Wound care?

[sascha]

What are we all using these days? Wound is a straight slice about 1.5" that 3 knowledgeable people looked at and pronounced not deep enough for stitches. A few days later, I thought damn, should have had that sucker stitched after all. Oh well, too late

Hind leg, outside dead centre longitudinally and a few inches below the hock. About 2 weeks later it’s easy enough to get it bleeding with a not that vigorous cleaning. Does not seem to be proud flesh, no sign of infection. Wound was caused by a spat with a friend and was well irrigated after it happened so there shouldn’t be anything inside that could be delaying healing.

What are your favourite/magic(lol) potions for recalcitrant wounds?

[joiedevie99]

It may be too late to stitch, but it may not be too late to put a butterfly closure on if you clip it down with a surgical blade? Is it in a high motion spot, or a spot the horse irritates? If so, you may need to wrap and restrict activity for a bit.

[EmilyM]

I would probably try alu shield to keep bugs and nastiness out.

[Mouse_amp_Bay]

Agree with stabilizing edges to aid in healing, if possible.

I’ve personally evolved from vigorous scrubbing and “cleaning” regimes to a much more gentle approach. Stabilize, keep tidy and allow it to heal. Tegaderm (super soft skin bandage - used in human medicine for IVs etc) can help keep a dressing on and clean. Not sturdy enough alone but can help prevent shifting under a stable bandage.

I’m a believer in excellent quality honey (organic or Manuka). One of the orginal anti fungal and anti bacterial options out there, plus helps speed up healing while being Uber gentle to the baby skin cells trying to form and knit together.

Of course, above all changes based on specific vet advice and if there is any swelling/heat or signs of infection. If you are anywhere near a joint you will want to be aggressive and consult with a vet ASAP. That can devolve into a significant problem very quickly.

[sascha]

If you mean insect bugs - lol - we have snow so no worry about that at the moment. Plus I was keeping it wrapped because horse is one of those, “OMG, I broke a fingernail, lookit my whole arm swell up!” Type horses and I really didn’t need that sort of dramatic nonsense in my life right now. In a lot of ways, tough as nails, but any sort of abrasion or bruise will swell more and for longer than most (normal) horses.

[sascha]

We are past the honey stage, thankfully, and I’m not a scrubber In fact, I am quite horrified when I see other boarders scrubbing the crap out of stuff like scratches.

Tonight when I checked it after leaving it open 24 hours, I was less distressed than when I made this post. It looks much better than I thought it looked last night!

And, thank you, thank you, I have been wracking my brains for the name Tegaderm. Telfa and Cling have been my closest friends for this, but I was thinking if it looked like it still wanted to be wrapped, I’d go to the drugstore for those whatsits, those awesome giant, thin blister pads that are The Best for breaking in new tall boots without getting holes chewed in my legs. D’oh - Tegaderm

[Equkelly]

Can you post a picture? I use totally different products depending on where the healing is.

[sascha]

I will see if I can get one tomorrow.

The only one taken so far was a few minutes after it happened and that was just a leg that looked like it had been dunked in a vat of blood from the hock down and wasn’t taken by me. I’m kind of sad I didn’t take pictures of the snow when we went to check for any hazards in the field. It looked a bit like a failed murder attempt. No hazard found though, but matching wounds on the other horse. Stupid ponies, they are best friends. However, they are also mares. Cat fight in the mare field!

[Renn_aissance]

I am dealing with one that sounds a lot like this on the outside of the foreleg. Vet said not worth stitching, put him on SMZs and keep it clean. It did OK with triple antibiotic. Then I burned myself pretty badly and all of a sudden I had silver sulf on hand, so I used that and it was fine. The healing was good overall, there’s some granulation and a little lymphatic swelling that is within normal range for this horse’s response to injury, the vet didn’t feel that different measures were warranted, but I still felt like it was taking its sweet time to clean up. My barn manager turned me on to a product called Silver Honey, which is silver and manuka honey. This stuff is witchcraft. In two days, a 3-week-old wound that had still been oozing occasionally had new skin over the center of it. The inflammation is decreasing slowly and the parts that had looked granulated now look healthy. Three different people have commented how much better it looked in 48 hours. Maybe I should have put THAT on my burn!

[mdp9]

SSD Cream. Silver Sulfadiazine.

[Simkie]

If you’re wrapping, I seriously love hydrocolloids. Commonly sold as blister band aids or pimple patches, but they come in all sorts of sizes.

Amazon has lots of options: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1H9H56/

Apply, keep a standing wrap over it, remove after a few days and reapply until healed. Seriously, they’re magic.