Post by maggie on Oct 30, 2011 16:20:38 GMT -1
Not a question, just thought some of you may be interested to see how she's doing.
2 months ago now, Serenade took a kick to her right shoulder that chipped a piece of bone from the rib of the scapula. This caused swelling and a nasty infected abscess. Her whole shoulder was grossly swollen and she was very lame, so the vet feared a 'proper' fracture at first. Next day she was weight bearing on her right leg, so we knew it wasn't that - first bit of good news! Vet put her on antibiotics, we got the abscess burst and started flushing it with an iodine solution twice daily. There was no actual single piece of bone to be found, but we were flushing what felt like grit from the abscess. Nothing showed up on scans and x-rays, so we had to assume that the bone chip had shattered.
We kept up the flushing for 2 weeks, then the entrance hole, which had been getting smaller, completely sealed within 24 hours. All we could do was keep the area clean by bathing and wait to see what happened next. Any remaining bone could set up more infection and lead to more abscesses and I've known injuries like this persist for a year before everything was cleared out and fully healed.
Serenade seemed to be getting more comfortable, was walking better and the gross swelling was subsiding, so we got the ok to turn her out during the day. Moving round the paddock seemed to stop her stiffening up and Johnny was very pleased to be out too!
We've been monitoring her very carefully and reducing her dose of bute as the swelling has subsided and her gait has improved. She has now been off bute completely for a week and seems to be coping well. This was taken yesterday, you can see the site of the abscess is still swollen, but it's about 10% of what it was at first
There's no sign of any other abscess appearing at the moment and she seems to be continuing to improve, so fingers crossed that we're getting to the end of it.
You will be relieved to hear that, even at her worst, Serenade never lost her appetite once.
2 months ago now, Serenade took a kick to her right shoulder that chipped a piece of bone from the rib of the scapula. This caused swelling and a nasty infected abscess. Her whole shoulder was grossly swollen and she was very lame, so the vet feared a 'proper' fracture at first. Next day she was weight bearing on her right leg, so we knew it wasn't that - first bit of good news! Vet put her on antibiotics, we got the abscess burst and started flushing it with an iodine solution twice daily. There was no actual single piece of bone to be found, but we were flushing what felt like grit from the abscess. Nothing showed up on scans and x-rays, so we had to assume that the bone chip had shattered.
We kept up the flushing for 2 weeks, then the entrance hole, which had been getting smaller, completely sealed within 24 hours. All we could do was keep the area clean by bathing and wait to see what happened next. Any remaining bone could set up more infection and lead to more abscesses and I've known injuries like this persist for a year before everything was cleared out and fully healed.
Serenade seemed to be getting more comfortable, was walking better and the gross swelling was subsiding, so we got the ok to turn her out during the day. Moving round the paddock seemed to stop her stiffening up and Johnny was very pleased to be out too!
We've been monitoring her very carefully and reducing her dose of bute as the swelling has subsided and her gait has improved. She has now been off bute completely for a week and seems to be coping well. This was taken yesterday, you can see the site of the abscess is still swollen, but it's about 10% of what it was at first
There's no sign of any other abscess appearing at the moment and she seems to be continuing to improve, so fingers crossed that we're getting to the end of it.
You will be relieved to hear that, even at her worst, Serenade never lost her appetite once.
