Update on Cash - SO MUCH BETTER!

Follow-up to last week's icky pictures:

RF. See? Just hair and a little skin missing. 

Inside of LF. Just a scrape.

Somehow, despite losing a hand-sized patch of hair and banging himself up so well, the swelling has been minimal to non-existent. I think letting him out 24/7 and keeping him moving has helped a lot in that regard. The vet also put him on Tucoprim (antibiotics) to minimize the risk of cellulitis, and so far we seem to be doing OK in that regard. We kept everything wrapped over the weekend, but the big patch above the knee is really hard to keep covered - if I wrap tight enough to keep it on, it's too tight and his knee swells. Starting today, we're down to cleaning it 2x daily and slathering it with Silvadene. Hopefully that'll do the trick - he's already growing hair back over the area, so YAY!

At least he's getting a lot of carrots out if it, since every time I clean it, hubby stuff carrots in his face to keep him distracted. Somehow the old man has managed to pull through, despite trying to commit suicide. Again.

Not what you want to see at 6 a.m. :(

This morning, Red, Paddy, and Taran were in the barn when I turned the lights on, impatiently waiting for breakfast. Cash was conspicuous by his absence. I got the Three Stooges haltered and fed, then hubby (yay he's home!) went to get Mr. Schpot, who was for some reason hanging out on the other side of the track.

As soon as they walked in the barn, my heart stopped. Blood looks 10 times worse when it's on a white horse, just saying:

Major OW.

I have no idea how he did this. It looks like he got stuck somehow, but there were no signs of a struggle and no hair on any fences. 

He was a bit trembly, so we tossed a blanket on him while he ate. As soon as he was finished, we pulled him into the aisle and went to work. I pulled out my last surgical scrub sponge (gotta get more of those, they are awesome) and gently scrubbed all the bloody spots. They're all scrapes, no deep cuts, but as you can see there are a lot of them. Hubby stuffed Cash's face full of baby carrots while I worked, which mostly distracted Mr. Schpot while I worked. I rinsed as best i could, then slathered everything with Silvadene, put non-stick gauze pads everywhere, and wrapped with vetwrap. I put standing wraps on his legs since they were already starting to fill a bit (pardon the crappy wrapping job, apparently I have one front wrap and one hind one?), and hubby gave him 2 grams of Bute to help with the swelling and discomfort.

Not a classy job, but it'll do.

Cash panics if he's in a stall, so we put him out in his usual spot in the pasture. He went to grazing immediately, and seemed OK if somewhat sore/stiff. I'm hoping that moving around a little will help keep the swelling down. I've got a call in to my vet (pictures included!) to see what else I can do to help him. Probably just lots of cold-hosing, wrapping, and bute for a while, but we'll do whatever she thinks is best.

Poor Cash.

Good thing I have a vet kit!

I managed to stab through my pinkie finger with a sharp knife, while cutting frozen butter to make rolls. No really, I did. Talented, eh?

After quickly grabbing a kitchen towel to avoid bleeding all over the floor, I took stock. The knife had gone through the meaty part of the tip of my finger, and the tip of the knife had come out the other side. Yeesh. Fortunately the entrance point wasn't too big, so I decided I wouldn't need stitches.

 

Entrance on left, exit point on right.  It takes talent to do something like this!

It's a little hard to dig through the medicine cabinet with one hand while trying to keep pressure on your bleeding finger with the other, but it didn't take long for me to realize that we didn't have any Band-aids. Or hydrogen peroxide. Or alcohol? Huh, I didn't realize we were that badly stocked for emergencies. Ooops.

Luckily, since the horses are right outside my door, I have a well-stocked vet-kit readily available. I headed to the barn and considered the options. First, I rinsed my finger gently with chlorahexadine. That's a surgical scrub and the best thing I had on hand. Next, I got out a square of non-stick sterile gauze and cut it down to something more finger-sized. I found the vetwrap and snipped off an appropriate-sized piece. I dipped my finger in Silvadine (a super-strength healing cream that they use for burn victims), wrapped it in the gauze, and covered the whole thing in a blob of vetwrap.

 

Classy, eh?

It even fit in my glove for evening chores! It's a little sore, and I'm not looking forward to one-handed cooking, but hopefully it will heal quickly and cleanly.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has raided their horse's vet kit for meds before?

P.S. I found the hydrogen peroxide and the alcohol. In the vet kit. The human band-aids are still MIA.