Hoof Abscess - how long til you call the vet?

[PlanB]

Horse has been lame for about a week. Have a call in to the farrier since this morning but haven’t heard back. I didn’t soak/wrap the first few days because the horse is out in a fairly wet environment anyways. Then I started soaking w/ epsom salts & wrapping overnight with animalintex. For a few days he was better and although I couldn’t positively identify a point of drainage I thought it must have drained a little bit (possibly next to his frog but it’s hard to tell on his dark foot). Then he started getting worse again.

I’m going to soak/wrap again tonight (switching to just epsom salt poultice + diaper because animalintex is just too expensive) but if I don’t hear back from the farrier today, should I be looking to get the vet out? I had the vet out a few years ago to look at an abscess and imo he cut out WAY too much foot and then some of the abscess ruptured out the coronary band anyways.

So what is your protocol for suspected abscess?

[PlanB]

Also is the current recommendation to keep inside or turn out?

I’ve been keeping him in the last few nights but turned out during the day. Either I’ve been doing a fantastic job of wrapping his foot or he’s not moving around very much (bandage has remained intact all day). Or both.

[DarkBayUnicorn]

@PlanB

…(switching to just epsom salt poultice + diaper because animalintex is just too expensive)

Maybe it’s just me, but spending $10 on a product that will supply the most effective treatment isn’t expensive.

Protocol:

• soak in epsom salt and HOT water
• apply a) animalintex and wrap or b) sugardine, diaper and wrap (FYI, sugardine is betadine solution – $20 a bottle – mixed with sugar to an almost-paste consistency)
• NSAIDs if very lame, but since you need inflamation to help the abscess pop NSAIDs should be a last resort
• limited turnout if footing is very wet/muddy – if it does blow out you don’t want the hole to fill with mud and bacteria
• light exercise is good if pain tolerance is OK – handwalking or turnout in a dry round pen, etc.

I will call the vet after three to five days. I have seen what happens when an abscess is allowed to go on too long – sloughing sole, infection spread to joints, compensatory injuries – and I won’t risk it. Sometimes antibiotics are required to deal with the really tough ones. And yes, sometimes you have to go drilling to find and release before it gets to the coffin, etc.

[Scribbler]

when it’s draining, you see the traces on the animal lintex pad.

I’ve never called a vet for an abscess, but then I have as mentor a farrier, who is not an alarmist :), and also against any cutting into the sole, because that leaves a hole that takes much longer to heal than the abscess itself . Once in a while her pasture horses brew up abscesses, then recover, before anyone gets a chance to drive out and treat them; you only know it’s happened by the slit in the heel bulb where the abscess blew.

I’ve had three rounds with an abscess over 7 years with current horse. Absolutely soaking/wrapping at first sign helps, and I don’t think a muddy paddock provides the same drawing power of epsom salts and animal lintex, or your poultice of choice. Get them moving when they can tolerate it, as that helps the hoof get circulation and expels material.

Some abscesses do take longer to clear, or they subside and then flare up again. When I’ve soaked and poulticed, the abscess has always clearly blown and been getting better by about three days, although the horse might not be totally sound.

I would talk to your farrier first.

I would also worry if the pain didn’t clear up, that there was something else wrong. A foreign body in the hoof or frog? Some kind of tissue injury?

However, just a plain bruise can take a long time to clear up, too.

[JB]

At a week, without significant to total resolution, I’d say the vet is warranted. It may still be “just” an abscess, but it may be something more. In my case, the “abscess” was deemed to be a particularly icky one, but ended up being a stick jammed into the frog. Long story on that one lol

[tazycat]

I’d leave him out can take up to two weeks for abscess to blow out.

Best thing is turnout movement helps it to blowout faster. I’ve in past have done nothing just let horse be and abscess will blow out.

Had one here recently did soak wrap but only because horse isn’t on pasture yet. Otherwise I find just leaving them be works. I’ve had farrier check to make nothing is lodged in hoof.

Once that’s determined out horse goes and let time take care of rest. When its a hoof issue I call farrier first.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

Are you me?

