Weird Gross Wound?

[B-burg_Dressage]

So about three or four days ago I notice a very minor bite/scrape on my horse’s hip. It looked like it was literally just hair that came off so I didn’t worry at all. Everything seemed fine in the following days until yesterday.

Yesterday morning it was sticky and puss filled. I cleaned it and put antibiotic ointment on it. I have been doing that twice a day since. This evening was no better, so I decided to take some pictures after I cleaned it and see what you all thought.

It now looks really deep and that the flap of skin may eventually come off? No idea how something that was so minor got so angry.

He’s sound. There isn’t really heat or swelling. Acting normal other than when I mess with it (then acts like it’s painful of course).

Don’t think it’s an emergency call to the vet obviously. But will probably call soon if no improvement to see if she wants to get him on systemic antibiotics.

Any ideas? I’m thinking maybe he was rubbing it and got a splinter in there or something? No idea honestly.

[JB]

Most likely it just abscessed a little and now it’s opened up and draining. Not an emergency call at all.

So tonight is roughly 48 hours of this gunk. If it were me, and things were either not improving at all, or getting worse, by tomorrow night, I’d call my vet Friday morning and discuss. 3 days is kinda my rule on things like this that aren’t getting dramatically worse.

Maybe something did get shoved in there, maybe this is just the tipping point and tomorrow morning it will be appreciably improved.

[Fillabeana]

Agreed with JB on the probable severity and concern…however this weekend is Labor Day, and your vet would probably rather talk to you sooner than later.

[GraceLikeRain]

I’d touch base with my vet by phone or text. Horses love weird things before a three day weekend. I’d be interested in how it would look if you gave it a good clean and then left it bare. If there is draining pus the antibiotic ointment could be creating a bit of a trap keeping the area wetter than it would be otherwise?
’

[skydy]

@B-burg Dressage

So about three or four days ago I notice a very minor bite/scrape on my horse’s hip. It looked like it was literally just hair that came off so I didn’t worry at all. Everything seemed fine in the following days until yesterday.

Yesterday morning it was sticky and puss filled. I cleaned it and put antibiotic ointment on it. I have been doing that twice a day since. This evening was no better, so I decided to take some pictures after I cleaned it and see what you all thought.

It now looks really deep and that the flap of skin may eventually come off? No idea how something that was so minor got so angry.

He’s sound. There isn’t really heat or swelling. Acting normal other than when I mess with it (then acts like it’s painful of course).

Don’t think it’s an emergency call to the vet obviously. But will probably call soon if no improvement to see if she wants to get him on systemic antibiotics.

Any ideas? I’m thinking maybe he was rubbing it and got a splinter in there or something? No idea honestly.

Are there brown recluse spiders in your area? You mentioned bite… They start out small and can become a very deep wound over a few days time.

[hoopoe]

If I didnt know better this looks like the pus you see with Cornybacterium / pigeon Fever/ dryland fever. It is usually associated with the western US

Check his front chest ( pecs) and ventral area. I would make contact with the vet and perhaps text the pictures.

The best treatment for abscessed area is to keep the area open and free from sealing over.

[lenapesadie]

Maybe a summer sore? I’d call vet tomorrow before the long weekend

[B-burg_Dressage]

Yeah, I’ll shoot my vet a text today to see what she’s thinking.

I’ll also keep it clean this morning instead of ointment to see what it looks like later.

And there are brown recluse here, that’s an interesting thought.
Idk that I’m far enough west for pigeon fever. I’m in Mid-missouri.

[sing]

Could be a bed sore. Can’t speak to horses but in people what you are seeing on the surface is nothing compared what is going on underneath.

[B-burg_Dressage]

Updated picture this morning.

Texted the pictures to the vet. She’s guessing that when he initially scraped the hip it got some tissue damage and now it’s dead and coming out. Continue to keep clean and treat with topical antibiotics for now.

[JB]

Sounds good! Most of the time it is that simple.

[beowulf]

@skydy

Are there brown recluse spiders in your area? You mentioned bite… They start out small and can become a very deep wound over a few days time.

