Ask A Pro: Wound Care

Equine veterinarian Dr. Tracy Turner has seen many wounds in his many years of treating high performance sport horses. He shared with us his thoughts on how to go about wound care with an insightful, eco-friendly perspective.

Horses are accident prone; we all know it. They do silly things out in the field, in their stalls, when being shipped and even when they are trying their hearts out for us in the show ring. There are many ways to help and protect them, but when a wound does occur, do you have the right products with which to treat them? And have you ever considered whether that treatment is good for the environment, too?

Our featured equine veterinarian, Dr. Tracy Turner, has seen many wounds in his many years of treating high performance sport horses, from lacerations to acute punctures. He shared with us his thoughts on how to go about wound care with an insightful, eco-friendly perspective.

“Cleanliness is close to godliness when it comes to wounds,” states Dr. Turner of Turner Equine.

“Cleanliness is close to godliness when it comes to wounds. It needs to be cleaned thoroughly, the area kept clean and drained, should the wound type call for it. But make sure you work with your veterinarian on that last one. The last thing you want to see is a wound become infected,” states Turner.

“Additionally, you should really consider what you’re treating the wound with. In general, you want it to promote healing and [be] antimicrobial. I have found two great ingredients that can be found in wound care treatment that provides this: silver and honey. Silver is an ingredient that seems to be getting used in a lot more products these days. It has antimicrobial promoters that are great for healing. That goes for honey, as well; additionally, it’s high in glucose and, therefore, bacteria cannot get in it. Honey is also highly concentrated in sugars, [which] allows it to create an osmotic effect, acting as a drawing agent. In the past few years, there has been some truly great research done on these ingredients and presented at the AAEP. It shows a lot of promise.

“What is additionally really great about wound care with silver and honey as active ingredients [is that they are] good for the environment, because they are all natural,” he continues. “These days, we need to be better about our antibiotic stewardship. In many cases, the awareness of how many antibiotics are making it into the environment is of great concern. This has caused an increase in disease and bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant. Not good.

“I recently had experience using a product that Absorbine has developed called Silver Honey. The name says it all, and it seems to work really well. It’s good for the horse and good for the environment: a win-win for me,” states Turner.

Silver Honey™ stops 99.9% of bacteria immediately which helps the healing start faster.

“I do a lot of work in third-world countries where horses are the main mode of transportation or the epicenter of a family’s livelihood,” he adds. “Once we can travel again, I really look forward to bringing Silver Honey with me to use for wound treatment of all kinds. It would be easy for those horse or donkey owners to use, and great for the environment everywhere.”

Get the goods:

What is this magical wound care that’s good for your horse and for the environment? Absorbine has launched a new product line in wound care called Silver Honey™. Straight to the point, right? Get this: It’s great for your horses and other farm animals, and they even have a canine and small animal line. It combines the natural power of Manuka Honey and MicroSilver BG™, which happens to be medical grade ingredients. Quick acting, Silver Honey stops 99.9% of bacteria immediately which helps the healing start faster. This combination of active ingredients provides natural debridement of wounds to shed dead tissue and promote new tissue growth. Available in a spray gel (lots of touch-free coverage) and as an ointment (longest lasting and most moisturizing coverage), it’s a good for all your critters and any kind of wound that you may come across. 

The healing progression of Silver Honey

To read more about the topics that Dr. Turner covers, click here

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