Rooster is a very good boy. He is a 12 year-old gelding with a horrible injury that has not healed in a year – even with daily treatment. (Rooster went through a fence. He didn’t hurt the bone, but there isn’t enough tissue to regrow.)
Rooster’s owner had no hope … Rooster was given to Strawberry Mountain Mustangs to take to OSU for a final, analysis. OSU offered the below scenarios (not much hope):
1 ) Leave the wound as is and bandage for eternity. <—- (this was a no) The changes in bone mean this wound would likely never close on its own.
2 ) Surgery to scrape away excess bone growth (*not to be confused with sequestrum) in the hope that the wound would then close on its own. Possible complications were : destabilizing the leg resulting in a fracture, and risk of stimulating the bone so it grows right back. A long recovery in a cast with a sketchy prognosis didn’t sound appealing.
3 ) Skin grafting. If you’ve followed us for long, you know we’ve done successful skin grafting in the past, but this wound has little to no healthy tissue for a graft to adhere to. It’s almost bare bone. OSU didn’t think it would work.
Luckily, Strawberry Mountain Mustangs scoured the internet and found a new, ground breaking possibility for Rooster. Enter KERECIS. And Kerecis (intact fish skin) is willing to help!
All donations are 100% tax deductible! Thank you in advance for helping SMM help Rooster (and potentially many, many others…) with this new, life-saving protocol!
If you receive this post via email, click here to donate!
The wound seems clean and healthy enough… except it has not healed at all in a year because the bone is exposed and because of the constant growth of proud flesh.
NEXT IMAGE IS GRAPHIC – I’ve made it very small. This is the constant battle with Rooster’s proud flesh and never ending debridement.
WHAT IS KERECIS AND WHY IS IT BE GROUND BREAKING AND HOW CAN IT HELP?! – Intact fish skin!
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(from the website) Why Kerecis®?
Kerecis Omega3 is intact fish skin rich in naturally occurring Omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. When grafted onto damaged human tissue such as a burn or a diabetic wound, the material recruits the body’s own cells and is ultimately converted into living tissue.
Compared to mammalian-based skin substitutes, Kerecis Omega3 offers improved economics and clinical performance, as well as reduced disease transfer risk and no cultural constraints on usage.
Other tissue-transplant products are based on tissues of human and porcine origin. These are not ideal substitutes because heavy processing is needed to eliminate the risk of disease transmission. This harsh, anti-viral treatment removes most of the material’s natural components, making it dissimilar to human skin.
GROUNDBREAKING KERECIS WAS APPLIED TO ROOSTER’S LEG ON SATURDAY!
This is so exciting! The people at Kerecis are very willing to help a horse and sent instructions and the first round of product to the veterinarians caring for Rooster.
They stitched in the Kerecis patch and we are now waiting 5 days until the first check. Rooster is being cared for and watched over by SMM.
CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MANY HORSES/ANIMALS WILL BE SAVED if this works?! I think this is very, very exciting and brave and fortuitous.
Let’s Please help Strawberry Mountain Mustangs in this groundbreaking endeavor to save Rooster (and others after him)!
Imagine the good this will do for others?! Please spread the word! All donations are 100% tax deductible. Thank you, Thank you!
If you receive this post via email, click here to donate!
This is sweet Rooster. He’s only 12!
This is what the Kerecis fish patch looks like.
This is the packaging.
This is the Kerecis patch stitched into place over Rooster’s wound.
This is Rooster after being bandaged and the bandage sprayed with an anti-chew remedy.
NOW WE WAIT… Please, let’s help take the stress off of trying a new protocol and help SMM and Rooster – for all of us! Thank you!
The post GROUNDBREAKING Skin/Tissue substitute being tested on our NOVEMBER BUCKET FUND HORSE: MEET ROOSTER with his history-making, life threatening wound! appeared first on Horse and Man.
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