Horse Reacting to Furacin Sweat? Cellulitis?

[Dressage.For.Life]

I’ve been sweating my horse’s leg for the past couple of weeks per my vet’s recommendations (horse strained his LH suspensory) and when I was at the barn today, I saw that his leg was warm and swollen. He was inside all day today because of amounts of rain that we’ve been getting but he’s not one to just randomly stock up. The swelling did not seem to go down after I did his regular walking. I cold hosed his leg and applied some Eqyss Microtek before wrapping his leg with a plain stable wrap for the night. Along the front of his cannon bone he seems to have some irritation. :no:

I will be placing a call into his vet in the morning but does this sound like the beginnings of cellulitis? What does the typical treatment involve? Antibiotics? And could the furacin sweats have triggered it?

[mlb722]

Did you check his temp? If he has a fever I’d call the vet ASAP. If no fever, seems less likely to be cellulitis.

You typically need antibiotics for the swelling to go down if it is cellulitis. In the meantime I’d cold hose and not sweat. My vet recommends a clay poultice. Maybe it is a reaction from the sweat?

My horse had cellulitis from scratches.

[allpurpose]

[QUOTE=Dressage.For.Life.;7200414]
I’ve been sweating my horse’s leg for the past couple of weeks per my vet’s recommendations (horse strained his LH suspensory) and when I was at the barn today, I saw that his leg was warm and swollen. He was inside all day today because of amounts of rain that we’ve been getting but he’s not one to just randomly stock up. The swelling did not seem to go down after I did his regular walking. I cold hosed his leg and applied some Eqyss Microtek before wrapping his leg with a plain stable wrap for the night. Along the front of his cannon bone he seems to have some irritation. :no:

I will be placing a call into his vet in the morning but does this sound like the beginnings of cellulitis? What does the typical treatment involve? Antibiotics? And could the furacin sweats have triggered it?[/QUOTE]

STOP THE FURACIN! Your horse may be developing an allergy to sulfa with the continual sweats. Good luck!

[Dressage.For.Life]

I knew I was forgetting something–I unfortunately did not take his temp this evening. Other than the swollen leg he was acting perfectly normal. I will see if my BO can check his temp in the morning when she looks at his leg. I may try and make it out to the barn briefly before my 8:00 class if needed. And I did not sweat his leg this evening–just wrapped it with a plain stable wrap. Thanks for the replies thus far!

[spotted_draft_x_fill]

You should of taken his temp or had the BO do it as soon as you seen that post saying so. If it is celluitist and his fever develops, it rises pretty quickly. I worked with a mare that had it. She looked fine except for the big leg. Her fever reached 103.7 before it started to go down with us cooling her off

[Ben_and_Me]

@mlb722;7200427

If no fever, seems less likely to be cellulitis.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty of cellulitises this summer without a corresponding fever. If the leg is swollen, warm and sensitive to palpation, call your vet. I would not put anything on the leg, including sprays, poultices, etc (other than a plain standing wrap) until advised by your vet.

[Dressage.For.Life]

My horse wasn’t terribly reactive to me handling his leg. He was moving fine, etc. I heard from my vet and he just said to poultice it if it appeared to be a reaction from sweating his leg. I will be going out to check on him and to walk him, cold hose, poultice, etc. I will call a nearby vet (none of whom I trust greatly with horses) if it looks needed once I get to the barn as this vet we’re working with for his suspensory is out of state.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

It sounds like you’re “burning” your horse’s leg from too much sweating and heat. I’ve seen it more often with poultice but have seen it with furacin sweating too. Too much heat to the area can irritate the skin (puffy and swollen and then the skin will start to scurf off) and I imagine that the poultice won’t make it better.

[merrygoround]

Cold hose. And call your out of state vet, since he prescribed the sweat.

[Dressage.For.Life]

It was my out of state vet that said to poultice it. The swelling was down a lot today, temperature was normal. His leg was still a bit swollen and warm but it was much improved. I walked him, cold hosed, and then poulticed. Thanks for all of the replies but I’m hoping this residual swelling will continue to go down over the next day or so!

[chicamuxen1]

I did the exact same thing to one of my horses with a furacin sweat. I have used a sweat numerous times to soften and gently remove the scabs caused by bad case of scratches. It works well for that purpose. I have an Arabian with four white socks who is very prone to scratches AND cannot tolerate mineral oil based fly sprays. Well, duuuuhhhhhh… Furacin is primarily mineral oil.

I found him the morning after applying the sweat with hugely swollen legs. By the next day, ( sweat removed) I got paranoid and hauled him to my vet. She told me that she had seen this reaction to furacin (Furazone?) several times and to simply not use it on him again.

chicamuxen