Hoof Abscess Treatment?

[tidy_rabbit]

Yesterday I entered into a conversation about the treatment of an abscess.

I had never heard of the treatment option proposed by more than one of the conversation’s participants.

So I’m curious to hear what other people do for abscess treatment.

I’m not going to provide the treatment I plan have always used because I don’t want to skew the conversation in one direction or the other. But it definitely made me curious about how different people treat abscesses.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Laurierace]

Wet, warm Animalintex with a thermacare wrap ala MistyBlue covered with a duct taped diaper.

[Tiffani_B]

Hoof abscess? Or skin/muscle abscess?

[tidy_rabbit]

Oh! Hoof. Sorry 'bout that. Small details ya know!

[Auburn]

We usually soak with epsom salts, dry the foot, then poltice with Icthamal. Or, you can make a poltice out of epsom salts (use a tiny bit of water to make a paste). Cover with a diaper or sterile pad and wrap with Vet wrap. I have a horse boot that fits well over the dressing and helps to keep it clean. If you don’t have a boot, then get Gorilla tape.

However, the more costly method, but works the best is to have your Vet x-ray the hoof to see where the abcess pocket is located, then have him open it to drain. Then you squirt antibotic ointment into the hole, cover with a diaper, then wrap with Vet wrap and Gorilla tape (which seems to hold up better than duct tape). Always make certain that the cornet band is free of any wrap. The sooner the pressure is relieved, the sooner the horse will not be hopping about on three legs. :winkgrin:

OP - How do you do it?

[appychik]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;3990991]
Wet, warm Animalintex with a thermacare wrap ala MistyBlue covered with a duct taped diaper.[/QUOTE]

I’ll go this route next time around (which is hopefully never). But when we thought Gringo had an abscess brewing, we did the epsom salt soak daily, dry hoof, apply diaper with a sugardyne solution, and lots of duct tape. Never worked though, cause in reality he had a fractured coffin bone, not an abscess :(.

[Tom_Bloomer]

Here is a good article:

http://www.equipodiatry.com/article_hoof_abscess.htm

And another which is pretty much in agreement:

http://web.wt.net/~stovall/abscess01.htm

. . . musings on the “professional interaction”

http://web.wt.net/~stovall/abscess02.htm

[decorum]

That last one is good. :lol: I just love it when I get that crap on my face so I can enjoy it the rest of my workday. Gack!

Ann Szolas

[Thomas_1]

I’d normally have the shoes pulled off to make it easier to manage but that would be an “it depends”

I’d open the hole if there was obviously one there to ensure its providing relief and draining. I wouldn’t go probing though.

To keep the hole open, I’d hot tub soak twice a day for a minimum of 10 minutes to attempt to draw it and poultice if necessary until its drawn. I use epsom salts or just salt in the water.

After soaking I use a syringe filled with water that has boiled and then cooled a little and salt or epsom salts and flush out the hole/cavity area and with a really good blast. I’d then syringe flush with iodine.

Or if there’s a good hole or track I pack it with a drawing poultice paste made with icing sugar and iodine twice a day and its hot soaked in epsom salts prior to repacking to soften and remove the poultice and any gunk abscess infection. This poultice paste encourages any infection to draw out rather than be retained helps with he aim to heal it from the inside out and not for the hole to seal on the outside and keep any infection within the hoof.

Then I dress the whole foot with padding, elastowrap and a baby’s nappy (diaper) and if I’m going to turn the horse out then I put a rubber poultice boot on.

I don’t use antibiotics.

Once its all drained and clean if there’s still a hole then I’d pack with cotton wool and stokholm tar until its all healed up. Its at the stage when the pus has finished draining that ordinarily the shoes would go back on - and dependent on where the hole is - a shoe so the hole can still be accessed so it can continue to be packed. Might consider a hospital plate shoe if that was necessary.

[Twiliath]

Generally speaking, I do absolutely nothing. My horses are barefoot and I let the abscess do its thing naturally. If I’m concerned about pain or anything else, I’ll use Arnica montana for the pain and Ledum pallustre to help the abscess come to a head sooner. My horses are off for maybe 3 days, then they’re fine.

[Seven-up]

The last abscess I had to treat (on someone else’s horse) I did my usual method of soak w/epsom salts, wrap w/vetrap & duct tape. The only difference was adding a mashed up pill of something that starts with an I…(if someone said the word I’d recognize it but I can’t remember) as per the vet’s recommendation. The difference in healing time was amazing. It’s possible the vet just opened it up really well and the medicine didn’t do a damn thing, but I swear that horse was better the next day. (I soaked and wrapped for several days before using the meds. with no change.)

Edit for more info: the pill was crushed into a powder and then applied directly to the hole, and then I put gauze over it to hold it there before wrapping.

[Blue_Yonder]

My vet prefers to come dig after the abcess has had a few days to “ferment.” Until his arrival, our SOP is similar to many of yours – warm epsom salt soak, wrapped in a disposable diaper and duct tape bootie.

The only difference is that I mix icthamol and epsom salt as my hoof packing. Maximum drawing power, you know?

[Beethoven]

I use Magna Paste which is epson salt in a menthol type green stuff and then cotton then vet wrap then duck tape. If nessary vet or farrier to maybe dig it out and pull the shoe off.