruction is necessary. Is that really asking too much?
Thank you for your reply! I will take his temp tomorrow and see where he is at. I have contacted another practice. Basically what you described is what I need, communication and instruction. To me this seems like it should be super basic and not a rare thing. Like if you had an infected cut in your foot for example, you see the doctor once and he said wrap it every day exactly as I show you now and don’t take any meds which you follow, then your leg swells up over your knee and instead of assessing the cut again he just tells you to go to the pharmacy and get some drugs and then as another week goes by you ask if anything in how you wrap should change and you don’t get any response and then when you send a follow up message you get the “continue treatment for another week and let me know if it stays bad”
Thank you for your reply! I have contacted a bigger vet clinic, they also do field visits and have a surgery center/hospital as part of the practice. I expect to hear from them tomorrow and I hope to have them out ASAP even if I have to pay emergency visit rates
Keep us posted as I’m sure I speak for all of us on here that we want to make sure your horse is getting appropriate treatment. I hope your horse heals up well with no issues.
Communication IS important but if you’re not getting the response/answers you need, you either change tactics (call the office and ask for a consult or appointment) or get a new vet. I see you’ve gotten a new vet lined up so that’s good!
As to the rest, to be fair, that’s not really how doctors’ offices work either, yeah? You make a follow-up appointment or go to the urgent care. You don’t text your physician for days and on weekends. At least I’ve never heard of that being a thing!
I think you have two things going on here:
a vet who sees the issue as a basic abscess + an owner who is perhaps over worried/inexperienced. Until that owner decides to make an appointment, vet seems to be assuming things aren’t “that bad”. That the vet hasn’t directly told you to make an appointment is less than ideal, to be fair.
you, OP, hadn’t quite figured out that you often have to take the driver’s seat in these situations. With the new vet, it’s a good opportunity to ask questions in person (write notes ahead of time if you must), and ask how best to get your concerns addressed post-appointment. Some practices want you to make an appointment and then email pics/videos for the vet to review. Some will do phone consults (usually a fee here, maybe until you’re an established client), some want you to call the office first and let the desk direct you from there. Ask what’s best!
Until you have the experience under your belt to DIY some of this, it’s totally normal to make an appointment and tell the vet “I am happy to pay you to come out here and tell me everything is normal, but I need you to come look at the horse”.
Lastly, swelling persisting this long despite the abscess draining isn’t normal. That’s a cellulitis/infection scare, and I’m glad you’re getting the new vet out ASAP!
I can say that I do not text either my small animal vet or my large animal vet unless they specifically told me to reach out to them that way about that very specific thing.
I can not imagine randomly texting them on a weekend and expecting a response.
There is office staff for a reason. Reach out using the appropriate channels (call the office) and go from there.
OP, are you at a boarding barn? Is there a knowledgeable BO who can help you? I think that would be very helpful – at the least, they can help you with abscess care (including explaining why things are done) as well as generally assessing the situation.
PS, I have the cell #s of all the vets at the practice I use, and I would never text or call them out of regular office hours unless it was truly a life or death situation, where a horse needed to be euthanized right away. In a regular emergency I would call the practice to speak with the on call vet.
I do use their cell numbers if, eg, one asks me to text her a picture, or if they are on their way here so aI can update them with new information.
I’m just posting this to let the OP know how I use vets’ private numbers. Her vet may have a different arrangement, I realize. But our practice doesn’t usually give clients cell numbers.
Same here. I have my local vets’ cells - cause I’ve had a horse colic and they wanted me to call if he deteriorated, and one had an abnormal reaction to OSPHOS, so same reason. I don’t use them for anything other than those exact cases - I wouldn’t call weeks later if the horse looked colicky again, I’d call the office.
Lots of places have different policies, often due to staffing levels. That’s why it’s a good idea to ask these things when becoming a new client!
I also have my vet’s cell number. On weekends we have sent pictures of injuries or information and asked for advice but leave it up to him to decide if he needs to come. We’ve been with him for a long time and he knows we are pretty self sufficient.
We had a horse come in last week with four swollen legs. Obviously some kind of allergic reaction. I sent a text to confirm giving DEX and the dosage. Saved him a trip.
Thank you! I really appreciated your points, they are great and super valuable and worthwhile. The additional perspectives and explanation is honestly so helpful/valuable, I just really appreciate it so much.
I know this is a direct reply to you but for you and everyone on here, I really really appreciate having this resource to “talk” with people who have more experience/knowledge in these elements of the horse world that I am not experienced enough in and its really valuable to come to a better understanding of how these things work so I can handle them more successfully and have appropriate expectations/understandings, not just in dealing with a vet but also in dealing with abscesses and swollen legs. Thank you!
IME it varies by practice - you just need to know your practice’s rules. My previous, now retired vet was a 1 man show and he was fine with texts anytime, including “is this an emergency?” kind of texts. I now work with 2 practices, one that has an office and answering service off hours, and another where you communicate/schedule directly with the vets (there are 2 in my area, which is satellite to the main office in another state).
Back to this situation - I agree that an abscess that is not well on the way to healing after 2 weeks is a concern. From the description it doesn’t sound like cellulitis, if it has been low grade for days like this, but I’d still be concerned. Also, it is possible for something that starts as an abscess to become a more serious infection (esp if the coffin bone is involved) or for a more serious infection to initially masquerade as an abscess. OP, I’m glad you went with your gut and are getting another opinion. I hope this vet is more responsive to your concerns and keep us posted on his healing.
Yes, I should have clarified that I am not texting because I have a phobia of phone calls, I text generally to include pictures of what I am asking about or for an update because “his leg is really swollen” can mean a million different things without a visual. I should also clarify that initial communications took place via calls to the office number, they then texted me that the vet would be dropping off the SMZs and I assumed that texting pictures or a quick question about dosage/wrapping duration could be then answered after being viewed by the vet because everyone sees the texts the practice sends/recieves. The people working the office always have to check (in my experience) with the vet anyway before telling me anything in regard to the questions I had, except they can say yes the vet should come out. it seems less of a hassle to text wet wrap until Wednesday then dry wrap or just give one gram bute AM only than to call the office to have them call the vet who will then have the office call me back. I mean I don’t mind phone calls but to me it seems like an elaborate game of telephone to know how long to wrap the hoof for but that could be normal and I just don’t know
This is is the same practice that the boarding barn I was at used so when the horses moved, since they were under the practices care anyway I just kept them so I did kind of miss the opportunity to ask all the new client questions or get a practice policy run down, I mean I should have asked anyway but it was like this umbrella assumption that I was an existing client and knew the etiquette even if I wasn’t at the boarding barn. It is what it is at this point, I won’t send messages after 5 on Fridays or before 9 on Mondays and I will just call the office and hopefully things start to turn around. Literally my main question for the vet right now is, is this normal (which I don’t think it is but its a starting point)
I wanted to put up an update and not leave it open ended. I had my vet back out, took on a lot of the feedback in regard to personal interactions and proper expectations and all that and I feel that the interaction went really well and I had a very positive feeling which I think/hope was reciprocated. The swelling dissipated significantly since my last few posts and we got the all clear from my vet to stop the wrappings and start getting back into work! It’s such a relief that he is back to himself. I really want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who replied and offered feedback and advice. I really tried to take everything on board and use it to improve the relationship with my vet present and future. It is so helpful, I really appreciate it so much and am so grateful!
