More on Ming

Okay, here is the rest of the story. Mingo had gotten really bad. It wasn’t just the lameness with the abscess. He wasn’t eating. I thought when the abscess started draining, he would start eating. He would eat his grain, but didn’t want his beet pulp or hay cubes anymore. He just picked at his hay. He seemed not himself—aside from the fact that I can’t touch his flanks.

I was too miserable to write about it.

I talked to the vet. We decided to put him back on bute and treat him for ulcers. Because of all the bute he had gotten combined with the stress, it would be surprising if he didn’t have some ulcer issues.
We even put a time frame on it. Yes, we discussed what we would do if he didn’t make a turnaround. He has a month. He even has a date since I already made an appointment for spring shots. I couldn’t allow him to starve to death. He was losing weight, again. He was doing so well just a month ago, I really thought all he needed was time.

I felt sick. My boyfriend disagreed with the way I am handling this. He felt I should do everything in my power just to find out what is wrong. We had some very, very bad fights. He accused me of awful things. He doesn’t know it, but he had a date set, too. If things didn’t improve with us, I figured I’d be better off alone.

Well, he started to eat a little better, but still not like before. Then his abscess came back with a vengeance. I got it draining out his heel and he improved significantly by Saturday. Sunday was a pretty good day, but he still would only eat hay for a few minutes and then rest a few minutes. I was starting to think that is should begin taking the ulcer medication.

Monday, my sister saw him in the morning. He was very quiet and sleepy. She was worried.

In the evening, my boyfriend accosted me at the barn door saying he was just standing in his corner and he looked so sad. I glanced over and saw him eating hay. I walked over to him and took one look at his hoof. My jaw almost hit the ground. Blood and pus had just erupted out of the coronet band on the front of his hoof. The abscess was draining in a second place.

This really gives me hope. That must have been one awful abscess. I have never had one that drained in 2 places at once, before. I’m hoping, once again, that the lack of appetite in the last few weeks has been caused by the abscess and we can get back to healing up the original problem.

I feel this was the same abscess he had last fall before he went to the clinic. I never felt it was resolved. With the extreme swelling he had, we put him on a long-term antibiotics. It is possible that it kept the abscess from fully draining. It waited for another day.
So, I am still soaking. Tomorrow, I will reduce his bute and see what happens. There is hope. He may make it past spring shots. We can give him plenty of time as long as he is eating and not suffering large amounts of discomfort.