Hello, my poor Dayka caught her foot on a loose piece of barbed wire I didn't see in her new field yesterday morning.
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The vet is coming tomorrow to check the extent of the damage on the tendons, I'm applying a clay/honey poultice on her foot and leg right now but I was wondering if you had any advice on "natural" things I coud give her or do to give her some relief.
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I've close off most of the field so she's not tempted to walk too much and I give her long showers when I change her poultice and she seems to appreciate it but I feel so bad for her seeing her limping and giving me her foot like this, if there's anything else I can do I will.
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Thanks guys :S
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Horse Care and Comfort
Advice on pain management
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Oooh Lucie I'm am so sorry to hear about Dayka, what a terrible accident.
We had a big scare last year with my daughters half Arab , she scraped her leg down the side of the loading ramp and a big flap of skin was hanging there.
We were very quick to call the vet and she got some shots and stitched up.
The healing process was very very long and Amira was lame for a long time- about 6 months.
Anyway, during that time we had to change dressing everyday which Amira did not like, so much so that we had to use a device we have here in Denmark I can only call it a muzzle clamp, don't know what it's called in English or French !! It looks like a big peg device which you put the end of the muzzle into and squeeze shut. It apparently releases some endorphins which act like a calming drug, this was instead of doping her for every dressing change.
We used honey which we got from the vet, I have a tube left over, it's very very expensive but I will send it to you if you would like that- also a little later in the process we had to use washing clothes powder mixed with water to wash the wound in, this has some enzymes in it which stops the wound from creating that horrible yellow scar tissue which looks like rubber- because if the ' rubber' is allowed to grow then the vet has to cut it off.
The washing powder is called BLUE BIOTEX- I don't know if you can get it in France but again I will happily send you some if you want it.
As for pain management we had to corner off a VERY small paddock for her in the daytime, so that she could not walk around so much, and so just a lot of rest. Otherwise the stable has to be keep very very clean, new straw everyday. We also had to see if the dressing was getting wet in anyway, this is not allowed because then the flys come- so no flys either, though quite impossible if you ask me.
Amira was pumped full of antibiotics and pain killer from the vet, we continued with this until the vet said she was not to have anymore.
Please let me know if you want any of the things I mentioned. And best of luck . Also sending healing thoughts to your Dayka.
Best wishes from Dionne.
Also Lucie if you want to borrow my muzzle peg in case of any difficulties in changing dressings please let me know ill send it to you.
I know it sounds barbaric and it is only used as a last resort and instead of doping the horse 24/7.
Dionne
Thank you dionne you are always so kind. Would you mind sending me pictures of the products you talk about to my email address : pozo.lucie@gmail.com ? That way I can show it to the vet tomorrow and ask her if she has something similar.
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You must be talking about a nose twitch, i hope we won't have to use it on Dayka, so far she's being very good, she lets me do what i need to her. Her wounds are aleady practically closed, I did redo her dressings every 2 hours yesterday and again today. I really hope the vet will be there tomorrow it's hard to get them to come this far from the city around here...
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You're confirming what I thought i need to make her field even smaller. She's turned out 24/7 right now in a field without a closed stall so I'll take a couple of days off work to build her one in my backyard and move her there (that's one of those moments i love being self employed :)
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And thanks for the positive thoughts, she'll definitely need all she can get !
On first examination the vet thinks we got lucky. It looks like a flesh wound although Dayka is limping A LOT, she's at a 3 on 5 in severity of lameness (sorry no clue how to explain that :)
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The vet put Dayka on a antibiotics for a week, i have to redo her dressings, keep her foot as dry as possible like you said dionne and monitor her.
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We're doing a check up on Saturday, fingers crossed, she said if there's no deeper damage we should already see significant improvement.
Hi Lucie. I don't have the bio tex at home so I send you a picture of the nose peg and the honey. I will try and find a picture of the washing powder BIOTEX on the net and copy that and send it to you.
You could try putting diatomaceous earth on/in the hoof, it keeps it dry, or a good little tip.... You know sometimes when you buy a pair of shoes ,sometimes in the box there is a small bag of silica crystal in the box to keep the shoes dry in storage...you can incorporate that little bags in to the dressing, it sucks out moisture and is very effective, I would put a barrier between the silica bag and the hoof for hygiene reasons but it works and costs nothing.
I'm glad to hear that the injury is not extreme, but any injury is bad to our special friends right?.
Best regards from Dionne