Hi, My 6yr old gelding nips or pinches my 11month old gelding. All 3 of my horses are out together 24hrs a day accept to come in to eat thier dinner. His little pinch marks have not needed treating as they are so small and just a little hair gone. But yesterday an old mark along with a new scrape were swelled real big. Like there's fluid in them. What could have caused this? Why would there be fluid in there? How should I treat this? I put fura septin on it already. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
missy

TWHLady,

You could hot pack the fluid filled swellings twice a day. After you hot pack it I would make sure the scrape is clean and then apply some triple antibiotic ointment to the scratch. Bite wounds will swell and become fluid filled depending on the degree of the bite. Sometimes they can get a small wound that closes to quickly trapping bacteria in there. The hot packing will draw out anything that shouldn't be there.



If you are still concerned it is free to call your vet and talk with him about what you are seeing. Not to worry you but Occasionally they can abcess. I would keep an eye on the little guy and make sure that he is eating and not acting lethargic. If he goes off his feed at all, I would check his temp and make sure he is not running a fever. If he is give your vet a call.

Hope this helps, I wouldn't be to worried, but just thought I would tell you the bad too.

Thanks for the advice. Tonite the swelling was almost gone. Thats a relief. The Fura Septin I put on it had some type of drawing sab mixed in it. Do you think thats what helped the swelling to go down so fast? I think I will just put triple ani-biotic ointment on it now. Does that sound good? Or do you think I should still put the hot compress on it?
Thanks so much!
missy

Missy,

As long as the swelling is down I wouldn't hot pack it. But I would put some triple anitbiotic ointment on it at least once a day for a few days. Bites can be such a pain. Our head mare is forever taking chunks of hide off the butt of my friends gelding who lives with her.

Glad I could help

Jess

Thanks, Jess! I realy appreciate it. My horses are my babies and mean so much to me. It scares me at the thought of losing any of them.
missy

I know what you mean, when I met my hubby I told him my animals come first and if he could deal with that then everything would work. On the 25th will by 9 years, guess it worked.