Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sarge Progress

When I first got Sarge, he had a non-healing open wound on his withers, a souvenir from surviving an attack by a stallion when he was four months old. The stallion ripped most of the skin from his back and chest, as well as damaging muscles in his back. Everything healed up except an open area that was larger than my hand when I first saw it.

Here's how it looks now:

That's the good news. The bad news is that this nice, tight scar gets flaky and itchy, leading Sarge to roll and scratch himself on trees until he scuffs it open again. It's nowhere near as bad as it was at first, but I'd much rather he didn't skin it up at all.

My vet had me treat it with topical nitrofurazone ointment to get it to close up. I can keep gooping it up with that, but the stuff is nasty-slimy, attracts dirt, and requires I apply it wearing nitrile gloves. Corona and Bag Balm also tend to sit on the surface and collect debris. Horseman's Dream works well, but wears off too quickly.

Any suggestions?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you need some cheap labor, to be there, and doing stuff, when you can't.

Suggestion one) Ask around your area - vets, feed stores, community college animal studies, horse friends - for a 20-something horse-crazy lady who has neither money nor opportunity to be around the love of her life. Make an inexpensive arrangement.

Suggestion two) ask around vets and schools that teach folks to be veterinary assistants. Proceed as with 20-something horse-crazy lady.

It's always that final stage rehabbing that gets you - you're almost there, but...

Good luck. Rehabbing a badly injured equine youngster is always trying, but ultimately rewarding.

Romance Reader said...

Well, this may be a totally crazy idea, but what pops into my mind is castor oil. That's pretty sticky too, but it seeps into human skin (at least) quite well and was a favored medicinal for cuts/scars/skin problems for centuries. Maybe the way to go is old (medieval) school.

Good luck with whatever you try!

Anonymous said...

I've had good luck with emu oil (not sure why they call it that, it's not made from emus) on my dogs. I had an old fellow with Addison's and allergies that got dry, scaly patches and emu oil combined with regular washing with an enzymatic shampoo by zymox cleared it up neatly each time.

The emu oil penetrates, it doesn't sit on the surface and zymox products (no affiliation, just a happy customer) are not only made w/o nasty chemicals, they're great for cleaning up surficial ickiness with a minimum of stress/handling on the critter involved.

PS Just found your blog via Querencia and look forward to poking around a bit.

Anonymous said...

Give Sarge our best wishes for a quick recovery.

Chris