Rockin' the Silver Bootie

Monday evening, as I was sitting at my vet's office waiting for my bill to be done (annual vaccinations for my dogs), I received this text:

LA:  Gem is reported to have a swollen knee.  Kathy (her daughter) is icing it.  I am driving back from Montreal and will look at it when I am back.  Jeff (the vet) is out tomorrow. 

The bottom of my stomach fell out.

Me:  A swollen knee???  Is him limping?  Is he able to stand OK???

LA:  Not worrisome.  He's standing fine.  I think it's an abscess not a knee problem.  Will check.

Me:  I am freaking out.   I want Jeff to look at him tomorrow and I want to be there.

LA:  Will call you after I look at him.

Gem has never been sick (I am knocking on wood as I write this).  He seems to be resistant to the odd colds that go through the barn, rain rot, thrush, hives - you name it.  His feet are good and strong.  His teeth are great.  In fact, my vet is amazed at his hardiness.  :-)  He is a true "easy keeper".  He has also been fortunate to have never had an injury.  You can imagine how worried I was.

LA called around 10:00 p.m.  She told me that he was fine Monday morning when he was brought in (he has night turnout), but when they went to put him out Monday evening, he hobbled out of his stall.  She checked him over and told me that she believed it to be an abscess because there was heat in his hoof; his knee was not really swollen.  She believed the barn help over-reacted because Gem has never had any ailments and they assumed it was his knee.

I arrived Tuesday afternoon as the vet was unloading his bag of tricks.  Gem was in his stall and LA warned me not to freak out as she walked him up the aisle to Jeff.  Out hobbled Gem, trying hard to walk on three legs.  Well, I did sort of freak out.  :-)

Jeff confirmed what LA suspected;  an abscess.  He explained that with the torrential rains that we have had the last two weeks, the wet conditions have caused hooves to soften up making it easy for little stones or a bruise to take hold and fester. In addition, the flies have came back in droves once the sun poked out, so there's a lot of bruise-creating stomping going on.   He is anticipating quite an increase in abscesses over the next few weeks.  He used his hoof pinching thingy and located the sensitivity on the right side of his right front hoof.  He let me feel Gem's hoof so I could feel how it was slightly warmer on that side of the hoof.  Jeff did a little scraping, trying to locate where the abscess might blow, but couldn't readily find anything.   He left instructions that I am to soak his foot in an Epsom salt water solution and then apply a poultice of iodine and sugar, held in place with a baby diaper and lots of duct tape.  This is to be changed daily.  He thought that the abscess would blow in a couple of days. 

Fortunately, LA gave me the shopping list prior to Jeff's arrival, so I was prepared to take care of Gem right away.  LA helped me, showing me the correct amounts of the soak and the poultice and wrapped his foot up.   It was horrible to watch Gem so lame.  It appeared he could barely put any weight on his hoof.  I worried about him being in pain, but it was recommended not to give him any bute.  

After LA wrapped his foot, I went down to the arena to give DH's Mom an update.  If I was gone 10 minutes, that was all.  I came back up to the barn and as I walked in I saw Gem's stall wide open.  WTH?  I thought LA wanted to keep him in???  As I walked down the aisle, a movement caught my attention.  There was Gem, parked at the hay storage, chowing down like there was no tomorrow!!  Obviously, I had neglected to shut the top part of his stall.  Good grief.  He had opened his stall and hobbled all the way down from one end of the barn to the other.  Pain obviously does not stand in the way of a good buffet!

Since Tuesday, I have solicited the help of DH's Mom and another boarder to wrap Gem's foot.  It is a two person job.  He's actually a pretty good patient.   When I bring in the bucket to soak his foot, he lifts his leg and puts his foot in the bucket. Good boy.  (Note to self:  to avoid a bright yellow hand and green coloured nail polish, never mix up sugar iodine without wearing a glove.)   LA turned him out Wednesday (he was getting stir crazy) and he managed to keep his bootie on, so he's back on regular turnout.  I think he's making quite the fashion statement, don't you??

As of today, the abscess has not burst. In fact, each day his limp gets less and less pronounced. He's still in some discomfort but I have been told that sometimes abscesses actually go away, particularly if it is bruise induced.  This is what I am hoping for; that it will simply go away.  I think Gem is, too. 

Have a great week!!