Presurgical acetone and chlorhexidine aseptic preparation of the equine hoof lowers bacterial counts below surgically acceptable threshold

Key Points

• To evaluate the effectiveness of chlorhexidine and acetone in reducing bacterial loads in equine hooves before surgery.
• Applied chlorhexidine and acetone aseptic preparation on equine hooves.
• Measured aerobic colony counts to assess bacterial loads before and after treatment.
• Chlorhexidine/acetone treatment effectively reduced bacterial counts.
• Bacterial loads fell below surgically acceptable thresholds.