Face abcess

[NewToMini's]

I think her face is getting better

She has a tight scab over the abscess, and I couldn't rub it off with the sponge (don't know if that's good or bad?). But her sinus seems clear, and she is breathing out of her right nostril very well

Didn't syringe it today, because of the scab that wouldn't come off, and her sinus appearing to be clear. Plus my arm is super sore from fighting with her yesterday to syringe it (took almost an hour, but I got it done!) XD

 

[NewToMini's]

I flushed it today (have been flushing it every few days, her attitude was getting worse every time, and her sinus was staying clear enough for her to breathe), and today her attitude was better. I tried to flush it without holding her nose, but she reared, so I grabbed her nose and after a short fit, she settled down and stood calmly (so calmly that I let go of her nose halfway through, and she still didn't move). Hopefully she's learned I'm not trying to kill her, lol.

It was also easier to flush. There has been some resistance on the syringe when I was flushing it, and some squirting out around the syringe, but today there wasn't any resistance or squirting out around it.

I also bought her some ulcer supplement from Amazon. It's not meant to treat ulcers, but it prevents them. I'm not sure she has any anyway, she eats the grain that she likes, she's a bit overweight, she has plenty of energy, and she hasn't 'chewed with nothing in her mouth' since the one time I asked about it. She just doesn't like her medicine anymore, I'm not sure if she's just tired of it, or if it means something. But she's still stressed about her treatment, so I figure something for ulcers wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[NewToMini's]

She did really well today (and the u-guard was delivered today also)

When I sponged it off, she acted like she didn't like it (usually she enjoys the sponging), and there was stringy stuff sticking out, that the sponge wasn't getting. I went up to the house to get the tweezers I bought her (I hadn't put them in the barn yet) and when I got back, there was blood running down her face. So I guess the stringy stuff (hay, I assume?) was poking her and making her bleed. I got it out (or at least all that I could see, it was getting dark and I couldn't see well), and then I flushed it with the syringe. She backed up a few steps and then stood still, and I didn't have to grab her nose. Of course she got a few treats when I was all done

 

[Marsha Cassada]

All this handling will be a good thing in the future. I have noticed this with mine; any that need something done constantly get easier to handle. Having a treatment that MUST be done makes me teach my horses to accept eye drops, mouth flushings, medicinal bathings... Then it all gets easier after that.

I'm glad to hear she is improving.

 

[NewToMini's]

I think she's getting better! I cleaned it and syringed it today, and I didn't see any puss (just orange tinted saline solution, but the abscess has been bleeding some when I clean it, so I think the orange tint was from blood and maybe just a tiny bit of puss). I think the hole to her sinus is closing, too, it's getting harder to push the saline solution in if I have the syringe up against her face.

I might have to get another bottle of antibiotics, though, I'm about halfway done with the bottle she's on now, and it's the second of the two he gave me last time.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

What an ordeal for you both. Sounds like you are doing a great job with that diffucult injury.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Glad to hear she is on the mend

 

[Debby - LB]

I'm so happy you are seeing some improvement. It's been a long road and you've done a bang up job of staying on top of it.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

All well now?

 

[NewToMini's]

Still not healed. She's been off the antibiotics for two weeks, I started flushing it twice a day as soon as the antibiotics were over, and it doesn't seem to have gotten better or worse. I will call the vet tomorrow and see about getting some penicillin for her.

 

[Miniv]

This is NOT right.....A simple abscess would have been LONG gone by now with the correct aggressive daily care......

Sorry, but your vet should have been more involved or given you more instructions on home care.......

From the sounds of it, there is something more than a simple abscess going on, IMO.

 

[chandab]

This is NOT right.....A simple abscess would have been LONG gone by now with the correct aggressive daily care......

Sorry, but your vet should have been more involved or given you more instructions on home care.......

From the sounds of it, there is something more than a simple abscess going on, IMO.

I agree.

Not to scare you, but my gelding was diagnosed with Cushing's after chronic abscesses on his face wouldn't heal up. We finally did blood work to see if something more was going on, and came up with a Cushing's diagnosis; within a month of being on appropriate meds for Cushing's his abscesses were finally healed and gone. [He was a bit of a rescue before coming here, so I have no idea exactly what previous care he got, other than he was turned out with the cows and he and the other gelding got into the oat bin (the other gelding died after a pasture accident in someone else's care).]

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Doesn't seem right to me either. Without rereading all the posts, was there a check for a bad tooth?

 

[Jean_B]

I have read all of the posts and am concerned....is your vet an equine vet? Or a general practitioner? The reason I ask, many vets will pound the antibiotics to an animal, which is necessary, but do nothing about protecting the gut. Antibiotics will sterilize the gutt killing all of the good bacteria (necessary for digestion) as well as the bad - so if on extended use of antibiotics, you really need to add probiotics (something not always necessary with cattle). Many general practitioners don't consider this, and when reminded, they always go, Oh Yeah....I forgot about that.

Also, I agree with the others that this is lasting way too long and perhaps she needs to be scoped - by an equine specialist. If this is something caused by a foreign object in the guttural pouch, it could explain why this is taking so long to heal. Did she have any stinky snot in the nostril on that side? Those are EXTREMELY difficult to treat because they don't simply drain down....the drainage has to go up, before it can go down and drain out.

 

[NewToMini's]

He found a gap between two of her molars.

He is an equine vet.

Her sinus wasn't draining at all until I started flushing it daily.

If she was on antibiotics that weren't working, it wouldn't heal, though, would it? He wasn't sure that antibiotic would work when he gave it to her, and it never seemed like the infection was gone, even while she was on it.

 

[Cayuse]

I would wonder if she is on the wrong type of antibiotic for the particular bacteria causing her infection. And the cushing's and/or foreign body angle. Can they do an ultrasound or x-rays to get a veiw of whats going on inside? It must be very frustrating.