Absesses

[Ramona]

Anyone know what causes them in feet and even on the body?

[Lindros]

Well, there would be A LOT of different reasons!
I will try to mention a few.
Strangles can cause external (mostly around the throatlatch area) and internal abcesses (in which case it is refered to as 'bastard strangles'). Strangles of course is a highly contagious bacterial infection.
Rhodococcus (sp?) pneumonia in foals causes abcesses in the lungs which are difficult to treat.
And abcesses in the feet are often cause by tiny pieces of gravel or something like that (which make it up into the foot, start to fester etc.). Voila - there's your abcess!

[Kristie]

abscesses in the feet can be caused by many different things. I think the most common are bruises, quicked by a nail when shoeing and extended periods of time in damp, mucky footing. You can get abscesses at vaccination sites, punctures, slivers or some foreign body that's worked itself under the skin and occasionally from kicks or bruises where the damage underneath the skin is enough for the tissue to die off and supporate. Just to name a few...........

[plainjane]

Okay...so how do you treat them?

[camohn]

Well the feet are most common. If it does not "pop" (think pimple here) by itself the farrier punctures a hole to get the crud to drain out. We follow w/ using a boot of some sort to keep it clean and dry for a while w/ soaks in epsom salts. For one mare that we have w/ really weird shaped BIG feet (hubby calls her the platypus) that gets an abcess every October for some reason (she also has rather shelly feet) that don't fit a boot well: pack wtih cotton wrap and duck tape on a dry lot !

[Ramona]

Do you think it could come from something in the feed? Not to sound totally stupid, but my daughter gets skin irruptions that develop in to a big boil like pimple, that has to be lanced. She is a Pepsi addict and the Dr. told her to lay off the Pepsi. She had no more problems with it. So this is why I'm wondering about feed.

[Kristie]

I've never heard of a horse getting an abscess from feed - other than an oral one where a sticker or something gets stuck in the tissue or gum. Usually, abscesses under the skin is treated with hot packs until it's reduced or opens up at which time you just keep it clean and medicated and open so it heals from the inside out. If in the mouth, rinse with warm salt water. With feet, I use an iodine/epsom salt paste, covered with gauze, then vet wrap, then duct tape.

[camohn]

Generally feed issues are more laiminitis/founder issues (much worse )

[smilton]

Rhodococcus equi can also cause absesses other places (ex. joints-hock). A few other abcess forming bacteria are Staph. aureus, Strep zoo, Strep equi (strangles), Strep equisimilis (sp.), Pasturella mult. (lungs), gram negatives can in some instances but theses are the most common I ran across. It is very difficult to figure out what bacteria is in a foot abcess because it is hard to get a clean culture.
Some abcess are formed with a bruise or wound site becomes infected.

[Shammy Davis]

I don't know whether anyone noticed but on the Horse Care Forum and adjunct discussion began on this. Look for the thread on . . . banamine IM. It's amazing how one discussion leads to another, but Mary Syers provided a great hoof remedy by using a poultice of sugar and betadine. As a farrier, I can tell you that the majority of abcesses occur as result of penetrating wounds to the hoof sole or wall and that includes the shoe nail. Most of these wounds go unnoticed until the horse becomes lame and infection has taken a hold. OTTB's are prime candidates for this problem especially if they are pastured in damp areas upon removal from a track environment. Hope this helps.