Essential items for your first aid box

Trewsers

Trewsers

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Oct 13, 2004
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I know over the years there’s been lots of threads on this but I like to keep up to date and know what’s out there and what other owners are using. So what’s your essential list of items at the moment in your first aid box? I’m needing to up date mine so curious about what creams for wounds or wound cleaning things anyone has. Do you throw stuff out too? I have some pretty old dressings but they are still sterile. I notice they have dates on.
 
My first aid kit is huge, 2 filing cabinet draws full of stuff! I also have a little kit I take in the trailer and a smaller one for my saddle bags :D

Riding kit - Bute, vet wrap, wound wipe, wound cream, sanitary towel (for handy individually wrapped non-stick wound dressing), syringe, steri strips, expanding towel, human pain killers, foil blanket.

Trailer kit - as above but in bigger quantities plus, hibi scrub, surgical gloves, thermometer, manuka honey, cotton wool, duct tape, instant calmer, electrolytes, Thirst quencher, antibiotic cream, chemical ice pack.

The rest - I would have to look to be sure :D there's more of the above and Gamgee, poultices, various creams/ointments/sprays, eyes drops, sterile water, saline, various cooling gels and liquids, bandages/tubigrip, a clean Tupperware box, wormers, sedaline, hoof armor, Ice packs (kept at home in freezer ready), ice bag (to use with ice cubes), knee wraps, heat boots, and a bunch of foot treatment things. Basically anything I get goes in and I just clear out old stuff once in a while :)
 
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Haha, mine's a bit like @Jessey's - an ever expanding collection of things. I have a tack box that lives on the horsebox with vet wrap, poultices, dressings, duct tape, antiseptic ointment, scissors (trying to think ...) wipes, Vaseline, gloves. In my drawers next to my stable I have all sorts of marvellous lotions and potions, some I've got from the vet and some off the shelf - standard stuff like wonder gel, sudocreme, purple spray etc and from the vet mite wash, mud fever cream, broad spectrum antibiotics left over from when they changed a course of anti-b's to target a specific bug, etc etc. I think you'd have to blow the dust off some things and rub a clean patch with your finger to check the date - bit like an old wine cellar lol. The things I couldn't live without are Hibiscrub, cotton wool and Vetrimycin wound spray. I like the Vetrimycin because it doesn't gunk the wound up and it's supposed to be non-stinging (Raf's always catching himself and getting minor cuts around his lower leg area so it gets used quite a lot).

What I haven't got that I could need in an emergency - anti-histamines - keep thinking I should get some in.
 
Bodshi said:
Haha, mine's a bit like @Jessey's - an ever expanding collection of things. I have a tack box that lives on the horsebox with vet wrap, poultices, dressings, duct tape, antiseptic ointment, scissors (trying to think ...) wipes, Vaseline, gloves. In my drawers next to my stable I have all sorts of marvellous lotions and potions, some I've got from the vet and some off the shelf - standard stuff like wonder gel, sudocreme, purple spray etc and from the vet mite wash, mud fever cream, broad spectrum antibiotics left over from when they changed a course of anti-b's to target a specific bug, etc etc. I think you'd have to blow the dust off some things and rub a clean patch with your finger to check the date - bit like an old wine cellar lol. The things I couldn't live without are Hibiscrub, cotton wool and Vetrimycin wound spray. I like the Vetrimycin because it doesn't gunk the wound up and it's supposed to be non-stinging (Raf's always catching himself and getting minor cuts around his lower leg area so it gets used quite a lot).

What I haven't got that I could need in an emergency - anti-histamines - keep thinking I should get some in.
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Oh I have those too :D That sounds exactly like my stash, dust and all :D
 
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Bodshi said:
Haha, mine's a bit like @Jessey's - an ever expanding collection of things. I have a tack box that lives on the horsebox with vet wrap, poultices, dressings, duct tape, antiseptic ointment, scissors (trying to think ...) wipes, Vaseline, gloves. In my drawers next to my stable I have all sorts of marvellous lotions and potions, some I've got from the vet and some off the shelf - standard stuff like wonder gel, sudocreme, purple spray etc and from the vet mite wash, mud fever cream, broad spectrum antibiotics left over from when they changed a course of anti-b's to target a specific bug, etc etc. I think you'd have to blow the dust off some things and rub a clean patch with your finger to check the date - bit like an old wine cellar lol. The things I couldn't live without are Hibiscrub, cotton wool and Vetrimycin wound spray. I like the Vetrimycin because it doesn't gunk the wound up and it's supposed to be non-stinging (Raf's always catching himself and getting minor cuts around his lower leg area so it gets used quite a lot).

What I haven't got that I could need in an emergency - anti-histamines - keep thinking I should get some in.
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I have some of the Vetrimiycin stuff (think that's what it is, in a purple bottle?) I liked the idea of it being no stinging too.
Lol to the old wine comparison!!!!
 
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carthorse said:
Not an essential, but over the years I've found a pen and paper very useful. In a panic it's easy not to fully take in vet instructions so I prefer to right them down.
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That's a really good idea. I remember the last time I had to ring the emergency vet (when I found Storm rolling around her box in agony one morning) and could I find the pen and paper? Nope. I was in such a panic too. I had to ring the out of hours number as it was early before surgery opened. Eeek. Definitely going to put one in there now and keep it there.
 
Oh dear. With all my animals youd think my first aid would be massive. Far from it.
Ive got stuff stuck here and there in draws and sheds. Weve got loads of sterile dressing packs, what my nan had for dressing her ulcerated legs years ago. Also packs of dressing squares which we can use as swabs. Purple spray. Yellow fly cream, sudocrem. Few banadges. Think theres some sterile water somewhere too.

