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Discussion on Abscess negative to hoof testers?
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 - 7:33 am:
Hi Dr. O,
Have you ever seen a horse with a hoof abscess that did not react to hoof testers? Presumably if the abscess was in the middle of the foot it might be possible?
Thanks
Lynn
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Member:
gramsey1
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 - 10:02 am:
I have on three occasions. Three different horses. All suddenly lame. All tested by both vets and farriers, three different vets and three different farriers.
One was not blocked and the owner went on a wild goose chase of stifle and hip treatments. Two horses were blocked and preliminary diagnosis was Degenerative Joint Disease.
We had ours x-rayed and confirmed. We decided to take the horse barefoot. The equine podiatrist had us soak him twice a day for ten minutes in diluted apple cider vinegar.
In all three cases, five to ten days after initial testing and diagnosis, the horses abscesses popped surprising all three owners, farriers and vets. The horses were immediately relieved of pain. Two of the three had big draining holes.
Our guy drained along the white line for a couple of days. The podiatrist said, " I hoped that would happen." He, though not totally lame is still mostly a pasture horse that does light trail work.
The other horses, after treating the draining abscess hole returned to normal activity.
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 - 10:55 am:
Thanks for the info Guy! Presumably they used hoof testers on all of these but did not get a response?
Cheers
Lynn
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 - 10:59 am:
oops, ignore that last posting Guy. I see your first sentence implies they tried the hoof testers. A little slow today!
Lynn
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 - 9:38 pm:
Hello Lynn,
Having diagnosed and treated hundreds of foot abscesses I have not had any experiences like Guy describes that I can remember.
Certainly there are places in the foot you could have an abscess that might not be easily stressed by hoof testers: a infection deep in the coffin bone for instance and wall abscesses are a bit more difficult to localize do to the increase thickness of the wall. But when we talk about foot abscesses we almost always mean solar abscesses: infection between the hoof capsule and the bone. Even if in the the middle of the sole it should be reachable and react to the testers.
DrO
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Friday, Oct 29, 2010 - 7:32 am:
Thanks much Dr. O.
Lynn
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