Hello! My QH gelding had a hoof abscess in his right hind at the beginning of January. We’ve had his main vet out 3 times, and they said the abscess had cracked and drained. They treated his hoof and put him in a boot, and 4 days later came back to remove it and gave him 1 shot of Excede (they said it was a double dose but the bill reflected otherwise). 2 weeks later, he is still walking on his toe. One of the trainers at our barn recommended a leg specialist. He has seen our horse twice, and put him on 1gram of bute a day and has given him 2 Excede shots (15ml), and wants to give 2 more. I’ve read several things about Excede and know a full dose is at 30ml (2 injections). We have zero experience with cellulitis in over 20 years having horses. I am very careful and do my research regarding meds and side effects, and wanted other opinions. Please help! 5 vet visits ($1500) in 5 weeks and no answer is very frustrating, as our horse is still in pain. Any advice would be sooo appreciated!!! Thank you guys so much!!!
Anyone took an xray?
You need to see what’s been brewing down there.
I may be missing it, but where does the swollen hock come into the picture? Sounds to me that the abscess has not entirely resolved. But if his hock is swollen, could be something else altogether.
Can you see where the abscess drained? If it came out of the coronary band, it may not have drained fully (working against gravity) and refestered.
At this point, I would be afraid that there is something wedged inside the hoof capsule. Somewhere. A nail perhaps? An xray would show this. It may not be visible on an external examination. If it was a simple abscess, with breaking open and draining and antibiotic treatment, you would expect things to be looking better than they are by now. Get the xray. Good luck.
Yes, you want to have an x-ray just to make sure there’s nothing like a nail or a long splinter that’s still there. At this point I’d also be pushing the vets to brainstorm a bit. Perhaps there’s an infection going on that does not respond to Excede? Or there may be some kind of underlying condition that is preventing the horse from healing.
Good luck.
In the Excede prescribing instructions from Zoetis, this is the warning:
“In the PK study, several horses developed clinical signs consistent with foot pain (stiff in the front limbs when turned in tight circles, and increased pulses and heat to the front feet). One horse in the NAXCEL group and one horse in the 6.0 mg/lb (2X) EXCEDE group were euthanized due to laminitis. Clinical signs of foot pain (stiff front limbs and increased heat and pulses in feet) affected more horses, for a longer period of time, in all EXCEDE-treated groups as compared to the NAXCEL-treated group. The study housing (multi-horse pens on concrete slabs) and diet (free choice alfalfa/ grass mix and once a day pellets) may have contributed to the development of foot pain. The prevalence and severity of injection site reactions in EXCEDE-treated horses may also have contributed to the development of a stiff gait. A causal relationship between ceftiofur and foot pain could not be definitively determined.”
Your horse may be sensitive to beta-lactams. I would be very wary of how this drug is being applied in your horse’s case. It takes 17-21 days for a single dose to clear (97%) from a system. Right now it seems that the horse has been overdosed with Excede.
Unless vet used RTU Excede, the amount of liquid injected may not have a direct relationship to the amount of drug administered. It can be mixed in stronger concentration, so more drug in a smaller amount of liquid .
That said, we use a lot of Excede at my work because of our withdrawal limitations .I rarely see it do a bit of good. I will argue with my boss about using it for feet issues because imo it just delays getting the bigger guns out .
Foot issues for me equal call farrier for horse or hoof trimmer for cattle. however, at this point, radiographs could be a smart idea though .it’s gone on too long, and if the leg swelling is due to the abscess, you need to rule out foreign body .
He needs xrays either way, but especially if he has cellulitis. That is NOT something to fiddle around with. I just dealt with my first case after owning horses for 25 years. And it’s not good. It appeared to me as a fractured hock; that’s all I could see in the dark and the mud. Immediately took her in, ran xrays all up and down her leg. No fracture present. It was a bad case of cellulitis, that turned in to a septic tendon sheath, necrotic skin fell off around 3/4 of the fetlock exposing the tendons and leaving a massive wound. Then developed laminitis on the opposing foot due to weight bearing. 4 1/2 weeks of hospital stays, nearly $10k in vet bills, prognosis is still not good, but she is at home and manageable. And this is with catching the cellulitis within a few hours. If they are calling it cellulitis, I would get him somewhere big enough to manage it. It could be minor, but you do not want that getting out of control.
Yes, can be serious. A horse at our barn had similar situation, did not make it.
I really had no idea. Some people throw around the word cellulitis like it’s a minor inconvenience. They called her prognosis grave, due to all the follow on complications that could occur. And sure enough, she started foundering 3 weeks ago. We got it stopped, we’re not at the end of the road. But I would not wish this on anyone.
