The foot is growing in well from the abscess. It looks pretty good aside from the gaping hole on the left where the infection was. That is the part of the hoof that never truly grows in because of the missing bone.
If you look really closely at the above photo, you can see that hoof has a very slight twist to it and see that the entire hoof points to the right. That is a reflection of the twist in the fetlock joint above. The foot has adapted to support the limb, but it is always a balancing act to trim this foot and keep all of its little peculiarities in equilibrium. It is doing well though.
I do kick myself about that latest abscess. I usually wrap his foot just as a precaution whenever it gets really muddy, which it was for most of December. I was busy, stressed, distracted by the puppy and I had one of those dumb conversations with myself, you know the one....."the foot is doing well, Ramsey is sound, I don't really need to bother with that do I?"
I don't know about you, but anytime I ask myself that kind of question, the answer is always YES, I damn well DO need to bother. The very fact that I am asking the question should be answer enough.
Which is why I ordered a whole case of elastikon for Christmas.
You are really in tune to your animals, they are lucky to have you.
ReplyDeleteYou sure have learned a ton from that boy's feet haven't you! I'm always amazed at how much you do to work on keeping him comfortable and so glad you share that with others!
ReplyDeleteNo horse/donkey expert here but his foot does look pretty good (except for the gaping hole). I haven't been around your blog since the beginning, was Ramsey born with the missing bone/twisted fetlock joint? You take such great care of all you animals. Don't beat yourself up about this. He is doing well.
ReplyDeleteRamsey had a bone infection when he was just 4 months old. He went to Cornell where they removed all of the infected bone. If you would like to know more about this, click on the link below and just go forward from there. It was quite a saga.
Deletehttp://thedancingdonkey.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-very-very-sick-donkey.html
WOW! That was a saga! His foot looks great. Again all I can say is you take really good care of all your animals.
DeleteAnnette, out at Oak Creek Ranch, has some sort of boot thing she puts on Jackson when it is muddy and he has not had an abscess in a long time (used to get them frequently). Not sure exactly what the model is. You have done a great job with Ramsey and are so tuned in to every aspect of what he has gone through.
ReplyDeleteI have never been able to find any kind of boot that will fit his tiny donkey feet, I wish I could. Fortunately, because his foot is so small, the ekastikon works fairly well. Depending on conditions, it usually get nearly a week out of each wrap.
DeleteWhat a miracle you have made with that hoof! Well done!
ReplyDeleteYep, I've learned to always do the thing when I ask those sort of questions too. :)
ReplyDelete