Proud Flesh

[cripplecreekfrm]

I have a horse that went through the fence and basically cheese gratered his leg. There isn’t anything to stitch and it is in an area that is impossible to keep stitched in even if we could have had anything to stitch. The vet has seen him and we are keeping a very close eye on him. He is starting to get some proud flesh and I want to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible. I have ordered the Equaide but while I am waiting for it to get here I am going to explore other options. I have done a search on here and found alot of options but I still have one big question.

If I try the meat tenderizer and antibiotic ointment can I wrap with that or do I have to leave the cut open to breathe?

[Red_Barn]

Meat tenderizer???

:eek:

Is that actually a thing???

[Mosey_2003]

How long before the Equaide arrives? It is literally miracle stuff, it will take it all off rapidly. I’d just keep it clean and covered in the meantime.

[Heart_s_Journey]

Denise’s All Heal Salve she has a website - excellent salve that is good for alot of different issues. You can view before and after photos and the results are amazing

[Simkie]

Yes, if you do meat tenderizer, you wrap over it. Last time, I mixed it with KY–it’s what I had in the barn at hand, from sheath cleaning–and it worked great. Might be better than antibiotic ointment because it’s water soluble.

I’d ordered the Equiaide and wound up never using it, because meat tenderizer worked so well. Really thought I was going to have to call the vet to debride that one.

[moving_to_dc]

Wrapping the proud flesh areas, no matter what product you use, tends to help keep the tissue FLAT and moist, which helps allow the skin to creep in from the edges. Skin doesn’t like growing uphill, so the flatter you can keep the wound, the better.

There are tons of products out there, and the same number of opinions of which product is best. None of the products will be successful if you let the proud flesh get full-on cauliflower-mountain-range level. You have to keep it knocked down!

I have unfortunately had a lot of experience with proud flesh, from tornado injuries in 1999. Had about 12 legs with various levels of injury, the most serious being total degloving of all 4 cannons on my OTTB. Took well over a year for the skin edges to meet on those wounds, but they did.

[shezabrazenmare]

Mix the meat tenderizer and antibiotic ointment and apply it liberally to the wound. No need to cover. Clean it off 2x a day and reapply the mixture. It does work very well and clears up the proud flesh without leaving a scar, in my experience.

[cripplecreekfrm]

Thank you. I have used the meat tenderizer before and it does work wonderfully. My old vet actually mixed it with ground up SMZ’s and KY or antibiotic ointment but he has retired and since it has been over 10 years since I have had to deal with any proud flesh I couldn’t exactly remember. I do remember that it worked wonderfully though.

[Beentheredonethat]

I am dealing with proud flesh on a wound over the coronet band right now. I’m using baking soda. I clean it, use an iodine treatment, and wrap baking soda over it. Maybe I’ll try meat tenderizer if that works better.

[HorseInaTARDIS]

You may have your problem solved already but for future situations Preparation H works wonders to prevent and get rid of proud flesh. My horse was impaled on a T post and that’s what we used on her.

[Foxtrot_s]

I’m with MovingtoDC on this one - whatever you use, it should be mild and not caustic which would burn the new cells. Keeping it wrapped gives it a moist environment for the little new cells to grow.

I used telfa pads which do not stick, bandaged them on with that stretch bandage gauze, a layer of gamgee with vet-rap on top. It is safe to keep on for three days and it is hard to overwrap Vetwrap with the gamgee.

My go to is the Swiss product Derma-Gel and had no proud flesh, but have heard good things about meat tenderizer.

Swelling is an indication of inflammation associated with healing, but a little Bute will keep it down - but keep a look out for infection.

[cripplecreekfrm]

My vet gave me a concoction from Rood & Riddle which is a combo of Polypropylene Glycol, Furazone, Dexamethasone, and Scarlet Oil. It works wonders! After just 2 days the proud flesh was completely gone. Now we are just keeping the dressing on it to promote healing. Today he is going to start going out in the paddock for a couple of hours without the bandage. Since the cut is on the front of the hock I do not feel comfortable turning him out with the figure 8 wrap that we have to do to keep that area covered. Hopefully it will look good enough that I can take him camping at the end of September. He has been sound the whole time and has been in light work but I will not take him in public with his leg looking like this…It kinda killed the end of our show season but that is okay. His health is more important

[Dani]

I’ve dealt with a lot of leg injuries. My vet gave me a steroid cream to use very sparingly under heavy bandages. It worked beautifully and she said to keep it wrapped up tightly to slow down the growth of the proudflesh. I was using a non stick pad, cast padding, cotton batting, brown gauze pulled tight, and then vet wrap tight over that. You can’t really get it too tight with all that padding without tearing the materials. Worked really well for all the injuries I dealt with.

[burnedout]

http://www.woundwonder.com/Products.html
Amazing stuff!

[cripplecreekfrm]

the problem with the bandage isn’t necessarily being too tight but sliding down as he walks. He was very happy to get his couple hours out yesterday as he has been in the stall and only came out to have the dressing changed and the stall cleaned since last Wednesday and he is very used to being out almost 24/7 except in inclement weather. The leg looks really good. I am happy with the products I am currently using.

[eclipse]

When mine severed a high extensor tendon up near the hock, I did a figure 8 pattern over the hock to “secure” the bandage (used elasticon(sp) and then a regular standing wrap over the wound bandage. I never had an issue with the wrap slipping even when he was outside. I can send you pics via email if you’re interested, wrapping can be a pain for certain areas

[Dani]

To keep leg bandages from sliding I usually use elasticon tape at the top and bottom of it. The only one I ever had slip was my hock bandage actually…

[cripplecreekfrm]

I have tried the elasticon and his figure 8 wrap stays on in the stall and hand grazing but while he is turned out he tents to be quite animated while playing and it just slides. He is only out for a couple of hours a day. It isn’t killing him to have it open for that time. Surprisingly he has been very good on his stall rest. I was expecting a lunatic and he has been surprisingly mellow besides not wanting to be caught when it is time to come in.