[SerenaGinger]

What on earth did that poor horse have and how did he get it? The YouTube video might be removed since an earlier one was removed due to being too "shocking and disgusting."

I just can't imagine a cyst getting to that severity; how long would that take?

What language are the vet and techs speaking?

[dani0303]

That's a nasty abscess.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Wow, that's really cool! I wonder what sort injury the horse had to cause that sort of infection? I bet the poor horse will feel much better after having all that pressure relieved.

[jetsmom]

Awesome! Horse must feel so much better after that drained. I think they were speaking Japanese.

[VaqueroToro]

I saw a video of someone draining a pigeon fever abscess. Holy mother, the puss came out at warp speed once it was lanced.

I wonder how much damage was done to the tissue around the infection and if the horse will be able to recover fully.

I'm not a vet, but it seemed like the guy working the puss out was moving it across quite a distance to make it to the rupture -- wouldn't it make more sense to make an additional cut (or cuts) somewhere else if the puss pocket was that large?

[VaqueroToro]

Awesome! Horse must feel so much better after that drained. I think they were speaking Japanese.

Maybe, but look at the posters in the background, especially the one on the left. Argonomia, Zootechnia.... Those link back to the Universities of Cordoba and Buenos Aries in Argentina if Google is any indicator.

[Hippolyta]

Wow.

I saw another video of a foal getting one lanced on his haunches (ok, why have I seen it? who knows.) & when they lance it the pressure & volume is impressive. Vet/tech whoever has to jump back out of the way.The fluid came out in an arc & shot out a few feet, for a good minute or two.

and I watched it.

[well.rested]

Wow, that's really cool! I wonder what sort injury the horse had to cause that sort of infection? I bet the poor horse will feel much better after having all that pressure relieved.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take much. If a bacterial colony can get established on other side of the skin, it can make a cyst like that. The body (human, cat, horse, whatever) will often lock off an infection like that, to stop it spreading to the rest of the body. Lymphocytes will migrate to the area and try to control things, get rid of the infection, but some times it's just too powerful.
I drained a similar cyst (which is from the Greek for "pouch") on a friend's cat, and it had a similar volume given the size of the animal, perhaps a cup of fluid with similar... lumps. As the bacterial colony grows, it stretches the walls of the pocket, and the fluid cannot escape. Dead lymphocytes, dead tissue, and fluids get trapped and, essentially, begin to rot. The bacteria continue to feed on this and breed all the faster. It would likely have, eventually, been lethal -- once it ran out of room (you can tell that it's largely spread across the surface, in the space between the skin and sub-cue fat) it would likely have burst inward, as the hide is rather tougher. That causes sepsis, a rapid illness that can kill within hours without very strong courses of IV antibiotics, and even then is a real risk.
The infection probably started very simply, with just a nasty little cut from barbed wire, another animal, a ragged nail in the stall. It broke the surface of the skin, the bacteria got in, and set up shop. It's rare for a cyst to get to that size -- they tend to burst through the original wound site, when exposed to air the bacteria die fairly quickly (which implies that the wound came from another animal).
What the video can't show is the smell, which is... uniquely horrible. You'll notice the vet coughing, esp. when some the lumpy stuff starts to come through. That stuff smells BAD. It can vary, depending on the bacteria, but it's often a mix of rotting onions, rancid garlic, and hobo feet. I couldn't eat cheese for weeks after my first one, because something about it recalled that smell.
Some animals (including felines) actually have little pockets in their claws/talons/teeth specifically to introduce this kind of bacteria. Komodo dragons are famous for it, as they move quite slowly, bite animal, and just wait for it to die before tracking it by smell.
If you ever try to drain such a cyst yourself, beware. Be sure to make two small incisions (to stop pressure from building too much and spraying, also makes it more comfortable for the animal). These will likely need to be deeper than you would think, as the pocket doesn't always form right against the skin. You do have to be wary not to break the other side, which can make things considerably worse. Antibiotic ointment should be used, and oral antibiotics are a good idea -- though they won't generally resolve something like that on their own. Obviously, something of that size needs professional attention, as it will need to be irrigated with sterile & antibiotic-infused solution, and possibly packed with antibiotic infused gauze or even surgical drains.

