Ulysses has had a few difficult weeks. On Tuesday, April 9th, we received a call from one of our team members, Logan, who told us that Ulysses’ leg was swollen, and immediately one of our board members, Eric, went down to see him. Eric determined that Ulysses definitely needed veterinary care and gave him some Banamine to help alleviate his discomfort. It was just about two years ago that Ulysses had a terrible cellulitis infection that was so aggressive we were concerned we would lose him, so we knew that we had to act quickly.
It appeared that Ulysses had cut his leg below the knee (we have no idea how- he was fine Monday evening). Unfortunately, after his previous bout of cellulitis, his lymph nodes were scarred over, and within 12 hours a small cut ended up becoming another severe bout of cellulitis. Poor boy!
Thankfully, our vet was in the area and was able to administer some more pain meds and antibiotics, and then wrapped Ulysses’ leg to help reduce the swelling. He was put on pain meds multiple times a day in addition to steroids and antibiotics to vigorously treat the cellulitis. Eric helped put up a panel in his stall like we did two years ago to block of the area under his shelter (we were concerned he would trip over the wood and would fall over) and covered a muddy area with a mat so Ulysses would have a relatively flat stall.
Ulysses improved quite a bit in just a week, to the point that he was no longer such a docile boy, and by the following Sunday he was pushing us down while we were trying to give him his medicine! We removed the panel and he started moving around his stall almost normally (although still with a swollen leg).
Last Friday April 19th, the vet came out again to assess Ulysses and gave the OK for turnout. He is still on antibiotics and pain meds (which has an anti-inflammatory), and likely will be for some time. It’s going to take a while for the swelling to go back to normal- it took about three or four months the last time this happened, so we are prepared for the long haul with him. The good news is that his leg doesn’t seem to bother him at all, and he is able to move around relatively normally. He’s able to run around the arena like he always does, and the pain meds ensure that he is comfortable.
We are very thankful to Logan who identified Ulysses’ leg, and to Eric for spending all day with him and the vet. Also, many thanks to our wonderful vet, Dr. Hunter at OCEVS, who took care of our boy! We are hopeful that Ulysses will be back to normal very soon!
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- Ulysses the evening after he hurt his leg.
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- The cellulitis ended up going all of the way up his leg, so we kept having to wrap it higher and higher.
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- One good thing is that Ulysses’ appetite never waned during this entire ordeal. He was always up for pellets, which made wrapping him easier!
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- We had to give Ulysses his medication multiple times a day to keep him comfortable.
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- Last Friday the vet was able to OK daily turnouts again!