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  Discussion on ABSCESS at Coronet band
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Member:
vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 3, 2010 - 5:58 pm:

When my farrier was here eight days ago, there was puss on my old paint horse, Buddy's coronet band on his right front.

He did not show pain or lameness and it appeared as though there was still a swollen pocket of yet undrained puss next to what had drained.

When my Vet was out to check on my laminitic boy, Perry, last Thursday, I had him look at Buddy's situation.

The entire area right across the coronet band had opened up and was draining vile-smelling stuff that had an "abscess" smell.

Whether it is an internal hoof abscess that popped out the top, or a coronet band injury was not readily discernible.

My Vet told me to just keep cleaning it and I've been pouring and rubbing Betadine solution into the area.

I noticed today, however, that the smell seemed really bad so I put Buddy on the wash rack and scrubbed it thoroughly with Betadine scrub, then poured on the solution and surrounded the whole works with some "Swat" to repel flies.

Then I noticed that Buddy's sheath is swollen on the right side only.

Is this related, or just a coincidence?

We have had some rainy weather and Buddy has been hanging outdoors in it all to be near to Perry and Lance who are shut in the barn on account of Perry's laminitis.

Buddy was coughing one day so I did shut him into a stall one night.

Never a dull moment on the farm, and no rest for the weary.

Any suggestions about how to care for this situation?

Meanwhile I am still dragging around with bronchitis and laryngitis.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 3, 2010 - 7:38 pm:

Oh Vickie, I feel for you. It's bad enough to be sick, and difficult enough to treat sick and injured horses, without having to suffer through both at the same time.

Is the pus and stuff right at the coronet band? Does the wall seem to be pulling away from the hoof? Or is it right above where the hoof meets the leg? How large and area is involved? Has he acted sore or lame?
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 3, 2010 - 8:09 pm:

Sara,

It started out right on the coronet band but now a week plus later, has gone downward a bit further, and there is kind of a slight hoof bulge below what looks like a crack, which is nearly two inches long.

Buddy shows no sign of lameness, nor did he.

There is not yet much separation -- pretty tight overall with just this clean crack from which oozes out the infection

The stink was really pronounced this afternoon, however, and then I saw the swollen corresponding side of his sheath and didn't know WHAT to make of that. Hopefully it is not related.

Love this old guy.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 3, 2010 - 8:16 pm:

Without swelling further up the leg I would say coincidence. As to where it came from, without lameness, this is likely a local injury. It is very painful for a abscess to work its way from the sole to the coronet.
DrO
Member:
gramsey1

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 3, 2010 - 8:18 pm:

Clean Trax or White lightning soak.
They both have the same active ingredients. I have used both (on different horses). They really worked on the abscess problems.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 3, 2010 - 9:46 pm:

Vicki can you soak Buddy's hoof in epsom salt and betadine? I have had the pleasure of 2 gravels...Hank was just a little off (hardly noticeable until right before it "popped"

I had a mare that graveled once and she was sore, 3 legged for about 15 mins before it popped. If I didn't happen to be outside at the time I would have never known that's what it was.

Soaking then applying icthamol worked with them, that will keep the flies off too. I can't believe you have flies this time of year..guess the cold is good for something!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Feb 4, 2010 - 7:55 am:

I would avoid soaking coronet wounds because you contaminate the wound with stuff from the bottom of the feet. Better is to follow our instructions on the first aid and long term care of wound as described in Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Wounds / Burns.

Gravels are usually very painful for days to weeks before popping out at the coronet. We have had other folks on these boards report such "silent" gravels and I really do not know what to make of them, as I have never seen one. They sound like local trauma or abscesses but not having seen them I just don't know.
DrO
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Thursday, Feb 4, 2010 - 3:53 pm:

Dr. O is correct on this, I believe, as I think things over.

Thanks everyone, for the great suggestions.

Buddy had something like this happen one other time and it was some period of time after I had seen him kick at the metal water tank with the front of this very same hoof.

He likes to bang things with the front of this foot sometimes and I suspect that is what has happened since he has been spending so much time standing outside the stall doors behind the barn, with the other boys shut in every night.

Buddy's sheath is not back to normal yet, but the swelling is less today.

Diane, The flies have been fierce here the past couple of years and there aren't very many now after our long stretches of extreme cold, but a few seem to have managed to hatch out already and with something that smells this rotten, they were attracted.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Friday, Feb 5, 2010 - 12:43 am:

Don't you love it when they manage to have two things wrong at the same time?! It makes it so hard to figure out what's going on as your tendency is always to lumpt the two together; at least that's my tendency. I hope the swelling has gone down in his sheath. Do you think it could be from his moving around less than normal?

I'll bet you are right about the banging causes his hoof problem.

Dr O, would a drawing type poltice be of use to help draw out the infection and relieve pressure?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Feb 5, 2010 - 7:40 am:

Sara,
With odor and a open wound that drains well I would prefer aggressive debridement using a hose and bandaging with a good antimicrobial cream as described in the articles I reference above.
DrO
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Friday, Feb 5, 2010 - 3:31 pm:

Sara, It does indeed make things confusing when two things happen at once!

The one side of Buddy's sheath is still swollen, and at this point, the remaining swelling also has a hard feel to it inside. It's not just an edema type of swelling, so I don't quite know what to make of it and will have to watch it closely. If the condition persists I will have my Vet check it.

