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  Discussion on Newly diagnosed with Cushings and now hoof abscesses
Author Message
Member:
helenw

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - 10:06 am:

Hi Dr O, thought a trip away from the neurological board would make a nice change!! Cara went profoundly lame just before Christmas, poor old girl can't manage on 3 legs at the best of times and was virtually immobile. The vet was called and suspected acute laminitis so took blood for the ACTH test for Cushings, given her age. It came back as mildly positive (88 I think). I had some doubts that a horse with absolutely no Cushings symptoms would develop bad laminitis from nowhere, and 3 days later a big gravel popped out of the coronary band. That made good sense to me as she had always pointed the toe and didn't want pressure on the heel, not the other way around and had been biting for several days exactly where it burst out. Of course she felt much better and having poulticed the coronary band for a few days with no further discharge (swapped to a dry poultice) and sealed it up, she was able to go back out. Our fields are very muddy at the moment (fetlock deep in the gateways) so far from ideal but keeping a horse with arthritis in isn't good either. I checked her hooves daily and the same one came up very hot again with more biting, but that came to nothing. Over the weekend I was a bit suspicious as she was not standing square in front and then her foot was very hot again. She struggled with backing up last night and had come in slowly and with some difficulty apparently so I gave her plenty of Metacam and expected to see her off her feet again this morning, but she was walking ok again, able to reverse etc, albeit still with a hot hoof. I have kept her in her stable as a precaution though. I suspect a cycle of abscesses, not helped by the wet ground and her thin and sensitive soles. I do need to do some work on her hooves as there is quite a bit of overgrowth and it is possible that this isn't helping (she hasn't seen a farrier since 2005 and I rasp her around regularly myself. Its hard in the winter months though as her arthritis makes it uncomfortable to have her foot up on a tripod so we try to do it little and often). Do you have any advice for me? Why does the foot heat up so dramatically but then seem to come to nothing? It is possible that she isn't absorbing any Pracend as anticonvulsants tend to block many other drugs. She is due for retesting next week. I give it to her in her breakfast as that contains a much smaller dose of phenobarbitone, in case that helps. Bless her, she never does anything the easy way!
Member:
lsweeney

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - 11:40 am:

I have dealt with a lot of abscesses on our Friesians. My foundered Arab is 24 and I think has had one, that I didn't even notice until I saw it draining. I have had a lot of them that start out like an abscess and then don't amount to anything.

My one Friesian went to UC Davis with an abscess, and was prone in her stall for close to 2 weeks. They would not give her anything, and I had multiple vets on the case. No bute. No antibiotics. They don't want to do anything that will frustrate the abscess. You run the risk of slowing down the process, and then be left with an encased abscess going nowhere.

The Friesians are out on 3 acres that contain a lot of decomposed granite and rock formations, and there is also a pond that they play in every day.

I think the abscesses are coming from either bruising, some of which result in a full blown abscess, and others create lameness that resolves itself.

I think there is also a possibility that the hoof is more vulnerable from the pond.

My Arab has much better concavity, even with the founder background, than the Friesians. So I think they tend to bruise their feet easier with their much heavier build. They have also been bred for that exaggerated, powerful trot. When my Friesian was a year old, she would fall on my driveway many times because she would literally march down the down the road, and when she would put so much force on the ground, her feet would slide out from under her on the pavement. So when they power around my pasture and hit a rock, I think they have more chance of bruising than my Arab. Just a theory. Add wet, soaked hooves, and it makes it more probable.
Member:
helenw

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - 12:00 pm:

Hi Laurie, your soil must be pretty sticky clay if it is decomposed granite underneath (my BSc is in geology!!). Ours is a bit more sandy but at very low level and the fields have no artificial drainage. We also have pools of standing water and three guesses who likes to stand in the middle and nibble the green spikes poking though?? I think you are right about the hoof shape. Cara is half Welsh and her hooves are like concrete but she has very flat soles which you can stick your thumb nail in when they are wet. She would test positive to hoof squeezers whether there is anything wrong or not.

I can't believe the vets let your boy go with no painkillers. The first thing my vet said was we had to get her more comfortable as our first priority. She spent much of her time lying down flat out (can't lie on her chest because of her arthritic knees) and we all felt so sorry for her. To watch her trying to change position in the stable was heartbreaking. It took several minutes for her to move just one step forwards or backwards and she clearly didn't want to move at all. Any movement made her huff and puff with the pain. I suffer with my back and I know what that is like. Everything I've read says that antiinflammatories make absolutely no difference to the course of the abscess. Just before her coronary band swelled up ready to burst she was able to move much more freely again so I guess it released the pressure from inside the hoof capsule a bit.
Member:
lsweeney

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 - 1:16 pm:

This was UC Davis with multiple vets observing. I was concerned about laminitis since she wouldn't put any weight on the hoof with the abscess. She was also running a low grade fever. There didn't appear to be any gray in the decision for them.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 - 7:03 pm:

Hello helenw,
Recurring heat and lameness in a foot with a recent gravel suggest the infection is not draining well. See the article on abscesses (associated with this discussion area) for recommendations on proper treatment of abscesses and gravels. I think a more aggressive approach as described in the article will help you.
DrO
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