Quittor - anyone had a horse with it?

[JanetGeorge]

My husband's old HW hunter has been diagnosed with this ghastly old condition - normally radical surgery is the recommended treatment but not on for this old chap. Has anyone seen a case treated successfully - with or without surgery? Our current plan is to try maggot therapy! But as the alternative is PTS it has to be worth a try!

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Blimey!
How horrible for you & husband (as well as horse!)
Havent seen one since the 70's when a teenager & then only was shown as part of my PC B test as was going over to a local event yard for training then.
As I remember, the horse had an op to remove the necrotic skin & it was done by PSD (Peter Scott Dunn) but it was so long ago I cannot remember the outcome, really sorry.

Wishing you all the best in getting a good outcome.

[applecart14]

Originally Posted by JanetGeorge

My husband's old HW hunter has been diagnosed with this ghastly old condition - normally radical surgery is the recommended treatment but not on for this old chap. Has anyone seen a case treated successfully - with or without surgery? Our current plan is to try maggot therapy! But as the alternative is PTS it has to be worth a try!

According the the Merck Veterinary Manual it is unlikely to heal without surgery but obviously your vet is the best one to consult about this. If you don't want to put him through surgery then try the maggots, you owe him that much at least. Here is a link about using maggots for foot conditions. http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/gene...2_Morrison.pdf

Good luck whatever you decide the outcome is going to be for this old boy.

[ihatework]

I had a horse with a suspected case many moons ago, thankfully it turned out not to be.
But when we were discussing options surgery was the only thing discussed - the debate between the 2 vets was to do it standing or fully under.

[JanetGeorge]

Originally Posted by applecart14

According the the Merck Veterinary Manual it is unlikely to heal without surgery but obviously your vet is the best one to consult about this.

Obviously my referral vet is being consulted closely! He didn't feel surgery was in the old boy's best interests (he's 23, with arthritis, although had still been in work until this happened.) I found the ivis. link and Mark is very ready to look further - he's talking to the vets in USA this mornig and has already found a source for sterile maggots!

If it shows no signs of working , the old boy will be PTS but he's in horse-pital now on iv antibiotics and bute so is as 'comfortable' as he can be.

[threeponies]

My then 16 yo Shetland had quittor in 2006, he went into horspital to be xrayed as his lameness wasn't improving with poulticing and antibiotics and my vet originally thought he had an infected tendon sheath because he showed no reaction to hoof testers. Xray showed the infection and some calcification so he was sent home with antibiotics and a 'drain hole ' that was not to be allowed to heal to let any pus out. He didn't improve so went back into vets for regional perfusion to done over the course of a week, which still didn't help so he had surgery to scrape out the infected tissues. He was away for 5 weeks in total but he came home eventually with his little plaster cast and was on box rest for a month or so, and has been sound as a pound ever since. At the time my vet said he would be happy with pony being paddock sound and said hoof might deform but he's absolutely sound with 4 normal hooves.
Wishing you the best of luck with your horse