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  Discussion on Bite Wound
Author Message
Member:
Halln5

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 25, 2002 - 10:07 pm:

It's Christmas day and I put my two horses out together to "play" in the snow. It turned ugly and one severely bit the other at the base of the neck. He just grabbed the windpipe and pulled and would not let go. The resulting wound is now swollen and it seemed to cut through the first layer of skin and is about 2 inches or so long. This is what I did: Shaved the area to expose the wound (there was very little blood), irrigated it with a saline solution, dried and applied "butterfly" strips to pull the wound together. I applied another bandage on top of the strips with some panalogue ointment and taped it all down tight, then ran vet wrap around the whole thing. I plan on calling the vet in the morning and seeking his advice. Is there anything else I should do or should have done? The horse is eating and drinking fine. It was a vicious attack and I was expecting more damage than was done. The secondary issue to this event is how can I trust these two horses to eventually get along? Neither is a vicious horse with people at all, they just can't work out the pecking order and there are only the two of them! They have lived at the same barn in my backyard since June and yet can't be trusted together. Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Member:
Leilani

Posted on Thursday, Dec 26, 2002 - 1:13 am:

You are to be commended. Good job on dealing with a difficult situation on Xmas day. My take on this is they are horses and will behave as horses. My mare, who in my opinion sets just this side of the trilogy, had a major problem with another mare at the ranch we boarded at. Their resolution did not end well...

Keep an eye on them, pull back shoes if you have to and remember, just because you like someone doesn't mean your friend has to like them. Same goes in the equine world.

Mele Kalikimaka.

Leilani
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Dec 26, 2002 - 6:20 am:

Three pieces of advice:
1) You could clean the wound better with water under pressure, like comes out of a hose or saline in a large syringe with an 18 gauge needle with as much force as you can put on it. On the acute open wound I would have avoided Panalog because it has a steroid in it.
2) Because a bite wound is going to have bruised, perhaps even dead, tissue and be highly contaminated with bacteria I would have started systemic antibiotics.
3) A bit of oral bute twice daily is always helpful with the swelling and discomfort.

All in all though it sounds like a job that would work well most of the time. For more on these issues see » Equine Diseases » Skin Diseases » Wounds: First Aid, Care, and Proud Flesh.
DrO
Member:
Halln5

Posted on Thursday, Dec 26, 2002 - 10:34 am:

Thank you both for the quick responses. This morning, of course, all my bandaging had come off but the wound is closed and looks much better. There is still quite a bit of swelling and soreness. He is not running a temp and there seems to be less heat around the wound itself this morning. I did use a syringe to flush the wound with saline, however, on reflection I probably did not use as much force as possible. I did give him bute last night and some this morning. I will keep your advice about the panalogue in mind next time, Dr. O. This is a great forum for quick answers to questions.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Dec 26, 2002 - 4:12 pm:

Hello Vicki,
Open wounds do not heal closed in a day hmmmm, you know going back and reading your post I am wondering if this was a full skin thickness wound or not. The very little blood in combination with it looking closed today makes me think maybe not. Perhaps just a partial skin thickness cut. If it is not full skin thickness, the penicillin is not needed unless the bruising severe and your panalog would be fine. Maybe you had it closer than I thought.
DrO
Member:
Halln5

Posted on Friday, Dec 27, 2002 - 2:34 pm:

Well, as of today, things have changed. I am now 6 hours away from home with my husband taking care of the horses and he told me this morning that the wound had opened up again. He is calling the vet to come out and see if he can stitch it even this long after the fact. I don't know. I had a feeling that the closure was tenuous and as this horse tends to be a bit nervous and paces a lot I guess it was too much to hope that it had completely closed. My thoughts are full of "should haves" now. Should have called the vet right away. Just hated to do that on Christmas. Live and learn. I will keep you posted as to how this heals up. Thanks for the response, Dr. O. Happy New Year!
Member:
Sctamaus

Posted on Friday, Dec 27, 2002 - 9:00 pm:

Dr.O & Vicki,
I had posted in September about my gelding viciously attacking my mare. He had her down on the ground biting at her neck. She had one or two punture wounds in her neck and it was lumpy all over when I got there. The vet came and gave her a shot of Banamine and penicillin. She said the skin around the puncture would probably fall off (it was dark and leathery looking)which it did. She had edema in her neck. He had torn all the flesh loose from the muscle.I hosed it out daily,used a long syringe filled with a betadine and distilled water solution to flush it out daily and gave her antibiotics. The fluid was coming out a bloody water at first and a few days later was a thick milky ooze that smelled terrible. The hosing and flushing worked great. It helped get all the dead chunks of tissue out too. I couldn't believe how fast the tissue grew back in. Neither could my vet. Make sure you read the articles Dr.O recommended. I have my gelding in a separate area and will never put him in with her again. I was lucky that some people saw what was happening and ran to help my mare, if not I think he would have killed her. They had been in the same pasture together for years. I have no idea why he did this, but he'll never get a second chance. Let us know what your vet said and take good care of your horse.
Sincerely,
Cheryl
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Dec 28, 2002 - 10:24 am:

That sounds better. Don't look upon the wound opening up as bad Vicki: it needs to drain and this allows you access with your cleaning also. Many times when I have fresh wounds with as much bruising as occurs with a bite, I do not suture them close just so the tissues can receive proper treatment.
DrO
Member:
Halln5

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2002 - 6:19 pm:

Update: I'm back from being gone for a few days--my husband has patiently tended my horse and he (my husband) doesn't even ride or have much interest in them. Anyway, the wound is healing but there is still a large (tennis ball sized) swollen area at the site. The vet came out last Sunday and drained it once. He will come again on Thursday if needed and in the meantime has recommended hot compresses to see if that will help the swelling. He did administer anitbiotics and a tetanus booster. Other than that I guess there's nothing more to do? Would massaging the swollen aread while the compress is administered help? Thanks, all. Vicki
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 1, 2003 - 8:35 am:

Vicki, it is generally not good to massage tissues that may have infection. If fluid is collecting, particularly purulent fluid, it should be opened and allowed to drain constantly rather than episodically with a needle.
DrO
Member:
Halln5

Posted on Thursday, Jan 2, 2003 - 9:52 pm:

Here's the latest (I know you're on the edge of your seat). Vet came out tonight. He lanced the area and drained quite a bit of red/clear fluid--not infected. Gave him a shot of banamine and left me with saline solution and a syringe to irrigate the area 1-2 times a day, also continuing the hot packs. He said there didn't seem to be damage to the windpipe or esophagus which is good news. He seems to think this will heal nicely and that it is not as bad as it could have been. So, thanks to all who responded. I am grateful to have access to this site.
On a side note, I have decided, sadly, to try and sell the offending gelding. He is actually my teenage daughter's horse and she is not longer interested in the work part of horse ownership and I don't have the time or the resources to do all the work. He is a nice little gelding, generally good natured and sweet and loves people. It may be a difficult thing to find him a good home though since he also has COPD. I'm a bit at a loss as to what to do with him. I know this is not the place to explore that issue. Anyway, thanks, Dr. O.

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