# Quittor - anyone had a horse with it?



## JanetGeorge (26 March 2012)

My husband's old HW hunter has been diagnosed with this ghastly old condition - normally radical surgery is the recommended treatment but not on for this old chap.  Has anyone seen a case treated successfully - with or without surgery?  Our current plan is to try maggot therapy!   But as the alternative is PTS it has to be worth a try!


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## The Fuzzy Furry (26 March 2012)

Blimey!
How horrible for you & husband (as well as horse!)
Havent seen one since the 70's when a teenager & then only was shown as part of my PC B test as was going over to a local event yard for training then.
As I remember, the horse had an op to remove the necrotic skin & it was done by PSD (Peter Scott Dunn) but it was so long ago I cannot remember the outcome, really sorry.

Wishing you all the best in getting a good outcome.


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## applecart14 (26 March 2012)

JanetGeorge said:



			My husband's old HW hunter has been diagnosed with this ghastly old condition - normally radical surgery is the recommended treatment but not on for this old chap.  Has anyone seen a case treated successfully - with or without surgery?  Our current plan is to try maggot therapy!   But as the alternative is PTS it has to be worth a try!
		
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According the the Merck Veterinary Manual it is unlikely to heal without surgery but obviously your vet is the best one to consult about this.  If you don't want to put him through surgery then try the maggots, you owe him that much at least.  Here is a link about using maggots for foot conditions. http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/geneva/2007/p210_212_Morrison.pdf

Good luck whatever you decide the outcome is going to be for this old boy.


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## ihatework (26 March 2012)

I had a horse with a suspected case many moons ago, thankfully it turned out not to be.
But when we were discussing options surgery was the only thing discussed - the debate between the 2 vets was to do it standing or fully under.


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## JanetGeorge (26 March 2012)

applecart14 said:



			According the the Merck Veterinary Manual it is unlikely to heal without surgery but obviously your vet is the best one to consult about this.
		
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 Obviously my referral vet is being consulted closely!  He didn't feel surgery was in the old boy's best interests (he's 23, with arthritis, although had still been in work until this happened.)  I found the ivis. link and Mark is very ready to look further - he's talking to the vets in USA this mornig and has already found a source for sterile maggots!

If it shows no signs of working , the old boy will be PTS but he's in horse-pital now on iv antibiotics and bute so is as 'comfortable' as he can be.


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## threeponies (26 March 2012)

My then 16 yo Shetland had quittor in 2006, he went into horspital to be xrayed as his lameness wasn't improving with poulticing and antibiotics and my vet originally thought he had an infected tendon sheath because he showed no reaction to hoof testers.  Xray showed the infection and some calcification so he was sent home with antibiotics and a 'drain hole ' that was not to be allowed to heal to let any pus out.  He didn't improve so went back into vets for regional perfusion to done over the course of a week, which still didn't help so he had surgery to scrape out the infected tissues. He was away for 5 weeks in total but he came home eventually with his little plaster cast and was on box rest for a month or so, and has been sound as a pound ever since.  At the time my vet said he would be happy with pony being paddock sound and said hoof might deform but he's absolutely sound with 4 normal hooves. 
Wishing you the best of luck with your horse


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## Maiscene (10 April 2014)

JanetGeorge said:



			My husband's old HW hunter has been diagnosed with this ghastly old condition - normally radical surgery is the recommended treatment but not on for this old chap.  Has anyone seen a case treated successfully - with or without surgery?  Our current plan is to try maggot therapy!   But as the alternative is PTS it has to be worth a try!
		
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How did your horse get on?
I'm only enquiring because my horse has suspected case! 

Thanks


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## STRIKER (12 April 2014)

Pts seems a bit drastic for a case which can be dealt with quite easily, cutting away the infected part of the hoof, poulticing, covering with gauze and bandaging, then spraying with an astringent, the hoof will regrow out within min 6 months, obviously you know your horse and he is old but it is treatable. Good luck


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## Goldenstar (12 April 2014)

Yes one of my homebreds.
It appeared on the coronet assumed it was a poisoned foot tracking up that had caused no pain but it would not heal .
The for was X-rayed and two foreign objects where spotted a third of the was down the hoof .
Off to horsepital they dremelled a hole in the hoof wall two pieces of road gravel where found it was washed out keep open for a while until the infection cleared 
Then it was treated like a seedy toe until it grew out .
I remembered that three months before she knuckled over on the road out hunting its thought that when the stones found their way in .
It resolved with no ill effects .


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## JanetGeorge (13 April 2014)

Maiscene said:



			How did your horse get on?
I'm only enquiring because my horse has suspected case! 

Thanks
		
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Sadly, he didn't.  The infection spread to the pedal bone and we had to make a nasty decision!




			Pts seems a bit drastic for a case which can be dealt with quite easily, cutting away the infected part of the hoof, poulticing, covering with gauze and bandaging, then spraying with an astringent, the hoof will regrow out within min 6 months, obviously you know your horse and he is old but it is treatable.
		
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Gee - shame I just relied on one of the best equine hospitals in the country - I should have come to you!  Quittor isn't 'easy' in a young horse - in an old horse, with a 'difficult' infection which failed to respond to some very expensive antibiotics, it's far from easy!


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## STRIKER (14 April 2014)

I wasnt being nasty, just felt it was quite drastic pts in this day and age with technology as it is, it seems anything can be cured now a days. I see quite a few horses with 1/4 cracks at work some had had to have part of the hoof wall removed and wow they have healed and gone on to race successfully.  Sorry to hear it didnt go well,


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## ihatework (14 April 2014)

postputasocinit said:



			I wasnt being nasty, just felt it was quite drastic pts in this day and age with technology as it is, it seems anything can be cured now a days. I see quite a few horses with 1/4 cracks at work some had had to have part of the hoof wall removed and wow they have healed and gone on to race successfully.  Sorry to hear it didnt go well,
		
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The horse had an infected pedal bone!


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## STRIKER (14 April 2014)

Yes i realise that now, its hard to get the antibiotics in to the system, when originally posted i thought it was just the damaged hoof, and i have said i wasnt being nasty, just being thick, there you go i am big enough to admit it


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## Fools Motto (3 January 2018)

Might have a older pony with this, I'd never heard of it. Trying to find out all I can!
Can anyone tell me more?


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## Shay (4 January 2018)

You need a formal diagnosis really.  Quittor is a chronic infection of the cartilage in the lower limb; usually secondary to an injury to the coronary band.  It is often - but not always - treatable by surgery to remove all the necrotic tissue.  Like most things the sooner it is identified and treated the better the outcome.  But with an older animal - like the OP - you do have to consider if treatment is the best course for them.  What does your vet say?


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