As frustrating as canker is, I have to admit it’s a fascinating disease. It’s certainly not boring like other diseases that you treat and then they go away. Nope, canker is persistent and very sneaky. It looks like it’s healing, but in reality it’s lurking below the surface and has tunneled under the healthy tissue and is flourishing. And it doesn’t just restrict itself to the bottom of the foot. That would be too simple. It can also affect the coronary bands. That’s the part of the foot where the hair on the leg meets the hoof wall and where the hoof wall grows from, sort of like the cuticle on our fingernails. It can even get up into the ergots and chestnuts. The ergots and chestnuts are small spots of hoof material that grow on the back of the fetlock (ankle) and the inside of the knees and hocks. It has to be quite a severe case for it to spread that far, but it’s possible.
In Clyde’s case we have found it in all four of his coronary bands and the ergots in both of his hind legs. But hey, let’s look on the bright side, right? We haven’t found it in his chestnuts so far.
We’re continuing to treat the feet with the lyme sulfur, and have added something called caustic powder as well. The caustic powder seems to help promote dryness so we alternate days. One day caustic powder, the next day lyme sulfur. For the coronary bands and ergots we have been keeping Clyde’s hair trimmed back so it’s open to the air and dabbing on the lyme sulfur. So far they seem to be showing some signs of improvement. They’re drier and less raw looking so hopefully we’re on the right track. As for the bottom of the foot, it looks a little drier than before but there have been no huge improvements yet. At least it isn’t looking worse! So until something better comes along or things start to deteriorate our plan is to continue.
We’ve been doing as much research and reading as we can about canker and some of the case studies talk about treatment going on for a year or even a year and a half. We’ve been at it with Clyde since March 3, 2009. It seems like we’ve been at it forever, but in comparison to the other cases we could still be at this for a long time to come. As long as Clyde stays happy and comfortable, we’ll keep trying everything we can.
