Is there a poultice or something that I can apply to draw out the contents, I have managed to get most out, bathing it for some while with a warm flannel but is there something I can apply to draw out the deeper sebum. It is on his flank and when I apply pressure (only a small amount) it is causing him discomfort, more so than when I have dealt with them previously. Many thanks

Bumping this up in case anyone can help.

Magnesium sulphate may help.

I used this on myself as I suffered with terrible boils for a couple of years after I had glandular fever when I was 16.

Thank you both.

Massaged and bathed for 'sometime' and hope I have got it all out. Suddenly appeared overnight and by Saturday evening beginning to think that he had been bitten, size of a grape, blue/black with surrounding area tender & swollen. yesterday morning it burst, always surprised that he is soo trusting in allowing me to prod, wore an elasticated bandage around his middle yesterday to keep clean & dry & then applied savalon. Looking OK this AM, swelling gone & no irritation. Will keep checking it, just wondered if there was a poultice or something I could have applied to hlep draw out the contents.

 

I used to use Animalintex poultices on my horses when they had punctured soles. You wet them with boiling water and apply them quite hot. It used to draw the yack out very effectivly. 
Not sure if you can use on dogs though.

I make an old fashioned sugar and soap poultice and it's always been very effective. Simply shave off bits of a bar of soap into a bainmarie (a bowl floating in warm water), add about the same quantity of sugar and a little water and warm it up while mixing into a paste. Don't heat it too long as sugar gets very hot! Slap it on the boil and cover with a bandage. It works amazingly well, apparently sugar kills bacteria and the soap draws it out... not sure on the science but I know it works :-)

I know this is an old thread but ( this maybe a very silly question so bear with me ;-) )
does it have to be a hard soap bar or can you use liquid soap ?

Also has anybody ever tried a bread and milk poultice ?

> does it have to be a hard soap bar or can you use liquid soap

I've never tried it but I guess there's no reason why it wouldn't work, although the paste would be runnier. Obviously don't add any extra water just the liquid soap and sugar.

Yes I use magnesium sulphate on human boils spots splinters etc. Cheap and good

I have used it as well before but I am stuck at home today waiting for a delivery so thought I would try a homemade version to keep me occupied !

I too have used Mag Sulph paste as a poultice for a boil, worked wonders. We were taught how to make Kaolin poultices as well during our training, they now come ready made and just need heating up.

Yes kaolin I rememer thelovely smell think mum still has an ancient tin in her cupboard

We used to put the tin on the radiator to soften it off and make it runny enough to spread on the gauze.

Seem to remember mum boiling it ? Then wraping it in gauze for my sprained ankles something I manged to do on too many occasions lol

Can the suggested poultices be used on dogs?

> Can the suggested poultices be used on dogs?

That's a good question. I've used magnesium sulphate on my daughter's fingernail infections when she was little. It worked like magic. I'd really like to know if you can use it on dogs - would a cyst have to have started to burst first? Hope someone knows the answer.

Ive used mag shulp on unbrust things but still no idea if youcan use on dogs. I would worry about them licking it and would talk to vet first

I had one on a bloodhound once. After I'd got as much as I could out I flushed it with a dilute of peroxide in a syringe(all horse people will know this as a very effective antiseptic). It also helps clear dead tissue.
The cyst never reoccured which my young vet didn't believe.

> The cyst never reoccured which my young vet didn't believe.

Previously I have managed to clean out & get rid of 5+ cysts but they'd been there for sometime & the sebum thick which assisted in getting the lining out, & likewise my vet has been very sceptical at my success.

Now since December have a further two on the go, & they keep erupting every couple of weeks as haven't got the lining out. Vet (like me) doesn't want to give him a GA, so this week spooned them (I think that is the term) breaking up the lining in the hope that as they heel it will  be ejected.

Asked if he would deal with them under local, but told rather apologetically that it wasn't done at the practise. So just keep fingers crossed that 'spooning' works! 

>We were taught how to make Kaolin poultices as well during our training, they now come ready made and just need heating up.

Its amazing the difference a bit of training makes!  My mum clearly wasn't trained and burned me as a child with a kaolin poultice which she put on my skin despite me screaming that it was burning.  After being told to stop whinging about it she eventually took it off to find a giant blister.  I still have the scarring on my chest to this day and the mere thought of a kaolin poultice is enough to make me feel queasy.

You poor thing,I know how hot those things can get and we were warned that if we couldn't handle it then it was too hot for the patient.