I have an older gelding who someone managed to get a puncture wound in the side of his fetlock joint. The vet came out and flushed it out, cut away the proud flesh and bandaged it up. The injury had gone all the way into the joint and it was infected. He's been on antibiotics for about a month now. He went from not putting any weight at all on it to seemingly sound, so we let him go from a very small paddock to a larger one, still by himself. Now the swelling has come back and he has a small limp.
I don't know if he should go back to the smaller paddock(it is REALLY small) or if this is part of the healing process. Anyone know how long these things can take to heal?
Answers:
In March of this year my show horse was playing in her paddock and she struck her back right pastern on a tiny piece of PVC pipe. She punctured her fetlock joint. I hauled her to the best local equine vet, and spent $3000 to have her treated very aggressively with IV antibiotics, it was flushed once and she had antibiotics put directly into the bone of the leg twice also. She then went on total stall rest for 3 weeks, and then into slightly bigger pens until the leg was good. So do i know about joint infections?! Yes, i do. I had never dreamed of spending that much money and work on a horse, but the vet told me that without her treatment it was a total guarantee that she would be permanently unsound (I guess all punctured joints get infection - its called septic arthritis - I've read all about it since then) With her aggressive treatment I was told she had a 70-80% chance of ending up totally sound and well.
I am happy to say that now, three and a half months later, she is completely sound and I am back to training and showing her. She has no signs of any lameness at any time now, but she has the tiniest bit of swelling to that fetlock. You would only see if it you were searching for it, and I don't think it will ever totally leave.
You need to contact your vet, or another equine vet ASAP. I was told in my instructions when I took my mare home (She stayed at the vet facility for a week) that if the swelling ever got worse, or if she became more lame, to contact them immediantely. Keeping her confined was tough as I don't have a nice barn or small places. I ended up making her a tiny paddock almost stall sized with corral panels, and after 3 weeks total in that she went into a tiny paddock twice as big. I wasn't even allowed to graze her or hand walk her at first, after 3 weeks I could very slowly allow her to walk on lead.
I suspect your problem is bigger than just his paddock. I worry that the joint infection is still there, only very slightly. I gather without IV meds and lavage the chances of totally getting rid of the infection is almost impossible. Your horse was flushed - but I wonder if he was knocked out and flushed really, really well. And I wonder if his medications were aggressive enough - my mare had two IV meds running for most of the week.
It sounds likely that he now has some joint problems. Maybe it is not an actual infection now, maybe it is just joint damage that you're seeing. I don't know. Maybe the infection is starting to return. Maybe the extra movement he's getting is inflamming things and aggrivating the joint. I would not rush to put him on bute, because that will relieve his pain but it will also make him more likely to move and aggrivate the joint. I would want advice from the vet before doing anything else. It is possible that he is past needing more treatment, and he may end up with some soundness issues. Or perhaps something can still be done to help the problem, such as different medications or having the joint reflushed. Or perhaps the problem is nothing except too much excercise. But you won't know without an expert's advice.
Good luck. I hope your story can end up as successfully as mine! I now own a really nice horse with a $3000 leg (gasp!) but she is sound and well.
Usually for joint infections horses are confined to stall rest. You may want to consider that until the healing process is all the way through-- and then hand walk and graze everyday. If your horse isn't very level headed in the stall i say pasture him alone in the small pasture (if he's ok with being alone) that way he wont run around and risk any more injury until it's healed. Otherwise talk to the vet again and maybe schedual a progress checkup.
No, but I heard of someone who had a horse with a joint problem and put infared light on the joint and healed the horse. I bought an infared light for my joint that had arthritis (inflammation) and put the light on for 10 minutes, three times a day. The pain stopped.
It really depends on how bad the initial injury was. A bad joint infection can cause a lot of damage to ligaments and tendons just as bad as any other type of injury. That means it takes a long time to rehab the joint. Most joint injuries I have had experience with take about three monthes of stall rest and another three of rehab.
I would call the vet and put the horse back into a small paddock. It sounds like the horse just aggitated the area. I would imagine the vet has you wrap the front legs to give the horse some extra support. If they aren't, they should be. Therapy should consist of something like: hand walking 2-3 times daily, cold hosing might help when the horse gets sore, and your vet may have a magnetic "boot" that you can rent to stimulate circulation in the area. Anti-inflamatories, antibiotics, and other meds may be necessary.
Please talk the situation over with your vet first. Ask if they can give you some type of therapy program to follow.
Best of Luck!
Yuo may want to put him in a small paddock for a while, just so he doesn't run, buck, etc. Put some oitment on it but don't use bute unless he is in serious pain. If you used bute, he would think that he wasn't hurt anymore and run, but when it wore off it would hurt.Bandage it again and make sure to put SWAT on it. SWAT is like fly spray for wounds.
Good luck, I hope it heals fast!
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