Cut thats not healing!!!

[Tor&Warrior]

Flyte came in with a cut on his leg about 3 weeks ago. It was a bit odd to start as it seemed to scab over (sorry for lovely details!!) immediatley. He must of done it in the field as every inch of his legs are check before he goes out and when he comes in. I cleaned it but it didn't look anything awful just a scab! I cleaned it every day and tried to get it off as the scab seemed to be getting bigger. After it had been there about a week it started to get bigger and it was hot around it and I carried on cleaning it twice a day but still the scab was well and truely stuck on so there was nothing I could really do. I started putting cotton wool in boiling hot water and then when I could hold it wrapping it round his leg in the hope it would draw anything out. After a few days off this his leg exploded! Lots of very unpleasant yellow muck came out every where and we were left with a pretty major hole in his leg about an inch long and a couple of cm's deep. Very red and angry and infected. I've been since washing it with Hibbi Scrub twice a day, putting Iodine spray on it and for the first 5 days he had it covered with a dressing as it was so bad and I didn't want anything more getting in and in a hope to draw the infection out. He now still has it washed with Hibbi, Iodine spray and green oils to keep things from getting in. Its been well over a week though since it exploded and its still not looking like its heeling. It doesn't look as infected any more, just weeps a little but nothing like before but it is still a bad looking cut. Is it normal to take this long to heal and do you think he needs the vet to have a look at it and give him something for it? Thanks
Torx

[Zingy]

If it is deep then it can take a long time to heal. When Yog has had bad cuts my vet has always recommended bandaging them, normally with something like dermobion on them. The cut itself needs to be kept moist rather than drying out (hence the bandage), so the cut heals from the inside out. That way it can look like it's taking ages, but if they dry out and form scabs the infection is trapped inside (as you've discovered!). They also recommended leaving bandages on for about 5 days (I think leaving it alone helped it heal). I'd maybe be inclined to ring the vet - they might not need to come out, but can maybe give you some idea if it's doing what they'd expect.

[martini55]

If it is still weeping maybe it might be a good idea to put a poultice on to get it all out. How deep is the actual cut?? If you are at all concerned I would ring your vet and ask for advice.

[Tor&Warrior]

I will go and put a poultice/dressing back on it now. I've got dermobion so I'll use that.
Its only about 3 cm's deep, I know it doesn't sound much, but its stayed that deep the whole time and it a good few inchs long. Its like a wedge cut out. And it looks very red and angry and weeps all the time.
I will give the vet a ring 2moro I think, just to see what they think. It does seem to be bothering him to and its just worrying because where it is on his leg, if it got bad infection in there it really would not do him any good!!

[galadriel]

Are you sure that you've gotten as deep as it gets? It sounds like it could be an infected puncture wound.

If a puncture wound goes straight in or in at a hard-to-see angle, then you may not realize that it goes any deeper unless you probe for it. And a puncture that isn't flushed out well is likely to get infected; then it will get all pussy and nasty and start draining.

Drawing the pus out should help a lot. But if it is a puncture, you may want to get a small plastic syringe, or some such, and use it to flush the wound. Fill it with saline solution or antiseptic, and put the tip into the wound toward the back. Press down the plunger on the syringe so that the liquid "shoots" slowly into the wound. As it shoots in some will also run back out again. If you get ANYthing out along with the liquid, then repeat until you don't. You could get crusty stuff, pus, dirt flecks, etc.

A wound on a leg can also get proud flesh, which can seriously slow down the healing of a wound. It's pink granular nasty stuff that forms over the wound, and just keeps going up and out but never looks healthy, healed, or gets smooth and grows hair. If you've got a buildup of proud flesh it will have to come off before the wound can heal; if it's really bad, a vet may need to cut it off. If you've got some proud flesh, somtimes "Wonder Dust" or another such product can help reduce it.

If you did have an infection, especially if it was a puncture, you may need to give antibiotics to totally clear it up. It's always safest to have a vet check on something that bothers you :)

[martini55]

Thats a good point actually. Martini had a puncture wound to the shoulder. I didn't think it was that deep, but as it was a puncture and she was extremely lame I got the vet out immediately. He probed about to see how deep it was and got a pair of surgical scissors i think it was right the way inside:eek: I had no idea it was that deep

[Tor&Warrior]

I spoke to the vet today. She didn't come out as she said there was nothing she would do that I couldn't do my self (and she's over an hour away and call out is £65!) But anyway she gave me antibiotics for him just incase. She also thinks it could be some sort of puncture wound that goes deeper than we can see. Hence why the entry to the wound didn't look at all bad when he first did it, and it wasn't, until the infection set in! I've got a syringe and he has to have it flushed twice a day with saline solution lots of times and then once with a antiseptic solution. He has a antibiotic cream for it and she's said to keep it pulticed until it starts to look better. You say about the Proud Flesh, it actually does look like that! So I will give her a ring later just to mention it!

Thanks!

