No Luck Here

The Vet and the Shoer

Hopefully Scott and my vet will get together to look at Tucker today--Wednesday afternoon. 

While he is much better, what I thought might be a popped abscess turned out to be just a shedding flap of skin.  By the time Scott looked at it on Tuesday, it had gotten smaller and showed no sign of any kind of drain hole. 

He called Dr. Parisio while he was here and they discussed things, both agreeing that they needed to take a closer look and get some more x-rays.  Bummer.   The first set did not show anything.  But to be sure, they need more angles. 

Hopefully, Tucker will cooperate. He is having a hard time standing quietly.  Tuesday morning, when I soaked his foot, he was moving all over the place on the crossties.  I use a soaking boot, so it's not a matter of his having to keep his foot in a bucket.  But still the water sloshes out and half the barn aisle was soaked. 

I can't blame him.  Being locked in a stall all day and night cannot be fun.  I did take him out to graze on the lawn again and that was the highlight of his day.  He's trying hard to be good, but at times his energy just gets the best of him. 

He is walking sound, but he definitely has a limp at the trot. 

Scott really gave him a good going over again.  He used the hoof testers and found some soreness near the hoof wall this time and just a little near the frog where Tuck was reacting before.  He also said Tuck had a more pronounced pulse than on Friday. That is kind of strange.  On Friday he was dead lame, and there wasn't a lot of pulse.  Today, he was nearly sound and he had a strong pulse. 

It's back to worrying about laminitis again, of course, or some other equally serious problem. 

I'm hoping x-rays will eliminate most of the more worrisome options.  I'm not sure I can afford too many other more expensive tests.  At the very least, I hope this is something manageable.  Tucker certainly does not have to work for a living, if that's not in his future, so the best I can hope for is that we can get him comfortable.

Of course, it still may be an abscess.  He does have some infection in his hoof wall and that might be the problem. 

Once more it's a matter of wait and see.