Just went through something similar. Horse presented lame on RF and with “abscess face” I have grown to recognize. First few days I did nothing. Then I did several days of soaking with no seeming resolution - horse seemed to be feeling it more, and the affected foot is padded so can’t see what is going on underneath. After a week, I called farrier and had him come remove the shoe and pad in case there was something like a rock under the pad (paid for xrays to find a rock under pad in a similar scenario last year). No rocks this year, but lots of mud and sand had worked their way underneath. Left shoe off for a little over a week and continued poulticing with the green epsom salt stuff. Nothing obvious - like a big exit hole - showed up although there may have been a bit of drainage on one of the diapers. After the second week, horse seemed much more comfortable, and I had the shoe put back on.

So generally I guess I give it at least a week or ten days before involving the vet and will involve the farrier first if that seems warranted. Some abscesses seem to take forever to resolve, but at some point you need to rule out other stuff like a coffin bone fracture.

I always like to follow the horse’s usual turn-out routine if possible although I have moved him from a regular paddock to a smaller dry lot to facilitate keeping the wrap/boot on and the foot dry.

Also, after a bad experience a number of years back where the vet dug way too much (with our encouragement) trying to drain a suspected abscess, I am a firm believer in letting nature handle letting the abscess exit if at all possible.

[Scribbler]

Vets are not necessarily the savviest people about feet unless they are also trained as farriers. Mine is, and it makes a difference. I would start with farrier advice, if you have a good thoughtful farrier. Again, not all farriers are created equal either.

[Wayside]

If I think that I know where it is and where it’ll come out, then I’m more likely to soak and poultice for a few days before calling the vet, but if it’s on one of my horses with really hard hooves and I don’t see signs that it’s close, I’ll call the vet right away. She’s quite good at finding them with a very minimal amount of digging, which I think is really ideal.

IME, walking around helps abscesses drain so I usually let mine stay out, but as DarkBayUnicorn mentioned, you want it to stay clean once it’s open so avoiding sucking mud. If there are concerns with pasture mates being problematic in some situations, or if the horse is so uncomfortable that you’re worried that it might be discouraged from making the trip to the water trough, then a stall or small paddock might also be preferable.

Normally I don’t bute for abscesses, but I made an exception when Inga had one that made her uncomfortable enough that she was lying down more than usual, and her leg was starting to swell.

[candyappy]

@PlanB

So what is your protocol for suspected abscess?

My first course of action is to make sure it is an abscess.

It all depends on the individual horse and the placement of the abscess.

In the few cases where my horses have had them , I have the farrier out and then he either will find it or it isn’t ready yet, so I leave it to nature. If the horse is hurting ( as in a mare I had with a reoccurring back foot that eventually resolved) I will give bute for a day or two.

I clean the foot a few times a day but leave it unwrapped.

[saultgirl]

@candyappy

My first course of action is to make sure it is an abscess.

It all depends on the individual horse and the placement of the abscess.

In the few cases where my horses have had them , I have the farrier out and then he either will find it or it isn’t ready yet, so I leave it to nature. If the horse is hurting ( as in a mare I had with a reoccurring back foot that eventually resolved) I will give bute for a day or two.

I clean the foot a few times a day but leave it unwrapped.

How do you make sure it is an abscess?

[candyappy]

@saultgirl

How do you make sure it is an abscess?

I have the vet or farrier out if I haven’t found it myself .

[gottagrey]

generally at the barns I’ve been at, with an abscess we usually have the farrier out regularly so will have farrier put some hoof testers on/ check hoof for abscess. If the farrier doesn’t see anything obvious then we’ll bring the vet out.

[PlanB]

Thank you everyone, the farrier did get back to me and was going to come out but the abscess burst Friday at the coronet band. The ground is dry now so left him out to walk and let it drain.

[quietann]

@gottagrey

generally at the barns I’ve been at, with an abscess we usually have the farrier out regularly so will have farrier put some hoof testers on/ check hoof for abscess. If the farrier doesn’t see anything obvious then we’ll bring the vet out.

Agree. I have been at a barn where there were several farriers, and as a professional courtesy, any of them would do this for any of the others.