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Discussion on 12 Y.O. mare with unclosed umbilicus
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Member:
amara
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Posted on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 - 11:51 am:
Forgive me if this is not the best category for this. I looked thru the site and couldnt find a good place.
i may go look at a 12 y.o. mare from a horse rescue. she is a mustang and off the range several years ago. i have only read her description and only had a moment to talk to someone about her before i had to take a call and go to work for the night.(and boy what a night it was but that's another thread)
she has an unclosed umbilicus. she supposedly has had this for her whole life, without any problems. the site says that sometimes it will drip manure (they say manure and not urine) because there is an opening between the umbilicus and the renal wall..(?)...the mare was pregnant some years ago and it got much more noticeable then. i guess now it only drips only occasionally. the vet says since she has had this her whole life to not worry about treating her. to the best of my knowledge she hasnt had any infections. i have not seen the defect nor had a good conversation with anyone about it.
my question is with a defect like this will the mare be able to do any work? they have done very little with her and she's only marginally able to be handled.
Thanks,
Mel
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Member:
36541
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Posted on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 - 8:13 pm:
Melissa, this sounds like a fistula within a hernia. If this is indeed leaking manure, she has a defect in a bit of the bowel wall where it is herniated through the defect in the abdominal wall. I would want this fixed if I were looking at her as a riding prospect and I have to think this would be done only at an equine hospital. One of the things that can happen to a human with this condition is the loop of bowel in the hernia can twist on itself and become necrotic rather quickly. I don't know about horses, but in people we would consider her current status to be an operation waiting to happen. Stacy
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 23, 2008 - 3:55 pm:
Hello Melissa,
As Stacy states there is something not right about the description. The umbilicus does communicate with the urinary system until birth and can remain patent but it does not communicate with the intestinal system and a congenital intestinal-umbilical fistula is not a reported phenomena that I am aware of. If the horse is stable right now either could be fixed but it will not be inexpensive.
DrO
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Member:
amara
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 23, 2008 - 4:09 pm:
Thanks Stacy and Dr.O.
I figured there is a lot more to this.
Mel
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