What’s the word on this foot? White line? Laminitis? Bruising? Foreign body? All the above?

[Railbird]

@trubandloki

Was the name Poofy what he had when you bought him or is that his new name for his new life? I think it is adorable.

He came with it! It is adorable, and he is indeed poofy in shape. He is 16.1 per his USEF measurement card and currently 1105 lb while a BCS 2, so I imagine in his prime he was a hefty boy!

Foot update from Dr. Floyd- she said when she blew up the high resolution images, she sees the following:

• Evidence of laminitic episodes in both front feet
• Rotation in LF
• Ongoing infection in LF
• She said she would put her money on a keratoma but referred me to a specialist in that area
• Air in DDFT sheath which she says indicates excess tension

She seemed to think a resection wouldn’t be too tough of a procedure and could be done standing with a local, and said she wouldn’t rely on blood results for cushings for a starved horse and she would suggest treating him regardless. She did also recommend some significant padding and perhaps a wedge for him, and asked me to take tracings of his feet so she could make a “cuff” for him - I was out of the game for a while and coming back, so maybe that is new. I am not familiar with foot cuffs.

I don’t want to do too much to him in his current state, and he seems reasonably comfortable at the moment. I know it’s something I will need to work through in the long term, but it’s definitely hard to stare down a lot of major treatment decisions for an older horse who I don’t have an unlimited budget with when he seems pretty content. I don’t want to wait until the time bomb goes off, but I also don’t even know what all this would cost. Lots to think about.

[SummerRose]

You and your vet are the ones who need to make the important decisions, of course, but if he was mine, I’d just give him a bit of time and good care before making any major decisions. It really looks like he’s been living with that for a while now so as long as he’s in good hands, can be kept reasonably comfortable, and is gaining weight, I think it’s unlikely that the hoof is imminent risk of catastrophic breakdown. (At least, not any more than has already occurred. But of course, listen to your vet and farrier!)

I’ve had to deal with some rehabs and they can rebound quickly but it often takes an amazing amount of patience to let the recovery process happen. Sometimes throwing too much at them, too quickly, can be more harmful than being conservative in their care.

Big hugs for you and Poofy!

[Polydor]

How’s Mr Poofy doing? Still lots of jingles for him and the other horses you helped rescue.

P.

[kaya842]

If you end up going the resection/ bone debridement route, I cannot recommend hoof boots over a hospital plate enough. I have a horse with a similar issue (infected coffin bone - see my thread Coffin Bone Infection Possible Round 2 for lots of info) and it has been a long process. Depending on how his blood comes back, if it seems there is still an active infection I would make a decision ASAP. I waited a few weeks too long, thinking she was “just” abscessing, and that coffin bone infection nearly cost her her life. It did cost me $5K for 3 weeks in the hospital with surgical debridement and several limb perfusions. I am not trying to be a Debbie doomsday, I promise, just coming from a place of understanding that it’s easy to think it’s just an abscess because that is what is going on most of the time but the X-rays and blood work are leaning towards it being a little more serious.

[Railbird]

@Polydor

How’s Mr Poofy doing?

Pretty good! Trying to get up to check on him this afternoon. TRH stimulation test for cushings came back very cushingoid (IIRC the value for normal was under 110 and he was 1200 or so) so going to get him started on some prascend. I am hopeful addressing that helps the feet out a lot!

@kaya842

Depending on how his blood comes back, if it seems there is still an active infection I would make a decision ASAP. I waited a few weeks too long, thinking she was “just” abscessing, and that coffin bone infection nearly cost her her life.

That is what freaks me out, how quickly it could potentially go downhill and how much more challenging it would be to treat if I waited until that point. On the other hand, he has good quality of life right now, and only occasionally looks kind of funny on his front feet versus appearing to be in serious pain, so I am not sure I want to rush to something that major, either. Fever came down without antibiotics and we have a good indication that untreated cushings could have caused or contributed, so I think my current game plan is to get him on some prascend and address that and redo the xrays on that hoof in a month or two to see once that defect has grown out some more how the films look, and trying to get an opinion from a keratoma expert, which is what podiatrist is thinking we are dealing with. Right now, I don’t think his body would do well with a lot of additional stress anyways, so even if we do a resection or similar, I think it’s probably a good idea to get him into better shape ahead of that regardless. Was your horse very lame from the infection? I do think if he develops anything looking like an “abscess” in that foot I am going to get really aggressive with that treatment really quickly.

[Railbird]

Dare I say it looks… better?

[NaturallyHappy]

Wow! That’s awesome!!!