Got a leg split and wrap from a years ago from a lamb that broke its leg. Got a bottle of caliject and the kit to drain it in under the skin, for the cows in case they go off there feet. We had it left over from dotty when she collapsed.

My main go to in our first aid is a bottle of antibiotics we keep in our fridge. Normally with the sheep and cows its the first thing they say to give. Depending on the issue we do have to check with the vet as some antibiotics arent suitable for certain issues.
 
chunky monkey said:
Oh dear. With all my animals youd think my first aid would be massive. Far from it.
Ive got stuff stuck here and there in draws and sheds. Weve got loads of sterile dressing packs, what my nan had for dressing her ulcerated legs years ago. Also packs of dressing squares which we can use as swabs. Purple spray. Yellow fly cream, sudocrem. Few banadges. Think theres some sterile water somewhere too.

Got a leg split and wrap from a years ago from a lamb that broke its leg. Got a bottle of caliject and the kit to drain it in under the skin, for the cows in case they go off there feet. We had it left over from dotty when she collapsed.

My main go to in our first aid is a bottle of antibiotics we keep in our fridge. Normally with the sheep and cows its the first thing they say to give. Depending on the issue we do have to check with the vet as some antibiotics arent suitable for certain issues.
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Is the stuff for the cows like adrenalin injection or something similar?
 
To reply to this I needed to look.

Three things that are in the grooming bag. One that isn't.
Sudocreme, mainly for a sunburnt nose.
Hibiscrub if anything needs washing.
Purple spray
Salt water on tap.
For her and me.

I am more of the leave it alone let nature sort it out. If it's bad is a vet call anyway.
I do use hoof putty and Stockholm tar, but wouldn't really say veterinary. It's just something I needed once and kept it. I may need this year as I don't know what the land will be like.

I guess it depends on your horse. I knew one that could cut themselves and it would infect, the cob managed to fall through a fence, got up and carried on eating!
 
Little bottle of 'seal and heal' or germoline liquid skin. Really useful to keep flies off small wounds and scrapes, since you can't put a plaster on! Used it loads on Ramsey. Also sudocrem.
 
Trewsers said:
Is the stuff for the cows like adrenalin injection or something similar?
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The calciject yes. I guess you could call it adrenaline. Its for hypercalcemia. Never used it before but when dotty went down the vet gave it. Its so weird you literally see the cow start to shake once its been given. If you didnt know youd be thinking theres something even worse happening. But it is infact the muscles and body absorbing it and starting to work again. Within about 30 minutes of having it they can be back on there feet. She collapsed twice over a few days. So another vet visit. Eventually she recovered. But the vet left us with a bottle and a tubing etc to put under the skin. Its something a lot of cow farms have on standby. Occurs in milky cows usually after calving. The body just draws on all its reserves after calving ro put into milk and wallop the body cant cope.
 
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Huggy said:
Little bottle of 'seal and heal' or germoline liquid skin. Really useful to keep flies off small wounds and scrapes, since you can't put a plaster on! Used it loads on Ramsey. Also sudocrem.
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I have some of that germoline liquid skin stuff for me.
 
newforest said:
To reply to this I needed to look.

Three things that are in the grooming bag. One that isn't.
Sudocreme, mainly for a sunburnt nose.
Hibiscrub if anything needs washing.
Purple spray
Salt water on tap.
For her and me.

I am more of the leave it alone let nature sort it out. If it's bad is a vet call anyway.
I do use hoof putty and Stockholm tar, but wouldn't really say veterinary. It's just something I needed once and kept it. I may need this year as I don't know what the land will be like.

I guess it depends on your horse. I knew one that could cut themselves and it would infect, the cob managed to fall through a fence, got up and carried on eating!
Click to expand...

I go through a LOT of sudo for Chloe. It's really good for any raw bits near where she itches her feathers. Sometimes I have to slather quite a lot on if she's got into a real itching spree. To break the chain I do get Fuciderm though the tiny tube doesn't go far.
 
I use Vetricyn (I doubt the spelling is right) spray on wound gel which also forms a barrier and I know doesn't sting because I tried it on myself. Having once got Seal and Heal on a cut I could understand why horses would react, and don't get me started on Germoline!
 
carthorse said:
I use Vetricyn (I doubt the spelling is right) spray on wound gel which also forms a barrier and I know doesn't sting because I tried it on myself. Having once got Seal and Heal on a cut I could understand why horses would react, and don't get me started on Germoline!
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I was a bit stingy when I used some of the liquid skin stuff not long ago. I don't remember it hurting like that previously, I did wonder if they'd changed the formula. I like the Vetricyn stuff too. Hahahaha, Germoline! I am so old I remember it in the tiny tin and it was pink and thick and very sticky and uniquely stinky. It's still pink but much smoother now and not as smelly hahahahaaha.
 
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Trewsers said:
I was a bit stingy when I used some of the liquid skin stuff not long ago. I don't remember it hurting like that previously, I did wonder if they'd changed the formula. I like the Vetricyn stuff too. Hahahaha, Germoline! I am so old I remember it in the tiny tin and it was pink and thick and very sticky and uniquely stinky. It's still pink but much smoother now and not as smelly hahahahaaha.
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Nope the tube comes out white.

Second skin was the original bottle of luquid, discontinued because that ruddy hurt.
Use a plaster is my advice, else unless it's super sterile clean you have just sealed in an infection.
 
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I never found the seal and heal stung. Never bothered Ramsey either. I'd clean with hibiscrub then apply. Different strokes I suppose
 
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