More Bumps..............The Second Treatment

Part 1

Monday morning it appeared to me the colt showed no more improvement. There might have been a small decrease in swelling in the right hock but other than that he seemed to be about the same. That worried me a little, I had hoped for a continuation of the improvement we'd received once the antibiotics had been started.

It was mid afternoon before the first results from the original culture arrived. So far the bacteria that had grown was a beta hemolytic strep, not the easiest to treat but not the most difficult either. The disturbing part of the report was the statement, "More to come" which meant something else was growing but it hadn't been identified yet.

I'd been hoping for a definite answer from the lab. I was not prepared for the possibility there could be something else we were dealing with. There's nothing I hate more than dangling but that' what I was doing again.



Tuesday morning there were definite signs of improvement in the colt. His appetite was near normal and he was moving around much more. Sometimes he was even putting real weight on his right hind foot. I tried to tell myself these were good signs but a nagging little voice knew that these sneaking infections that attack limbs can do misleading things. As much as I hoped everything was getting better, I wasn't ready yet to believe that it was. The waiting and watching continued

Wednesday afternoon the colt was due to have another injection of antibiotic in his hock. After checking his condition, I called the vet to set that appointment up and give him a status report.

The colt was getting feisty and pretty unhappy about being cooped up in his stall. He'd tried to sneak past Lindsay to make his escape when she was cleaning his stall . The swelling in the hock had diminished and the colt was walking on that foot near normal. It had been nearly thirty-six hours since any puss had emerged from the wounds in the colt's hock, all good signs, or so you would think. I wanted to believe that, I really did but something told me I shouldn't get ahead of things.

When the vet arrived he confirmed my misgivings. The colt did look good and giving him that injection in the sheath of his tendon took three of us. The bad news was the infection had migrated even higher up the leg. As we were wrestling the colt to secure him so the vet could give him that shot, two wounds broke open far up the inside of his right leg and the puss was once again squirting everywhere.

What was the reason behind the confusing indications? The infection around the joint was getting better taking pressure off the joint making the colt more comfortable BUT the infection was still alive, and unfortunately, doing pretty well escaping the antibiotic by moving above the original injection site. I asked my vet how far the infection could travel and his answer, "Pretty darn far!"

Where does that leave us? Well, this current injection of antibiotics is good for 7 days. I am doing hot compresses at least twice a day on and above the wounds trying to draw out all the puss I can. We're hoping it will be enough to kill this thing.

If it isn't, we'll have to begin a new course of antibiotics. This time we'll use an antibiotic the lab has tested against the cultures we've grown to determine one that will be the most effective. In the meantime, we wait and hope the infection doesn't do anymore travelling.

Sorry about the quality of the first picture. Every time I break out the camera, he heads towards Dare on the other side of the wall and the sunlight kills the shot. I keep trying to get a more recent pic of his pretty little face and this is the best I've been able to do.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

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