Hoof Adventures & Other Equine Experiences

Wow, here it is December 29, 2009. I haven't posted anything on Dee's scratches episode since October. There has been great progress though. She has pretty much recovered, although there is some significant scaring. I'm still scared every time we get any moisture that the whole mess will start up again. After the last post, I ended up getting a third round of the antibiotic "Tucoprim" from my local vet. I finished out that and then the last of the ointment from Dr. Allred. I continued to treat through November and she got steadily better. Now the hair that is going to grow back is back. There are areas that I doubt the hair will ever come back, and I'm okay with that as long as she is comfortable – good thing we don't enter any beauty contests :0) Now I pray for a healthy spring – so we can continue on our journey, and no recurrence in the summer.  I will edit this post within the next couple days to add a pic of her current look.

As the week continued on, I decided it was important to get Dee back to the vet – she was starting to move sluggishly again, and I could see where some areas on her leg that had looked as if they were healing before, were getting crusty. I was able to sneak away from work early and we made the trip back to Dr. Allred on Wednesday, October 14. He was impressed with her improvement thus far, but agreed that it looked like the scratches infection may be coming back and he provided a new round of antibiotics, and more ointment. I asked some questions about her condition and he felt that she looked pretty good and didn't need to gain much more. Based on that, I decided to back off on the beet pulp some, so she would start to level off on her weight gain. I stopped the morning feeding of that, and kept the afternoon one in to mix with her antibiotic. These pics were taken on Sunday, October 18 th – and though she had been on the antibiotic again for 3 ½ days, I still don't se...

Well, another week goes by and I'm not sure if there has been progress in Dee's fight with Scratches or not. I compare the pictures from last week and see new hair growth – that's good, but I don't really see any improvement in the hind legs at the heel. I will see how I can get back to Silver City this week to talk to Dr. Allred about an idea for continued improvement; so far it seems he has been able to help the most. Maybe he would agree to speak with my local vet and work through him to make it a little easier; it will be difficult for me to get off work to get to his office this week. I have continued to use the Scratches Formula, spraying the area twice per day. The pictures I took today were taken right after I sprayed, that's why things look a little dark, because her legs are still wet. I emailed the vet behind this medicine to ask about the hairless areas because they seem to be getting too dry. I asked if I should be using something different in ...

Well, Dee is still improving.  I am so encouraged by several things... #1 - even the icky oozy ointment no longer has her entire leg looking muddy and bad, there are patches of clean areas emerging. #2 - being confined is driving her nuts, she WANTS to move!  #3 - I couldn't stand watching her drive herself crazy in confinement, so I let her out, the gelding is no longer biting her bad enough to leave marks, they are back to their daily discussion about leadership, without violence.  I take this as him seeing that she is no longer too weak to be part of his herd.  Here is a shot of the hind heels...the place that bothers me the most right now.. I have changed medicine again for treating the sores.  It seems like anything that works only works for about two weeks, then levels out, then stops working altogether.  I just finished the ointment that Dr. Allred made (2nd batch) last night, but since Thursday, I've been using another product on her hind legs (l...

Well - I finally caught up to current time, so no more going back in time, at least no more than since the last post. Dee is still comfortable after seeing the last vet.  She just finished her last dose of antibiotic last night and the last steroid stuff this morning.  That makes a solid week on medication to help her fight off the infection, plus the new scratches ointment.  I'm not sure what out of all those things have helped, or if it were all three that helped, but something did.  I did have to go back to the vet this past Thursday to pick up more of the scratches ointment.  I tried to get the ingredients so I could share it here, but I guess it is a secret recipe.  If anyone out there needs it, the clinic is the Arenas Valley Animal Clinic in Arenas Valley, NM and the vet is Dr. Allred.  Maybe he would share with your vet. That said, she is not well yet.  I did go out and play this morning, but we stayed at a walk and I was very careful ...

September 6, 2009 - Time seemed to be moving right along and my poor sweet little Dee was not getting any better.  She had lost a good bit of weight, and I was really at a loss as to where to turn next.  I had given up on the second round of Silver Sulfadianzine cream after using a little over half.  I found some information online that indicated someone had some success with a product called MTG Shapleys.  I just happened to have some of this product in my tack room and decided that I would try it.  At the same time that I decided to try the MTG I also started covering the sores - the flies were literally covering up her legs, and I was sure they could only make things worse.   I did this for about four days, then I noticed that with the MTG on the legs, the flies weren't quite so bad, so I stopped covering them (something in me told me covering was not the best idea).  I decided that in order to see if there was any improvement that c...

August 13, 2009 - I revisit this date only to provide some specific information about the treatment prescribed by the visiting vet. The vet came from the Equine Sports Medicine center in Sunland Park NM. (A little under 2hrs from here). He occasionally made local calls and I was able to get on his list for this day. This particular clinic always provides extensive documentation, something new for me – here is a piece from his diagnosis: “(1)Pododermatitis (aka “scratches”) – exfoliative, hypersensitive, painful (caused by combination of bacteria and fungal organisms). (2)Infectious pododermatitis caused by Dermatophilus congolensis (aka “rain rot”)” The reference to rain rot surprised me – seriously? We get 2 inches per year if we are lucky…how does that cause rot? It dries before she ever even gets wet. Anyway, here’s what he provided for a treatment. “(1) Wash the affected areas twice daily with betadine shampoo. (2) Apply SSD ointment with dexamethasone to affected areas...

July 26, 2009 - This is the day I returned from the David Ellis Clinic to find my filly was walking so strangely. Struggling to get enough momentum for the first step, she would swing her head, then pickup a front foot before swinging the back feet around. Then once she got going the movement was more sideways then straight on. Because it was Sunday, I was unable to contact a vet, so had to wait until Monday evening for the local vet to come out and draw blood. His first impression didn't reveal much, but we discussed what I had found online about Wobblers, EPM and West Niles (yes, she was up to date on her vacinations). He felt it was a good idea to run a standard blood panel to see if anything showed. There was no fever, and she seemed alert. A physical exam showed no signs of swelling, nor were there any visible wounds. Before he left he gave her a shot of Banamine, and left me with two more for the following two days. On Tuesday, he called to say the blood panel showed nothin...