Poor Buddy does seem to spend most of the nights in the paddock outside of Perry and Lance's stall doors. He will also stay out there in rather bad conditions and was even coughing one day. If the prediction is for wet and cold any of these nights coming up, I will probably shut him in the barn too.

He seems to feel okay and runs from one side of the barn to the other at a pretty high rate of speed.

I scrubbed and hosed the draining wound with Betadine Scrub thoroughly these past days, including some debridement. Got down there with a tweezer and pulled some fibrous stuff off, not being sure whether it was dead tissue or splinters.

Suddenly the wound seemed very determined to close back up, and seems to have ceased draining and stinking, so hopefully there will not be a further problem with infection.

My computer wasn't working well yesterday afternoon so I didn't get into the articles to read about bandaging such a wound, which I considered, but couldn't quite figure out how to make that work.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Saturday, Feb 6, 2010 - 1:21 pm:

My Vet checked Buddy when he was out this morning.

He feels that the draining hoof situation is most likely now resolved.

With the sheath being swollen and tender, he gave Buddy a Banamine shot and told me to hose the sheath daily to get better circulation going to the area. Never mind it is cool and windy today, Buddy did seem to feel better for my having done so.

This could be an insect bite situation or injury of some kind, but my Vet did explain also about how sometimes older horses will have odd sheath swellings, especially when not moving around a lot, due to impaired circulation.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Saturday, Feb 6, 2010 - 2:55 pm:

Glad the foot is doing better and I hope the sheath issue resolves without being anything serious. It sounds like it will. Good luck.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Saturday, Feb 6, 2010 - 4:44 pm:

Thanks much, Sara.

I sure hope so.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 3:05 pm:

Dr. O,

When hosing Buddy, he DrOps down enough so that I can notice that the top portion of his penis is swollen as well.

When I saw him urinate today though, he only DrOpped down so the very tip poked out of his sheath.

Also, I notice that he is coughing some upon exertion and has some fluid-filled blisters on his tongue.

It is not unusual for him to get some blisters on his tongue in the winter months -- sometimes he has also gotten gingivitis on his gums.

He's really not acting sick but it is obvious this sheath/penis situation must be somewhat uncomfortable.

After I hosed him for about 25 minutes I gave him a couple of grams of Bute, wondering whether that may be helpful as compared to the Banamine shot that he had yesterday morning.

It has been too cold to hose twice daily and fortunate to squeeze in once during the warmest, sunny portion of the day.

I also scrubbed the wound site on the hoof thoroughly as I could notice a stink still emanating from there and it appeared the wound had done some additional draining.

My Vet didn't examine Buddy enough to look at his penis or gums.

Do you have any thoughts about what might be going on here and do you think that the sheath/penis swelling is unrelated to the other difficulties?

Should I continue to give him some Bute for a few days if this swelling persists?

Thanks.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 6:01 pm:

Well, after thorough hosing and then 2 grams of Bute, old Buddy was flying around like greased lightening and the swelling at the sheath did seem improved.

I think a lot of what Buddy is going through right now is caused by alterations in the normal patterns that these horses usually enjoy where all are turned out together and often sleep in the sand on the ground instead of these periods of confinement.

I've found a better nighttime system now so as of last night have Buddy on one side of the barn confined to an attached paddock where he can come and go from various stalls while Lance is on the other side and can get into a paddock on that side of the barn as well as get into a very cozy stall.

They can all see and hear each other but no one is excluded from shelter when they want it.

This is good for me too as a lot of the manure, etc., is then outdoors and much easier to clean up.

It is evident to me that to keep Buddy moving is beneficial to him.

During the daytime he and Lance can also move around out in the pasture, and though it is cool, we've had regular rainfall recently so there is actually a little grass.

So hopefully, we are all headed in the right direction again.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 6:47 pm:

Don't worry Vicki one of them will dream something up to keep you occupied.

Hanks swollen sheath went down too once I was able to get them out of the paddock... it is bigger than normal still, but they really don't move much.. no incentive.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 10:27 pm:

Hey, Diane -- Figured you would understand.

Isn't it amazing how there is a cascade of effect amongst a population when normal routines are interrupted?

Hurts us humans too.

I'm still dragging around since my immune system was compromised by all of this.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 - 6:13 pm:

Just an update about Buddy.

The abscess at his coronet band drained stinky fluid for several days but closed up without further incident.

After a few days of hosing the swollen sheath (no fun in the cold!)and 4 days of Bute, the painful swelling subsided.

There is no longer an area of the sheath that feels hard inside but there is lack of complete symmetry, with one side still larger than the other.

My Vet said there is no longer cause for concern and since Buddy is older and his circulation is less than perfect, strange things can present with the shape of the sheath area.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 - 9:34 pm:

You are having your share of hoof problems this year Glad everything turned out well!
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 - 10:59 pm:

Thanks, Diane.

Fortunately Buddy was never really painfully lame with this abscess and I think he got it by kicking the front of his hoof against the barn or the water tank, silly old guy.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010 - 7:24 am:

Good to hear Vicki.
DrO
Member:
canter

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010 - 11:06 am:

Glad to hear good news, Vicki
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