[welshcoblady1]

hello sorry to read your horse has a unhealing wound ,my advice to you is do not use the hibbi constantly ,yes it kills bacteria but it also dries out and kills healthy clean tissue ( the wound edges and building blocks that help the wound to heal ) clean the wound with it untill the wound is pink and clean , then encourage to heal from in side the wound to the outside ,by applying dry dressings
with charcoal based powder (blacks wound powder is very good.) or which ever you are using ,there will be a little heat and swelling as the white cells try to do their job .
if the wound is ommitting serum or a little blood ,apply gause so that it can soak up but leave the wound to drain through if need.
antibiotics may be needed and anti inflams will help.
if the wound does not try to heal or partly heals only to seem reinfected they may be some thing in the wound site that is trying to find a exit. horse linex are good but can encourage proud flesh if over used as borex can be astringent . if the wound is clean but bleeding a little but not leaking pus but may leak alittle yellow encourage it to dry and scab over with dry dressings
and keep clean with a light bandage change dressing 12 hrly if clean and dry more so if weeping pus . fresh air to the site will help to dry naturaly , massaging the limb gently in the dirction of the heart can help swelling and the lymphs to drain.
if the pony is box resting cut down concentrates and give a high fibre diet .
best wishes .

[DITZ]

I can give you the number of my 'Romany Gypsy with healing Hands' if you like?

[nat17]

The little girls old pony had a similar cut and I got her to hibi scrub bath it 2 times daily and spray Horsewisr Antibac on 3 times a day and it cleared up very quickly, it was infected but this works a treat with any proud flesh and deep wounds if left open.;)

[tubby]

Not sure I'd put Dermobian on it as it contains cortisone,which could well delay healing, also it's going to take a while to heal even when the infections gone as it needs to heal from the inside outwards.Had one many years ago with what you aptly describe as an exploding leg,it took some weeks to heal but never caused any further problem.

[Tor&Warrior]

welshcoblady- Thanks thats brilliant lots of help! I went and black wound powder today!

He's had a dressing on now with the flushs and everything else the vet gave us and this morning when I took the dressing off it was completley clean so its stopped bleeding and must be cleaner.

I think it just needed that bit of help from the vets stuff as it seems to be looking much better. Not red raw and infected any more!

Thanks Guys!!

[galadriel]

Oh good :)

[welshcoblady1]

hello tor i hope now that the wound has come clean ,that you can start to dry the wound so that it heals by first intention from the inside out , if you use blacks wound powder ,i swear by it ,it will obsorb any exscludent and dry the wound to help healing and you should not have pus scauld around the area . if the legs swell alittle pop a mug of black strong tea in his evening meal and this helps to relieve filled legs similar to a diretic one mug every other day will help ,then stop if swelling subsides.
do let me know how it goes .
best wishes .

[Sidesaddlelady]

GET THE VET STRAIGHT AWAY!!!!!!

Why have you let it get this bad? Do you want your horse to die of septicaemia? Or be permanently lamed?

[martini55]

No offence but you might want to read the whole topic before posting. Tor&Warrior phoned the vet who didn't even need to come out to see Flyte. She was doing the right thing and these kind of wounds just need time to heal.

[Sidesaddlelady]

Any wound of this type needs the vet and if my vet gave a diagnosis over the phone in a case like this I'd be changing my vet pronto.

[Tor&Warrior]

Thank you sidesaddlelady but I don't realy appreciate replys like this to my posts, especially after I have already said it is now healing. I'm not stupid I knew this cut did not need a visit from a vet. I knew all along it wasn't anything serious or to be worried about I was just looking for some advice on speading up the process and helping it along.

There really wasn't any worry of him

Do you want your horse to die of septicaemia? Or be permanently lamed?

At any time!

And I also don't like people accussing me of letting a cut get that bad!! A cut is a cut and if you'd actually read my post you would know I have been cleaning it since the first day he did it!

A wound like this did not need the vet and if I had made the vet come out I don't think she would of been to happy! She gave a diagnosis over the phone because that all it needed and my vet is actually one of the best in the country.

Maybe you need to actually read posts and think about what your going to reply and what people might feel about you saying such things about them and there horses before jumping to conslusions and accusing people!

Thank You martini55! Flytes leg is fine now by the way! :D

[wildponies]

sidesaddlelady... if wounds like this could not infact be dealt with by the general public.. then the remedies, lotions and potions required to clean up such wounds would not be available for purchase.. am i right?

To be fair Tor just thought it was a cut.. we've all treated horses with cuts and scratches.. we're all capable of it.. Tor did the same, unfortunately, as has been discussed above, some puncture wounds are almost invisible to even the most experienced eye and so these can easily be overlooked.

Hope all the vets stuff and other stuff that's been reccommended to you works Tor!

[Tor&Warrior]

Very true wildponies!! And at £65 call out fee for our vet to (expensive but she's amazing so worth it when we really need her!) If I had to call her out at every cut & scratch I'd have to give up eating:D But even without the call out fee, I don't know about everybody else, but I can't afford to get the vet out at every whim. I'm not saying I wouldn't if it was needed of course I would but it wasn't needed. The vet would of done no more than I did.

Everything has worked brilliant and its just a little scab now which I think will go soon! Thanks everybody for helping!