Poor Bella. I told her all we were doing was going to talk to the vet. Just a quick talk, a looking-over, a small bill to pay, and we'd be done. I was wrong, darn it.
Bella has had this swollen gland under her jaw for about 3 weeks now, maybe a month. I wasn't very worried about it, figured it would go away on its own, but then it didn't. And her skin condition has been getting better with the Fungasol but only very slowly. She's supposed to go to the trainer soon. So I figured I'd haul her to the vet. $35 for the exam and maybe some more for meds of some sort, but it would be fairly painless. Wrong.
The skin issue was fairly straighforward. He thinks it's some kind of contact dermatitis (I'm not sure I agree) and he prescribed steroids. I am very much looking forward to seeing those annoying bumps disappear. But the swollen gland wasn't a swollen gland.
He took her inside to check it out, and whoops - I've never clipped her before. It was too scary for her so he sedated her, clipped her, and we led her into the stocks. He stuck a needle in there and quickly filled the syringe with pus, which meant it's an abscess. Great. Here I'm thinking about Tonka's bad cheat grass abscess from a couple years back that cost hundreds of dollars to treat, with injections twice a day. This is a different vet, with a different approach, and probably a different and less dangerous bacteria. He cut her open and then took out a chunk of skin to make sure it stays open and drains. That's it! No antibiotics, no injections, no hot compresses or flushing. All I have to do is keep flies off, and I still have a spray for that from when Scout was gelded. Nice.
She wore a bandage home to contain the blood a bit. I don't think it helped much.
That's just gauze hanging out:
And here's the wound, and you can see the "swollen gland"
Poor girl. But the vet says in 6 weeks you'll hardly be able to tell it was there.
In other news, I'm allergic to the sun. I've had this happen before but it's been a few years since it was this bad. I looked it up and it's called "polymorphic light eruption." What a lovely name. What it means is I itch so bad I even wake up scratching in the middle of the night, and I have an unappealing rash all over my arms and my collarbone. (TMI, I'm sure.) And I need to stay out of the sun. So tomorrow on our trail ride I'll be wearing a long-sleeved shirt and lots of sunscreen. And I'm trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Not easy, this time of year.
6 comments:
Oh my gosh. That's crazy, both you and the horse. At least this won't cost a fortune, that's always good, but still, poor thing.
And allergic to the sun? I've heard of it but never known anyone with it (especially in AZ). To have to dress fully when it's so hot, ugh. I'm sorry :(
Mikey,
Luckily we're having unseasonably cool weather. High tomorrow of 76, and in the mountain forest it ought to be even nicer. I'm loving the weather here this year. Not so good for hay, but we got most of ours already and it was baled before the rain.
I would never survive a summer in Arizona! Although I loved it when I visited there long, long ago, when I lived in New Mexico. Beautiful country. My grandparents winter in Yuma. I really need to make another trip down there one of these days.
Well, that's cool! I love it when the vet's figure out simple solutions. I've found there are HUGE differences among them about how to treat things and what they charge for it. My vet the other day only charged me 20 for a tube of Bute. I've been charged as much as 35.00 before!!! And, btw, I don't think we should have to go to the vet for Bute. That's a racket. All it is is horse sized Motrin.
In other news, I received my halter and side pull halter. I can't wait to try them out. Now I need to find a yacht rope rein with clips on each end. Know anyone who does custom yacht ropes?
That is a LOT for Bute. I think I paid $18 the one time I bought it by the tube. Usually I get the pills because I'm too cheap for the tube. If you soak them for a while they dissolve. But now they have Bute in a flavored powder you just scoop onto feed. I love that!
I'm glad you got the halters. For the reins try Columbia Basin Knot Company. cbknot.com. They're based out of Freeman, but they sell nationwide. If they don't have what you're looking for I'm sure they can make it. That's where I buy my rope from. You can make an appointment to go there in person or just have them ship it.
You know, they might be at Ride the West - isn't that this weekend?
Shoot!!! I forgot about Ride the West!!! I ordered them online already. Darn...darn...darn. I hope Ride the West is still going tomorrow because that's the soonest I can make it. Shoot!!! And it's right by me, too.
I have to keep out of the sun as well because of the vitamin D.
When I had the vet out to treat a cow with a football size cheat abscess on her jaw, he cut out a quarter size hole and the junk poured out..oh it smelled awful. He flushed it out and then we just left it. It healed very well.
Last week, one vet clinic said they'd try to keep it under $200 to remove a cheat grass seed from Teddy's ear...I didn't mention she needed her shots as well! I took her to another vet and it was $75 for the cheat grass removal, routine puppy shots, plus her rabies shot. I think there are some vets who take advantage of us.
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