I just dealt with this in my own horse – presentation isn’t quite the same as OP’s but mine was on a leg. It got big fast - tissue necrotized rapidly, took months to heal. I am just now three months post-bite and the cut is the size of a fingernail. Horse presented with high grade fever consistent with cellulitis, but wasn’t controlled by normal management. Once my vets saw necrotizing tissue they were confident it was a venomous bite versus staph. Multiple cultures didn’t find anything consistent with usual suspects, and he had a total of six ultrasounds and three x-rays to rule out possible joint puncture.

I put together an album of the process – his feet are not great, as a caveat we had to do two longer cycles this spring because of COVID :no: farrier is still working on fixing that
https://imgur.com/a/fZn245o

OP —
Have you been taking his temp daily? I would start recording that if you aren’t already. Agree with others, keep clean and open as best you can. I’ve found Corona really helps keep tissue soft if you suspect foreign bodies… might be best to see if you can get a vet out if it doesn’t look better by tomorrow.

[B-burg_Dressage]

Well I sure hope it’s not a spider bite. What a rough thing to go through.

I’ll take his temp for good measure tonight just to see if it could be something more systemic.

[JB]

Since this is Day 3, I would expect a lot worse if this was a nasty spider bite since yes, those do tend to get really bad, really fast. Maybe not much worse if it was a "regular’ spider bite.

[bathsheba8542]

Beowolf, that is horrifying. Thanks for sharing - reminds me to pay attention and act fast when need be.

[beowulf]

@bathsheba8542

Beowolf, that is horrifying. Thanks for sharing - reminds me to pay attention and act fast when need be.

:yes:

For context, his leg was perfectly fine at noon. I was down at the horses all day doing chores. I pulled him out to ride just before 5 and noticed a clear serum leaking from his fetlock, and his leg was a little puffy. My first thought was joint puncture :eek:

He was a champ through the whole thing, including having some of the dead tissue excised/removed by vets. I guess since horses are so much bigger than people, most ‘venomous’ spider bites are not lethal – but they do need steroids and lots of treatment.

OP – I would think absent a fever, that something like this is something to be kept an eye on, but not an emergency. It’s a good practice to take the horse’s temp any time a funny scrape like this shows up – sometimes the early fever is the only indication there is any sort of foreign object at all. Hoping tomorrow, this looks much better and in a weeks’ time will be a non issue. :encouragement:

[skydy]

@beowulf

:yes:

For context, his leg was perfectly fine at noon. I was down at the horses all day doing chores. I pulled him out to ride just before 5 and noticed a clear serum leaking from his fetlock, and his leg was a little puffy. My first thought was joint puncture :eek:

He was a champ through the whole thing, including having some of the dead tissue excised/removed by vets. I guess since horses are so much bigger than people, most ‘venomous’ spider bites are not lethal – but they do need steroids and lots of treatment.

OP – I would think absent a fever, that something like this is something to be kept an eye on, but not an emergency. It’s a good practice to take the horse’s temp any time a funny scrape like this shows up – sometimes the early fever is the only indication there is any sort of foreign object at all. Hoping tomorrow, this looks much better and in a weeks’ time will be a non issue. :encouragement:

That is an interesting example of the progression of necrosis over a bony area. I’ve only seen the effects spider bites over fleshy areas (including a person bitten on the thigh) and they tended to go deeper than they did wide, until enlarged for medical purposes. I’ve only seen a few so am hardly an expert.

OP, what made you think “bite/scrape”?

Good luck. Hopefully it is something straightforward and will be an easy fix. I wonder if any of our vet members would give an opinion, within the boundaries of their ethics of course? @Ghazzu?

[B-burg_Dressage]

No fever, so we’re good there. Looks very similar tonight as it did this morning but I think less puss overall which is good.

And I noticed it originally just by the area missing a little bit of hair. Like you’d see if it scraped something or another horse bit it.

[Ghazzu]

Looks like either a pressure sore or he banged it on something.
It’s right over the wing of the ilium, so there’s not much flesh to cushion the impact–the soft tissue got slammed between the bone and a hard place, so there’s some necrosis.
I’d keep it clean and keep an eye on it.
Looks to be progressing fine at present.

It’s possible he banged it in such a way as to chip a bit off the bone, but I’d wait and see.

[PamnReba]

Does anyone still use hydrotherapy? I thought I had read that most vets feel it doesn’t really accomplish anything, but I’d be flushing that with water for 10 - 15 minutes at least a couple of times a day. I’m old school and still treat soft-tissue injuries that way too. It makes me feel like I’m doing something, even if I’m not.