There’s nothing more pitiful than a lame donkey, or at least that is what we have been thinking the last week and a half. Let me go back to Easter Sunday when Frank was here to trim the boys and get them ready for driving season. Frank found a puncture wound in Merlin’s hind foot. “Something went into the foot and came back out; it was pretty dirty whatever it was. You had better watch him the next few days.” Those were Frank’s parting words to me. The next morning sure enough Merlin was showing signs of lameness.
Lucky for me when I called the office the wonderful Vet Kim answered the phone. She recommended I come right over and she would put out two medications to give him. Wow, that was easy! I drove the sixty miles to pick up 10 packets of Uniprim which is a Trimethoprim and Sulfur powder that I could mix into his morning feed of moist hay pellets. It worked great the first day and from there on Merlin knew there was medicine in his breakfast and refused to eat. I knew I was going to have to get creative to get the Uniprim and the two grams of powdered Bute into his system.
If you completely cut the ends off 60 ML syringes and use a dremel grinder to smooth the edges, it makes exactly what you need. Mix the powders with approximately one half cup of applesauce, then spoon it into the end of the syringes, I needed three syringes to get it all into him and there is enough room to top off each one with sweet applesauce. Very gently insert the syringe into the corner of the lips and deposit the applesauce directly into the back of the mouth. I always gave him time to savor the sweet apple flavor before giving him the next dose along with a handful of treats. He got pretty good at taking his meds over the next few days and by the last day we only lost a few splatters which he insisted I should wear.
The first few days he was not going to let me clean his hoof, but finally I insisted. I picked out as much dirt as possible then filled a large syringe, which was still intact, with hot water mixed with Epson Salts plus some extra for as many applications as needed. I was able to squirt the solution exactly where I wanted to do a good cleaning job then dried the bottom of the hoof with a rag. I then sprayed it with a coating of germicidal/fungicidal wound spray. I had mixed up some Calcium Bentonite Clay, which left uncovered is a good drawing poultice. In this case, where I wanted to keep the mud out of the puncture wound, I needed it covered. I keep sanitary pads in my med kit for occasions like this. I cut one in half and used vet wrap to secure it. Finally I wrapped the entire procedure with several layers of duct tape. He was actually pretty good about all this fuss and let me do it without tying up his leg.
He hobbled and was in pain for the next 10 days before I saw any real improvement. He completely went off his breakfast meal but loaded up on hay and limped into water several times each day. He rested more often but was able to stay in the pasture. By trying to keep up with the others, even though painful, I believe that exercise was better than stall rest. Remember the hoof frog is responsible for pumping blood back up to the heart. I knew he would be happier with his buddies than shut away from them and I could keep a closer watch on his activities.
This treatment has worked wonderful for me when dealing with any type of hoof situation and that is why I am posting our experience. Today is #12 and Merlin was a little slow starting but as the day wore on he has begun to put more weight evenly on both back legs and I would not be surprised to see him trotting soon! Now it’s time to plug my nose and cut that hoof bandage off.
Later…..It was a good thing to get the bandage off today. There was not much left of the pad and the duct tape was holding in too much moisture. That hoof needed to dry out. Added more spray on antiseptic before letting him join his friends.
He was back to playing by day #13 and took a few trotting steps! He still needs more time to get completely healed up but this is so much better than 6 to 8 weeks, which is his normal time to get over a hoof boo-boo. 🙂
Oh Happy Days are soon to be here again! So far pasture cleanup has not revealed the source of the problem….but I’m still on the hunt!
When dealing with hoof abscesses I don’t wrap or soak the hoof. If the abscess can be drained then I clean it several times a day with a syringe of peroxide. Most of the time it breaks out around the cornet band and for that it just needs to heal on its own.
As always call and follow your own Veterinary’s instructions. Check the hoof and the leg for any signs of abnormal heat, if it feels warm that is an immediate call to the vet!
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