Discussion Board Archives from 2002

Name: AprilSubject: canker

Email: aprilannblue@aol.com

Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated- I have a 9 year old QH gelding. My father is a small animal vet, so I learned early the importance of preventative medicine. "Jack" gets the full gamut of vaccinations, is on a daily wormer, eats high quality feed and hay(in the right amounts), has access to lush pasture without mud or standing water, is kept in during the heat of the Florida day in a 12x14 stall with deep shavings(I clean it twice a day and he is a very neat horse to boot), gets his hooves trimmed every 8 weeks, teeth floated yearly, and has never been "sick" since the day he was born. Last week my farrier noticed a yellowish slightly hard growth on his rear hoof near the angle of the sole, collateral sulcus-it was about the size of a large grape, without any odor to the sole or frog. He thought it might be a corn but thought we should call the vet regardless to take a look. He trimmed the edges of that hoof and after realizing how tender the area was-decided to leave it alone. That night I went back out to the barn to soak Jacks foot and saw that a piece of the hoof wall near his heel had broken away and granulated tissue exuded from the hole. My vet came the next AM along with the farrier, cut away the canker deep into the hoof and removed a great deal of his heel on one side, and then cauterized it. He was fitted with an egg bar shoe for support, copper sulphate powder applied to the

area, cotton in the hole, wrapped with cotton batting, then vet wrap, then adhesive tape, then duct tape. I change it daily. Any ideas regarding care of his hoof-I know I need to keep moisture and dirt out but wrapping it is also a catch 22 given the hot humid florida weather. I know this is wordy but I wanted to establish a background, especially given the literature available regarding canker that assumes an etiology in poor conditions of the stall or pasture. Thank you in advance,

April