Infection in knee. Treatment tips?

Question

My horse has an infection in his knee (left front leg) and it's swollen up. The vet hasn't been able to come out all week but he's been put on penicillin (an injection everyday), he has this spray stuff (for open wounds) that's being sprayed on it too and we're watering it everyday for like 15mins to cool it so the swelling goes down (and it's working). We think that he might have had a little tiny cut (that they originally couldn't find) or a splinter and it got infected, we turned up one morning and his knee had gone up like a balloon. The first few days we couldn't find the cut that caused it but now puss slowly oozing out of it (it's weeping a bit). He's alright, the treatment's working and we've been cleared to go for walks.

I was just wondering if anyone has any tips to help get the swelling down? Would cooling bandages (like the Equi-N-icE) help?

Answer 1

Dont worry about getting the swelling down, it is there for a reason.

The most important thing is to keep the area clean. I have treated many horriffic wounds without the help of a vet as I can do exactly what they do but it costs me a fraction of the cost!

What I usually do is bandage the area but in this case i think you could just leave it alone. Get some diluted iodine (vetadine), wash down the area with guaze or cotton wool with the iodine, dont be scared to scrub too hard, and try and pick off the scab so the oooz can come out. You can try cooling it with the hose if you like but I dont always have one around and done ok without it. Sometimes you can apply a poultice that will draw out the gunk in the leg, if you have one, apply that for a while with the bandage only wrapping around twice or so, so you can remove it easily. You can use a powder that is normaly used for pink eye, i think it is called terymiacen or something. Use a wound aerasole/spray in conjunction with this.

I have had great success with this method, usually wrapping the leg up after the treatment but with a small wound you may want to just leave it.

Keep it clean and check it often and you should have no probs with it, your horse will be fine.

Hope your horse gets well soon, and hope I have helped, Jane.

Answer 2

This will depend on the horse, but we used to ice our horses legs down by cutting the legs from a pain of jeans, slipping them onto the horses leg, taping the bottom, and filling with ice. You could try this and isolate the ice to the knee.

Icing an infection or swelling is always a good thing and wont do any harm, just dont leave the ice on for more than 20 mins at a time.  

Answer 3

cooling bandages do work, but they can also be expensive. I find that a regular change of a cold wet cloth helps too. Carr and Day Martin also do this fantastic "ice blue cooling gel". it acts like ice, but stays colder for much much longer. its dead easy to apply. All you do is rub it in! lol x

Answer 4

Actually, heat is used to draw out products of infection.  A poultice would be good, or soaking with warm epsom salts.  You can alternate heat and cold applications, but at this stage the heat will do more good by improving blood flow and draining the infection.  If there is a great deal of swelling, then alternating the heat and cold will help.