|
|
Discussion on Sad day for horse with colic
|
| Author |
Message |
Member:
Rasmith4
|
Posted on Friday, Jun 2, 2006 - 9:13 pm:
Today our vet came to do the yearly vaccinations for my horses and my neighbors horses. We have used the same vet for years and he will split the farm visit for us.
When he started on her horses, her big mare started to act strange after the shots. She was very uneasy and hard to handle during the vaccinations also which was so unlike her. After the shots she went down and started kicking and trying to roll. The vet made her get up and started examining her more thoroughly. He tubed her and gave her mineral oil and palpitated her.
After two hours of doing every thing he could he told her he was sure the horse had a twisted intestine and needed surgery. We live 60 miles from Knoxville TN where the UT vet hospital is.
After many phone calls they were able to get her accepted and proceeded to get her there. She went down twice in the trailer on the way.
Once there the vets checked her and ran IVs and gave her pain killers and said that they would have to operate. My friends agreed and the surgery was started. As I was not there and am getting this info from my friends husband, I'm not sure of the correct terminology. But he said that the mares colon was black and that the only humane thing to do was to let her go and put her down, which they did.
My question is how could this have progressed this fast. I saw that horse every day and saw her an hour before the vet got there and she seemed fine. But I watched in horror every time she would go down and groan and stiffen all four legs out and sweat profusely.
The UT vet said that she had had a problem for awhile to be that bad. But she showed no signs until just before the shots. At first our vet thought she was reacting to the shots.
Has anyone ever heard of this type of thing? We are all heartbroken over the loss of this horse. 
|
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Friday, Jun 2, 2006 - 11:09 pm:
In my short time with horses, I have never experienced this...my heart goes out to all of you. She's a beautiful girl!
Might I ask what shots she received?
sending cyber (((hugs)))
|
Member:
Rasmith4
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 7:35 am:
Hi Aileen,
She received a rabies, West Nile and Tetnus-EEE-WEE.
The same shots we give every year. She was a really nice horse and will be missed. She was the the Mom to three of the other four they have left.
Thanks for the hugs I will pass them on to my friends.
|
Member:
Redalert
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 8:21 am:
Hey Cheryl
She really was a beautiful mare. I have a very soft spot in my heart for a bay with a star... it is like God touch their forehead and said, "Yes, YOU are the special one."
And, yes I have heard of this kind of thing. Some horses are just so quiet with their pain, or have a high threshold for pain that they do not show signs of pain until the colon involved has died beyond the point of repair. Sounds like her colon was not getting proper blood supply for some reason, which the vets at the hospital should be able to tell you. It sounds like it had been going on for some time, and she just did not let you know. I don't think the shots had a thing to do with it.
Again, she looks like a beautiful, kind, and special mare. I know she loved her time with you, as much as you did your time with her. Now is such a hard time, as you are looking for answers. I hope you find them, and then can move on to your wonderful memories. AND, how great it is that you have her offspring still with you to help you through this grief. Thinking of you,
Nancy
|
Member:
Redalert
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 8:25 am:
P.S. I see this is your friend's horse, so I know you will pass my thoughts along to them!
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 10:25 am:
I can't determine from your post whether there was colic before the injections or not. We have 2 horses in the practice that develop mild colic following their vaccinations. Every year we pretreat with Banamine which seems to prevent any adverse events. The mechanism is uncertain but if I had to guess there is a lowering of blood supply to the gut. You could conjecture that this may lead to abnormal motility and to a twist. However I have never heard of this happening before and it is as likely this was purely coincidental.
DrO
|
Member:
Rasmith4
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 11:04 am:
Dr. O.
I too think it was coincidental that she reacted this way. I don't think the shots had anything to do with it.
But how did she get so bad without showing any signs? The UT vets said something had been going on for awhile. I saw this horse on a daily basis and she had no signs that I could see that she was in distress. My friend fed her earlier in the morning and she ate normally. What I saw two hours later was awful. This horse was in so much pain that she kept going down and groaning and sweat was poring out of her. I've never seen anything like it.
Our vet gave her everything he could think of and she kept getting worse.
