Veterinary intervention

[glenatron]

I had the vet out this morning - Zorro has been a little unsound for a while, he was quite off on his left foreleg some time ago and then got better over a few weeks but hasn't fixed up the last bit and I found a very rounded lump on the inside of Cash's thigh so I thought it would be worth getting both checked.

The lump on Cash is very probably a sarcoid, which was what I thought. Because of its shape it could be treated by banding it, but given that it's very out of the way I don't think there is a lot of point treating it. It will need an eye keeping on it, but it's not a major concern.

Zorro has something up with his foot. The hoof is solid and he isn't responding to any poking around the foot or frog, but when the vet nerve-blocked the foot he came sound. My feeling is that it's most likely to be ligament injury or similar ( it seemed to first come on after a wet day when there had clearly been a lot of charging about in the field ) so we have gone for bute and box rest as the first strategy. If that doesn't show a result in a few weeks we may have to move on to X-Rays to look for any changes to the bone.

In the meantime I have my grumpy cob on box rest, which I don't think he has done before. He does get bored and he does like destroying things. Here's hoping this is tolerable.

Comments

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear Zorro's still not right. Hope the box rest and the enormous vet's bill does the trick. Might it still turn out to be a foot abscess? Our New Forest Hedgie had one once - the symptoms came and went for months, and the vet couldn't pinpoint it. The infection eventually worked its way out up by the coronary band...

I hope the sarcoid stays dormant. They are an utter nightmare to treat. There's an element of genetic susceptibility in sarcoids - some horses only ever get one & that will sometimes drop off of its own accord. (Charm unfortunately is susceptible, and has rather a lot of them these days. Like you, we're letting well alone and keeping a close eye on things).

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I hope Cash isn't overly susceptible- he is fairly young but he is a very pale palomino, close to a cremello type of colour, which is a bit of a warning flag for me, though grey seems the worst for sarcoids and melonomas.

I think an abscess is unlikely- I have never had one in a horse trimmed by our trimmer, but then we have never had this type of lameness either. My suspicion is that he's got some kind of ligament injury, which is why I went for the box rest.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

I forgot Zorro wasn't shod... No nail holes to let the mud in!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Indeed, and trimming which has keeping the white lines closed up as part of it's goal means there are far fewer routes of ingress for pathogens.

[serennig]

Ucky vet calls. Here's hoping Zorro survives box rest -- or the box survives Zorro, whichever. Maybe he and Faran can be transcontinental pen pals during this difficult time for both of them.

How old is Cash again? I don't know much about sarcoids.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I think the box surviving Zorro is the biggest concern. Also he let himself out this morning so his gate has to be double-secured at all times, it seems.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Hope Zorro is feeling better ASAP.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Me too. I can only imagine how grumbunctious he will be feeling after a couple of weeks in his stable.

[herecirm.livejournal.com]

Hoof x-rays ARE interesting ... but not when you have to pay for them. So I hope the box rest does the trick.

In the meantime, Pepsi has said she could be persuaded to loan Zorro her pony nut-dispensing football to keep him occupied. She'd swap it for a pin-up of him to go in her stable.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Bone problems tend to be harder/slower to fix, if they are fixable at all, so I'm really hoping things don't go that way.

[harnessphoto.livejournal.com]

Hoping box rest does it for him. Good luck keeping him quiet and happy.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I hope so too. I think he has mellowed with time, but still, I worry about the great lunk just pretty much destroying everything.

[teadog1425.livejournal.com]

Oh no! Good luck to surviving grumpy box rest!! Treat balls are very helpful! Hope it all resolves itself!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that it kind of clears up. In the meantime poor Cash is going to be busy...