If the horse looked distressed or didn't eat well
we gave 20cc penicillin 2x a day for 5 days but rotate the shots around the
horse, neck lt, butt lt, neck rt, etc. Some swellings broke and drained some
didn't.
We dealt with this about 5 or 6 yearss ago. Our vet
recommended bute if horse was depressed, not eating, etc. Penicillin was NOT
recommended as it can cause the infection to stay internal rather than abscess
externally & drain properly. Hot compresses a couple/few times a day did
help bring to head. Right before the abscess broke open, we started confining
the horse in a 12X12 until draining stopped, then sterilized the area,
bagged up all poop, hay etc & took to dumps. We haven't had another outbreak
since.
You need to be careful about transferring bacteria
via shoes, hands, halters, etc. We only had 1 of 4 horses that got it, so did
not let them run together with it. Since I know of horses that've died from it,
gotten the abscesses in their legs & were permanently lamed from it, there's
no way I'd let horses without it run with horses with it, once it broke &
started draining. And I sure wouldn't let the horse with the draining abscess
have the run of our property, spreading the bacteria all over, setting myself up
for another outbreak sometime in the future.