If he had not been scheduled to come that day I think she probably would have died before they got home from work.
|
Member:
Ilona
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 11:50 am:
Cheryl, I think Nancy put it very well, some animals are astonishingly noble and stoic, never giving any sign of pain until its too late for us to do anything. I had a beautiful and much loved, and attended to, doberman, Thunder. One day, I looked out the window and saw his leg just dangling. He must have somehow broken it, I was shocked and rushed him to the vet. They did X-Rays and found that he was riddled with cancer, it had eaten through the bone, his lungs were only 20% functioning etc etc. Distraught cannot describe how I felt. We put him on MAJOR pain killers, splinted him and brought him home for 3 days to say goodbye. He ate all his favorite foods, ran around like a puppy, and the kids slept with him on the floor by the fireplace for 2 nights. We then had a vet come to the house and he was euthanized in my arms as we all told him how much he had given our lives and how noble he had been through his sickness. We were devastated. He may have had the the best 3 days of his life (pure indulgence) and then just went to sleep. I still think of all that pain he tolerated with no indication at all. I think of Thunder with awe and gratitude, and whenever I have pain he gives me great perspective and the model of dignity in pain. Some things in nature we just have to accept, and learn to tolerate our understandable, if unreasonable, guilt. Sometimes there are no "what if's" and "if only's". Sometimes things Just Are.
|
Member:
Rasmith4
|
Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2006 - 2:54 pm:
Thanks Nancy and Ilona for your thoughts.
So sorry to hear about your beloved Thunder. I've had to have two dogs put down in the past because of cancer and they to were very brave. It is a very hard thing to do.
Cali was very brave and quiet with her pain for none of us knew how bad she was until it was to late.
|
Member:
Paul303
|
Posted on Sunday, Jun 4, 2006 - 3:34 am:
Cheryl, your friends are not alone. These things happen. Coincidentally, just last march, my friends who own the farm next door called for help. A very dear paint mare that we all loved, was down. This was a mare that had been boarded with them for years. She was a beautiful mare and an expert babysitter for the boarder's three children. When I arrived, the vet was there, and the mare had just gone down for the first time. Her only other symptoms had been reluctance to move and refusal of food and water. The vet did a rectal, and called New Bolton immediately. It was clear that the horse was getting shocky. My friends hitched up and left right away with the owner and the mare as soon as the vet could inject the mare for pain. I took the boarder's children next door to my house, but not before the vet caught my eye and mouthed "twisted gut". My friends DrOve as fast as they dared, making two stops before approaching the bridge from NJ to Pa. They were checking to make sure the mare was still up and comfortable. They had a syringe in case the mare went down in pain in the trailer, Both checks, the mare was up and munching hay calmly. They made one more check right before crossing the bridge....and found her down and dead. The police were wonderful and stopped traffic on the bridge approach to allow my friends to make a u-turn.....they wouldn't be needing New Bolton. It just broke my heart to have to watch while the mother told the news to the children.
This had to have been going on for awhile. But the mare only showed symptoms for just a few hours before she died. I watched this mare daily from my kitchen window for years. She was overweight,and sometimes would mildly colic on grass - So she was taken off grass years ago.
I don't know why this happened....but I DO know how heartbreaking it is.
|
Member:
Eoeo
|
Posted on Sunday, Jun 4, 2006 - 10:38 am:
We had a mare 6 months in foal. We caught her and her baby up and trimmed the baby. We turned them out. 3 hours later the we found the mare down rolling violently. We got the vet, he gave her some powerful pain killers which didn't even faze her so we put her down. Another vet said that sometimes the baby can move around at that stage and cause discomfort. Never heard of that. We didn't do an autopsy. Stuff can just go wrong.
So sorry about the loss. EO
|
Member:
Rasmith4
|
Posted on Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - 2:22 pm:
Here is a follow up from UT. Callie had colitis X according to the necropsy report.
How could she have had no symptoms until a few hours before her death?
Dr. O
What can cause colitis X?
What are symptoms that should be watched for?
Cheryl
|
Member:
Vickiann
|
Posted on Friday, Jul 7, 2006 - 8:31 pm:
Colitis X progresses extremely quickly from what I know, Cheryl. If I remember correctly, diarrhea is a symptom. It is an extremely bad thing for a horse to have. I am very sorry for your sad loss and my heart aches for you and Callie.
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Saturday, Jul 8, 2006 - 10:47 am:
Hello Cheryl,
Colitis X is shorthand for they do not know the cause of an inflamed colon. However if after a hard look no cause is found these are widely thought to be a toxigenic clostridial infection. This is doubly so when it hits this fast. For more see the article Diseases of Horses » Colic and GI Diseases » Diarrhea in Horses » Initial Evaluation of Colitis in Horses and follow the links to the clostridial colitis article.
DrO
|
|
|
