A NOTE ABOUT CLOSTRIDIUM
Clostridium chauvoei is a common killer of cat le, causing what is known as black leg. Dr. Vaden researched its eff ects on horses and found only one previous case, which demonstrates the extreme rarity of this horse’s case. Oddly, Clostridium tetani, a related strand of bacteria, widely eff ects horses, causing tetanus. T e horse is considered to be one of the most susceptible animals to this organism while cat le are 750x less susceptible and dogs are 2250x less susceptible.
Shirley, a veterinary technician for Pat
Vaden, DVM, in Bandera, Texas, and Kim, a rancher who lives in Utopia, Texas, used gallons of wound wash to clean this wound as it healed. T eir treatment included standing the horse in the creek up to his withers for an hour and allowing the fi sh to eat the dead tis- sue. He was also taken for long walks to keep adhesions from limiting his range of motion. T ey did not bandage him during his healing and even tried skin graſt s, 50% of which took to the sides, but none of them worked on the stomach. Kim said that the biggest problem in heal-
ing this wound was the diffi culty of the horse get ing up and down. At about nine months, they had to resort to straps and a harness. Oc- casionally he would get an extreme itch and commence a rolling fi t, aſt er which standing was a challenge. At one point she said, “It was like I was able to tell him telepathically that if he didn’t get up, he was going to die. And he willed himself to get up,” adding, “In order to heal a wound like this, the horse has to be tough, and people have to be tough.” With at ending veterinarian Vaden, it took
over18 months of emergency care, several bottles of penicillin and gallons of wound wash to heal this wound. Eventually, the horse was healed and ridden by Shirley, the owner. Sadly, the horse developed a squamous cell carcinoma in an area of skin that had no pig- ment when it grew back and he was euthanized humanely. Both women are originally from Yorkshire,
England. T eir veterinarian there was James Herriot, DVM, famous author of the series of books beginning with All Creatures Great and Small. Kim remembered Herriot making an interesting statement about let ing a dog “stew in his own juices,” and the dog was able to heal. Essentially, that is what we do. We ac- celerate healing by using occlusive bandaging to trap the body’s fl uid and moisture at the wound site. T e wound wash decontaminates the wound and the platelet rich plasma (PRP) organizes and stimulates cellular activity so rapid healing occurs. We let the body’s natural components do the work of healing instead of
WWW.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US • December 2011 | 41
hindering them by using harsh topical creams. T e diffi culty with this case was that cov-
ering the wound and maintaining moisture was almost impossible to achieve. Also, while standing in the creek was a brilliant homeo- pathic approach, exposing the tissue to water was cytotoxic to the cells, likely prolonging the healing. If it had been possible to maintain UTOPIC healing conditions—trapping the body fl uids with an occlusive bandage, not exposing the tissue to water, and keeping it decontaminated—then healing time may have been signifi cantly reduced. T ese are the goals in healing, not always possible, even in Utopia, Texas. We have nothing but the highest respect and regard for the people that cared for this
continued next page continued next page
"Losing a large amount of skin makes it diffi cult for the body to regulate its temperature appropriately. Hair, pigment and the many layers of cells are all important for keeping the body at the right temperature of 99 to 101 degrees F."
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100