222. Wound fully healed but lame again!

Last night which would be exactly 10 days since coming off the antibiotics we noticed that Spice looked stiff on the leg again - I thought she looked a bit stiff the day before but it was hard to tell as she was walking on snow but when we trotted her up it was obvious that she was definitely lame on it so we decided to see what she was like this morning and unfortunately she's a lot worse to the point that she can barely move and is barely able to put any weight on it whatsoever. So i had an emergency vet come out to see her (who is now the 5th vet to have seen Spice) and said it's very likely that she has a bone infection. She said that it was probable that the antibiotics which had been prescribed previously were just 'keeping the infection at bay' rather than actively destroying it hence the reason why every time she came off them the symptoms of infection would reappear. It makes me so angry to think that just 2 weeks ago the vet that assessed Spice gave her 'all clear' and even suggested taking her off antibiotics (which at the time i ignored due to wanting to make doubly sure that the infection was all out) so kept her on them for a further 7 days and now she apparently has a full blown bone infection. Four different vets from two different practices and all failed to notice what this vet seems to believe is a near certainty.

So at present the prognosis does not look good. At best we attempt to find an antibiotic that will actually kill the infection by taking a swab from Spices leg which will then have to be administered for at least 2 months but i've read that bone infections are notoriously hard to treat so even with the right antibiotic there is no guarantee that by the end of the treatment the infection will not re-emerge and in the meantime the bone could be susceptible to irreversible damage which could result in long term lameness.

It broke my heart to see Spice in so much pain this evening. She was laid down flat in her stable with such a sorrowful expression in her eye...every now and again mustering up enough energy to lift up her head and turn it towards the pain in her leg...I've never seen her look this lame...

To be sure with what we're dealing with the vet has recommended that we do an x ray so at least i will know once and for all exactly what the problem is...