Things To Put On Wounds, cont.

bottom of your horse’s stall to soak up urine. One of my professors said that you should never put anything on a horse’s wound that you wouldn’t put in your own eye. Frankly, I think that’s a great rule to follow. If you don’t know if a product is caustic, ask your veterinarian.

Lots of wound care products say that they’re “natural.” If you didn’t know, I pretty much hate the word “natural” when it comes to medicine; that includes wound care, too. I suppose one could argue that wounds themselves are “natural,” and the fact of the matter is that if you leave many wounds alone so that they can heal “naturally,” things will be fine. Of course, sometimes, you can end up with a big mess on your hands – if you don’t like how things are going, call your veterinarian.

“Natural” wound products usually include stuff like aloes, antioxidants, oils (tea tree is one that has some effect, and can also really irritate the skin of some horses), and anti-bacterials and all sorts of other anti-anything-bad compounds that Mother Nature has apparently so graciously provided. You can also dress category #2 wounds with substances like honey (which, honestly, has some underlying medical support, but its usefulness has absolutely nothing to do with its naturalness), or sugar (usually mixed with a dilute povidone-iodine** solution, which makes the sugar not only brown, but also easier to apply). I even had a client accidentally dress her horse’s wound with a combination of povidone-iodine and salt (instead of sugar), which went on for about two days, until the horse made it clear that he was not going to tolerate having salt rubbed into his wound any more. The wound did great, however.

Often, wonder-wound-products are even accompanied by photos, such as a gruesome montage, which shows a wound that, over time, miraculously healed, leaving a not-entirely-toobad, terrific conversation starter of a scar And, of course, you’re left with the understanding that this sensational wound probably would not have healed had it not been for the wonderful powers of the product. Of course, if you read the label, you’ll find out that they contain not much of anything – one currently popular “miracle” treatment is 99.something percent water, with a very small amount of bleach, for only about $30 per 8 oz. And the fact is, the gruesome wound would have healed anyway and just as quickly – like I said, wounds love to heal. In fact, when it comes to wounds, there are two very simple rules to keep in mind.

RULE ONE = All wounds want to heal. If the wound is healing with what you’re doing, don’t change anything, even if what you’re doing doesn’t make much difference, because you’ll probably just mess things up if you start changing them. As long as it’s going well, leave well enough alone.

RULE TWO = If a wound isn’t healing right, something is wrong That’s when you need to call your veterinarian.

Mostly, it doesn’t matter too much what you put on your horse’s wound. But, if you’re wondering or worried, call your veterinarian. There are some very basic principles of wound healing, and your veterinarian knows them very well. He or she would love to hear from you.

* There are all sorts of reasons that horse wounds can’t be sewn up. For example, you might have found the wound a day after it happened, in which case the wound is likely to be infected. If you try to sew infection into the horse’s body, the horse’s body will object, and the sewn wound will open up. Or, maybe there’s been tissue lost, and the edges of the wound can’t be brought back together – this is a particular problem on the lower limbs, where the skin is pretty much shrink-wrapped onto the bones. After such a wound, there’s may not be enough skin left to pull back together

** The most well-known brand of povidone-iodine solution is Betadine.®

DAVID RAMEY, DVM: Dr Ramey began veterinary practice in 1984 in southern California. He has been providing outstanding care to horses ever since. He specializes in the care and treatment of pleasure and performance horses. His clients particularly value his no nonsense approach, focused on providing services instead of selling products, his compassion for horses, and his ethical approach to the practice of veterinary medicine. https://www.doctorramey.com/