Cellulitis?
Last Thursday Sterling came in from turnout with a pretty good gash on his left front forearm. It was a couple inches wide and deeper than a scrape. I cold hosed it for a few minutes. Scrubbed the crud off and lathered it with Corona cream. The next morning I did basically the same thing, but instead of Corona cream I put Furazone on it in favor of something with more antibacterial properties. I didn’t really wash it again, but kept it gooped with Furazone and checked it at feeding time. All seemed well. It had a good scab on it and looked to be healing well.
Until yesterday. Boot City had put the horses up from turnout and fed them and hadn’t noticed anything terribly awry. I went out after dinner to put blankets (or coats, as Boot City likes to call them) on the horses because it was going to get down to the 30’s overnight. When I went to put Sterling’s blanket on he very awkwardly and slowly evaded me and went into his stall run. I just stood there staring at him, terrified that it was something neurologically wrong. He pooped in his run (horse people are ALWAYS happy to see horses poop, no matter the situation) and slowly limped back into his stall. I looked more closely at his cut and sure enough his entire forearm down to his knee was swollen.
I immediately called my vet (yay, at 9p, the cheapest time to call the vet) and thankfully we determined that it was probably cellulitis and didn’t absolutely require that he see the vet RIGHT NOW. I had medicines on hand that we could start dosing him with and could cold hose and put topical meds on his leg.
Mind you, my plan this particular evening had been to talk Boot City about showing at Pin Oak that first time. Well, Sterling nipped that right in bud. Now I just hope he’s sound and can the Southwest Classic show in Fort Worth at end of May. My regular vet is town, but different from same clinic, look at him is afternoon. Sterling and I would both appreciate positive that prayers, good mojo, whatever you want to send our way that might encourage healing and future soundness!
Dang horses sure keep us humble! And I welcome any advice on treating cellulitis, however I DO NOT want to hear your horror stories. Thank you in advance. 😉
L. Williams
March 7, 2018 at 5:07 pm (5 years ago)Dante got cellulitis in both hind legs when I brought him home from the colt starter. It cleared up pretty quickly and with no drama with SMZ’s! I also haha – had cellulitis on my face in 2014. That was an ordeal because my face and it was 2 days before thanksgiving. It also cleared up with no drama (other than my internal woe is me routine) with SMZs lol
Tara T
March 8, 2018 at 9:26 am (5 years ago)Ugh! How long did he have cellulitis? I started with SMZ, but after the vet visit last night we have a different regimen with an antibiotic and a steroid with pain meds. The bigger issue with this is that we also discovered that the initial injury is a 3″ deep puncture wound that got to the bone. Time will tell if the bone has damage. #sadface What is cellulitis like on your face?! That sounds pretty awful! Does it hurt a lot? Sterling seems to be in SO. MUCH. PAIN.
Kelly
March 8, 2018 at 5:28 pm (5 years ago)Poor baby!!! Oh man! I think I saw on FB that it’s a little better today, so that’s a relief. I also really hope he heals fast and is good to go to the Southwest Classic, because I plan to take Rio and we can meet up! Keep us updated on his progress!
Tara T
March 9, 2018 at 9:31 am (5 years ago)Oh gosh, me too! The vet indicated that if his lameness hadn’t improved by Friday that we would be concerned about damage to the bone. He’s still off and there is still swelling, but he’s not dragging his toe and he can easily go up on down the step from his stall into his run which he could not do on Tuesday evening. Fingers crossed he’s ride-able in a a few weeks so we can show in FW!