Poor Sham :( Update

diamonddogs

diamonddogs

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Apr 14, 2008
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Badiddlyboing, Odawidaho
She's really been in the wars this week. Her eye flared up badly on Tuesday, but her ointment and bute fixed her fairly quickly. The vet said if it wasn't showing any improvement by Friday he'd need to see her to assess her again, but it was already better, so he said he wouldn't need to see her unless it relapsed.

So, I checked her in the field this morning and she was still in bed but even better than the day before, so I patted myself on the back because I didn't need to call him out, went off to work, and got a call mid-afternoon saying she's hopping lame. :(

It looked like an abscess so I sweet talked the farrier into coming out, he dug it out and I poulticed it and put her in the stable... within ten minutes she was down, hot and panting. I was going to get my vet, but another horse on the yard was showing signs of colic, so I hijacked their vet when he'd sorted out the colicky horse, and he checked her over, ruled out colic, but said her pulse was sky high, and she was in a lot of pain.

She's had a shot of bute, and he's told me to get my own vet out if she's still not bearing any weight on her foot in the morning.

Please can I have some abscess bursting NR vibes please.
 
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bloddy abcesses - suprised the extent of pain if as you say it has been dug out? they are generally sore but not that bad once released.
 
She's bit of a wuss and hasn't got a very high pain threshold unfortunately. The vet wasn't sure if the lameness is a reaction to having it dug out.

I do trust my farrier though, and he was very patient with her even though she was trying to rear and generally misbehaving, which is very unlike her.
 
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Update:

My own vet came out yesterday and gave her a good going over, and scared me half to death, but he's a brilliant vet and likes to give you the whole picture. She could have laminitis (the generic type, not fat pony syndrome), at worse a keratoma. Having given me heart failure he then said it wasn't presenting either at this stage. She's on antibiotics and bute, and has to be poulticed using iodine and sugar (yes, I have to squirt it into the hole with a syringe :hot:) today and tomorrow, unless she'll allow me to tub it, which I'm going to try tonight when I have time to spend on it. She also has to wear a stable bandage on the other foreleg for support.

Basically, the abscess is deep, so it's 50/50 which way it will track. Normally I'd hope for the coronet band, because it's easier hygiene-wise, but she's got a big hole in her foot, so it's a nuisance whatever happens. She might need an x-ray, but we're going with the treatment at the moment. I can't believe how good she's being - she had an abscess last summer and was an absolute nightmare to poultice, rearing, trying to lay down, snatching her hoof away, but this time I can do it on my own.

I'm slightly concerned she's still very lame, but he did say that if the infection's tracking up to the coronet band it could take up to ten days to pop, so I'm not expecting soundness yet. On the upside, she can bear a bit of weight on it, and she's standing up 90% of the time now.

The downside was, she was very unhappy this morning, then I saw that she'd :poop: in her nearly full water bucket and judging by the amount of water, she must have done it quite early on - note to self: put two buckets in. She had a nice long drink and looked much happier, and by the time I left the yard she had her old sparkle back.

On the upside, all these drugs she's having have had an effect on her eye, which is back to normal now, so I risked a haynet today, which she obviously loves because she doesn't need to stretch down to eat her hay.
 
Yes, when the Lamanatic word got mentioned to be when Shadow was first ill, I had that exact same sinking feeling, bit like the rug has just been pulled from under your feet, and it feels as though the world has just ended..
Thank god, the vet was wrong.. his Practice partner said it wasn't just a week later.
Just take each day as it comes, I did. When you first see an improvement in you horses way of going, however small, it's a blessing, I find these times are the ones where the bond between horse and owner gets stronger.
Sending healing vibes XX
 
Wow. Poor horse. To be honest that doesn't sound like Keratoma to me at all.
The whole thing sounds really scary though. Hope you can figure out what caused it and that she get well soon.
 
Oh poor Sham, that sounds so odd that she had such a reaction straight after the vet digging it out. Its awful playing the waiting game and seeing her in pain at the same time. Healing vibes.
 
Thanks for your kind words everyone, specially those of you have got enough on their plates, and still can spare a moment for Sham :D

Karin, your opinion on keratomas is very important to me and very reassuring - I hope you're happy carrying the mantle of NR keratoma specialist!
 
Sending healing vibes to your poor baby and hugs to you xx

I hate seeing them in pain and hobbling but you are doing everything you can and can do no more than that.

Abscesses in my exp even when dug out can still cause severe lameness if have been in deep and not all the infection may be out so still sore :cry:

Horse on our yard recently was hobbling and farrier dug then in few days out coronet band and like never was lame :smile:
 
Sham is almost sound! :dance:

We brought her out into the yard to check her foot this morning, and my nurse friend looked at the hole in her foot and declared it beginning to heal. :dance:

We gave her foot a good clean, splodged some iodine and sugar into the hole, dressed it with a nappy and put a boot on her (which I made last night out of an old rug) and decided she could go out for a couple of hours in the isolation paddock. I think this perked her up more than anything.

I brought her in just as the temp started to rise and she was dragging her foot along the floor (which I think had more to do with the boot than anything) but nothing worse - it sounded like I was bringing a zombie in from the field!

I reported in with the vet, who's really pleased with her, so all in all a good day.

I hope now to be able to start going to the yard without feeling sick, for the first time in a week.
 
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