Ever since Paco and I have been a team, we’ve struggled with hock and fetlock sores. For a boy of his age, you’d think he would have built up some toughness along the way. But he’s a tender-skinned sort of fella; like the princess and the pea, he probably feels every pebble in his enclosure. He has scars on his fetlocks and on his right hock from getting up and down on the sandy, desert surface. No shavings or bedding is used, as it would simply blow away in a desert wind or spiral upward into the sky on the first dust devil that passed through.
Scars alone would be okay if they just stayed scars, but getting up and down over and over on the same side just aggravates the problem, often scraping the skin off and opening a wound that needs to be treated. When the sores are raw and bleeding, I have to pay close attention to treating them and protecting them from more severe damage. Sometimes I’ve been told to ignore them and they’ll eventually get better on their own. But I find that hard advice to follow. If a sore is continually scraped and bloodied, how can it get better? And I worry about infection.
French Green Clay is used to prevent stall sores.
Finally, though, when the sore is no longer bloody and angry looking, I discovered the ultimate way to protect against continued open wounds. It’s called French Green Clay, a clay facial mask I got from www.iherb.com. My vet told me about it, and I’ve found it does a great job of protecting the scars from getting ripped open over and over.
I mix it with a bit of water to make the clay and then mold it over the scar and allow it to harden. By the next day, it’s rather disintegrated, but easy to brush out of the surrounding hair, and it has done the job. The scar remains just that–a scar; it’s not a newly opened wound.
It really works. I don’t know if I’ll try it as a facial sometime, but it sure does create an effective “coat of armor” for Paco’s sores.