Also, ew. Ew ew ew ew ew. EWWWW. Just had to get that out there.

[TheJenners]

Oh ewwwwwie, and I watched the whole thing. Poor horse.

[5]

What on earth did that poor horse have and how did he get it?

My first thought was a bot fly larvae that got crushed and killed but it could have been as small as a yearly shot that went bad.

[PRS]

...and I was going to have a cheese pocket pastry for breakfast. Totally lost my appetite.

[BigBayHanoMare]

I can't believe I watched the ENTIRE thing.

Is that saline they're dripping over the incisions? And I'm amazed there was hardly any reaction from the horse; s/he didn't look sedated. I am prone to cysts myself and while the relief is great, it HURTS when it's popped.

Then again, my cysts never get THAT big!!

[MunchingonHay]

Wow, that's really cool! I wonder what sort injury the horse had to cause that sort of infection? I bet the poor horse will feel much better after having all that pressure relieved.

I bet he/she did feel better, you can see him lean into the right side of the stocks like he was getting his favorite spot scratched.

[Mara]

I've posted this one before - pretty big gross-out factor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMzvU....1.2Uw2x6GKm08

Starts small, but watch when they get the bucket!

And yeah, there is no smell worse than copious amounts of pus. During my tenure as a vet tech years ago, we had a HBC cat come in for treatment. No broken bones or major internal injuries, but the cat had escaped after getting hit and the owner couldn't find her for a few days. By the time she was located and brought in, all of the wounds from the injury had formed basically one massive abscess - this cat sloshed when you picked her up, it was that bad.

The smell when the doc opened up that abscess . . . it was indescribable. I'm sure I was green, one attendant did throw up, and even the vet gagged a few times. No one bothered with lunch that day. It was unreal how one little cat could contain that much pus.

That stench stays in your nostrils and sinuses for a while, as well.

[drmgncolor]

My horse developed a MASSIVE hemotoma on her right hip about 4 years ago. I posted about it back then with links to pics and videos of it being drained.

It took 3 lancings and that thing opened up like a bloody fire hose for at least 2 minutes. We caught about 1/2 of a 8 qt bucket, and that's just what got in the bucket. Afterwards, the vet had to dig around to try get all the clots out, and they just kept coming. I was pulling out fibrous tissue for about 3 days (she had a primrose drain in) afterwards.

Sadly, my you tube video was yanked for being "too shocking" after being up for 3 years and over 75,000 views. It was probably because of the commentary... my vet said something about strawberry jam and toast.

My old vet still says it was one of the most exciting surgeries she's ever done. The wash pit looked like we had slaughtered small animals when we were done, so thank goodness it was cement and easy to clean.

Maybe I need to send in my video to Tosh.0. Color's butt could be famous!

[pal-o-mino]

I don't think I would have been so freaked out by my abscess bill if it had popped like that! LOL

[wendy]

it's pretty sad that they label "things that really happened" as "too shocking for youtube". If you had to deal with a thing like that, it'd be nice to have watched a real clip showing what could happen before you had to hold the horse and watch the vet work on it.

[drmgncolor]

it's pretty sad that they label "things that really happened" as "too shocking for youtube". If you had to deal with a thing like that, it'd be nice to have watched a real clip showing what could happen before you had to hold the horse and watch the vet work on it.

Yep. Which is exactly why my vets had no problem with it being on the internet. When I moved, my old vet requested that I give her a copy so that if she needed to do it in the future, and the client was concerned about the process, she could show her client what it would be like... you know, since youtube yanked it, and gave me a warning about uploading videos for shock value.

Some things in life are gross. Its not all rainbows and butterflies.

[Shannon.Ryan18]

Nothing like that seems to happen at the horse farm, except for the occasional hoof abscess. I've had to lance some nasty abscesses on calves at work before, one the size of my hand. The nasty solid type of pus is called caseous exudate, and it indeed is like no other smell

[BigBayHanoMare]

I've posted this one before - pretty big gross-out factor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMzvU....1.2Uw2x6GKm08

Starts small, but watch when they get the bucket!

I think I feel my lunch coming back up ...