I have a 22 yo gelding, pasture ornament not easy to give oral meds. Shadow was diagnosed Monday with a keratoma that’s eroding away his coffin bone. We are seriously considering surgery, $2k, even though he’s not a valuable horse. We anticipate additional expenses for several months after the surgery but don’t truly know what to expect, money, time or stress-wise. I’ve read many of the old keratoma posts but would like to hear from anybody who has dealt with keratomas personally. Thank you for any advise or support.
Not personally, but I have a neighbour/friend who has gone through this. Multiple pus eruptions at coronary band in toe of a front foot. Keratoma found. First vet service said “don’t do the surgery”. Second vet service said “no problem, we will operate”.
They cut the hoof out at the toe, and removed some tissue, and some of the coffin bone in day surgery. And wrapped it up, sent the horse home. The foot grew out in time, and the channel that the pus came out of drained from then on on the bottom of the foot instead of at the coronary band. It cost $1500 to have this done.
If the drain becomes clogged and can not drain, the horse goes lame as the pressure increases, until the drain is opened up again and the built up pus can escape. This takes a lot of care, but the horse is serviceably sound as a low level trail horse as long as the drain is open and the pus can drain. It is presumed that the surgery was not successful in removing the keratoma, and that the coffin bone is continuing to deteriorate over time as the keratoma continues to grow. And that eventually the coffin bone will break, and will break into the coffin joint, or infect the coffin joint, and the horse will have to be put down at that point.
Good luck with your decisions in this regard.
