Abscess on jaw that will not heal

[quarterhorse4me]

Two days before my daughter was scheduled for a 7 hour surgery and hospitalization, my horse had a swollen spot pop up on her jaw. My father-in-law vet was here to dog sit and monitored while we were out of town. The spot started draining and he flushed every day. Later when I returned home, we did an ultra-sound, x-rayed and still could not find the cause but the spot would not heal.

Mare was placed on heavy duty antibiotics and my equine vet tested for bacteria and found the presence of E coli. After 9 days of a heavy duty antibiotic specific for E coli, a blood work up b y my regular vet and a second ultrasound with no presence of a foreign body, it still has not cleared up. We are approaching the sixth week.

My mare eats well, drinks well and appears to feel fine. Swelling has all but gone away; however, there is still drainage from the site which I am still regularly flushing with betadine solution. Three vets are befuddled. Has anyone had any such experience?

Between my daughter, my horse, plus the dog with a bladder infection, this has been an expensive, crazy summer!

[khall]

If not tooth could be some foreign object as yet to be discovered or a bone chip causing the issue. Tiny one. Healing thoughts sent to your daughter and horse!

[Sansena]

Would you consider biopsy/ histopathology or fully removing the abscessed area?

I’m sorry, but when someone mentions a wound that will not heal in a situation like yours I immediately think The Big C.

[Tnavas]

Could be a bone infection, they tend to be bad at healing, and could just be coming from a very small area.

Agree with Sansena a biopsy may be a good idea.

[rcloisonne]

You mentioned e-coli as the infective bacteria but not whether any sensitivities were run to determine which antibiotic(s) are effective. Like MRSA, many strains of e-coli are resistant to multiple broad spectrum (heavy duty) antibiotics today because of overuse.
You may want to ask your vet to re-run the culture and sensitivity as apparently whatever antibiotics you’re using aren’t effective.

[SCM1959]

Hmmm, you are in the Carolinas. We are in Upstate South Carolina and friends of ours have a horse that has developed a horrid sore on the corner of its mouth. It looks like a hole and it is ugly. It developed proud flesh and the veterinarian had to debride it. Our friends say it is a “Summer Sore” which I have never heard of. They are also doing antibiotics and flushing. It has been nearly 2 months and they are still treating it.

[SCM1959]

Here is a link describing Summer Sores:

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/re-emergence-equine-summer-sores

[quarterhorse4me]

[QUOTE=rcloisonne;7694714]
You mentioned e-coli as the infective bacteria but not whether any sensitivities were run to determine which antibiotic(s) are effective. Like MRSA, many strains of e-coli are resistant to multiple broad spectrum (heavy duty) antibiotics today because of overuse.
You may want to ask your vet to re-run the culture and sensitivity as apparently whatever antibiotics you’re using aren’t effective.[/QUOTE]

All that was done, antibiotics were switched and blood re-checked halfway through to make sure the high-tess antibiotics were not having any impact on her kidneys although she is a younger horse. It got much better with the antibiotic shots and she was kept on them for two days longer than the vet generally likes for this particular antibiotic (genocin ???) It just will not 100% resolve. Currently, the vet has me flushing the affected area with 1 cc of this antibiotic.

Vets want to give it just a while longer and then the next step is to take her to NC State. Trust me I keep imagining all kinds of awful scenarios.

[AKB]

Is it related to an infected tooth?

[LauraKY]

Have a photo? One of mine had that problem, an oozing spot with swelling and nasal discharge from one nostril. Antibiotics didn’t clear it up, possible foreign body. Vet recommended ichthamol for several days and that did the trick (keeping track of temperature of course). Next step would have been to open it up and look for a foreign body.

[vineyridge]

Tooth or jaw. Hie thee to the vet school. Been there, done that. No point in waiting around.

[hoopoe]

time for second opinion and more x ray

consider possibility that the horse is reacting to the products being used to flush.

[Sarah616]

Picture of the location? Mine had a spot that would almost scab over, and seem to heal, and I’d forget about it. It did several cycles of this (every time it popped back up, it seemed so small that it wasn’t necessary for the vet to make a specula trip to the barn and by the time he came for his normal visit, it disappeared.) Anyways, it finally started oozing a lot, and vet diagnosed an infected root to a tooth that was finding it’s way out through horse’s jaw. Had the tooth pulled, which was fun because the dentist stuck a rod in the hole in the jaw and literally hammered it upwards to make sure all the roots were gotten rid of.

Diagnosed by two sets of X-rays, one with contrast, and sent to a dental specialist.

[quarterhorse4me]

I am not a tech person so posting a picture is not within my abilities. Honestly, it doesn’t even look bad at all. But for a little drainage you would not know it was there…originally the whole jaw was swollen and you could palpitate causing puss to come out. Now you cannot squeeze anything out and it only works out when she eats (moves her jaw.) She shows absolutely no signs that it bothers her.

AKB and Sarah616, If I had to make and educated guess, I think it may be tooth related as well. At any other time I probably would have already taken her to NCSU for treatment but I have been so overwhelmed with my daughter’s recovery and have taken a ton of time of for her. I know it is time to schedule an appointment despite the fact that it does not seem to bother her at all.

Thanks for the input all. SCM1959, that summer sore stuff is scary. I don’t think it is the issue here, but definitely something to think about.

[Sarah616]

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sarah616/media/IMG_3226.jpg.html
it’s a terrible picture, and this is post tooth removal, but you can see the location where my horse’s jaw was draining. We didn’t think tooth until we x-rayed, because the hole itself isn’t near tooth or bone, but it’s just where the infection drained and found a way out

[Dustysmom]

Did your horse ever heal??? I’m having the same problem and I’m at my wits end! Tooth extracted at UT and months later, not healing. I have been back numerous times and they are stumped as well.