Advice please - Colt just been cut

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nagsinrags

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Hi

I was wondering if anyone had any advice for me, I have a 4 year old colt which was castrated a week ago, the vet advised that he would more than likely swell more due to his age, I was advised to put him out so he could walk round more & to lunge him for 15 minutes a day all of which I have been doing, he isnt in a field just a small paddock until his hormones settle !

The advice I am looking for is regards to his swelling, he didnt seem to bleed much after being castrated and was fine he started swelling, one minute he is swollen and then he is swollen but not as much as previous. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Thanks
 
I would go back to the vet and ask their advice. There are lots of flies around at this time of year which is why most people cut in either Spring or Autumn, but I guess it sounds like you didn't have a choice.
 
It really is likely to swell and he may be sore and, if a bit of a wimp, may be reluctant to do much in the way of running around! As long as the swelling is only gently oozing rather than dripping blood or pus, it should be ok. You may find that the swelling gets surprisingly big and hard up to about the 10-day mark. Just when you think it will never get better, you should see your colt suddenly seem a bit brighter and freer in his movements. He may lie down for the first time since he was cut. If you gently feel the swelling, you should find it has lost its tight, hard feel and now feels fluid and squishy. This is a good sign! My tiny shetland was gelded at aged 3 and a half and he wasn't very stoic about things. He couldn't lie down for 10 days and that and the soreness made him quite depressed. Got the vets out at about day 3 or 4 as I was worried about him because he was a rescue and very tiny (7hh) and malnourished. Vets prescribed Finadyne (coz paste tube graduated in smaller markings than bute) for his pain and 10 days antibx just in case. He appreciated this help and on Day 10 had a long, long, shavings covered lie down and sleep. Never looked back!
 
thanks for your advice,

Herts05, i couldnt have left him any longer he was getting to the point where he was annoying & nobody wanted to deal with him.

Box_Of_Frogs, he is already on antibiotics, he finishes his course tomorrow, he is bright in himself, i was initially worried about the swelling but by the sounds of things, its natural, i have out him out again this morning and his swelling has gone down, there is no dripping or pus which I am quite surprised about really he hardly bled tbh but was clamped for quite a while.

I am absolutely amazed at his mannerisms within 48 hours seems to have forgot about his eratic behaviour & turned into a loving animal !
 
If he will let you we cold hose the whole area three or four times a day - you must keep it clean as the incisions are usually quite big and also keep the wound open for at least a week so everything can drain. Also keep him out as much as possible they need to be walking around to keep the swelling down. It may look fine now but things do not tend to go wrong until a week after the op! Arnica every day and if he will not let you cold hose the area warm hibiscrub and just keep it clean. Also try to plaster fly stuff all around as you do not want the little blighters anywhere the wound if pos. It takes 60 days for the hormones to calm down completely - meantime he will still be fertile.
 
could seem like a minor thing but to those that don't know it is quite important, do not hose directly in to the incision site, but hose inside of hind legs and on side of incision where testicles used to be, the gentle palpation from the water will encourage movement of any blood clots still in wound.
 
I will try the cold hosing, i was told he would still be fertile for 6 months after is this not right? He is in the paddock on his own so theres no chance he can cover anything, iam absolutely shocked at the sudden change in his behaviour & mannerisms ive only ever had one cut previously about 2 years ago, he was 2 & didnt know any different he was that laid back he could have fell over lol
 
A 4yo will swell a lot more than, say, a yearling, so it's to be expected. As long as he is bright in himself and eating normally, he should be fine. If he seems listless, stops eating, or there is an increase in the swelling, accompanied by oozing from the wound, get the vet asap. He should be kept away from mares for a minimum of 6 months, he will be fertile for a couple of months but will be a nuisance with mares for a lot longer. I have a gelding who was cut at 4, I would never put him in with mares, he would be a pita and likely to get himself kicked.
 
Depends on the horse! My teensy but very randy shetland tried to mount the standard shetland mares (couldn't reach) half heartedly for another week but my vets said about 4 weeks would suffice to get all live sperm out of his system. I think they say a lot longer to safeguard themselves in this age of litigation. My lad's testicles descended veyr late in lif eas he'd been severely malnourished for pretty much all his 3 and a half years. So he hadn't been a stalion long, although he took to it with gusto if you know what I mean. He was back to his normal loving self in a fortnight, tops.
 
nagsinrags said:
I will try the cold hosing, i was told he would still be fertile for 6 months after is this not right? He is in the paddock on his own so theres no chance he can cover anything, iam absolutely shocked at the sudden change in his behaviour & mannerisms ive only ever had one cut previously about 2 years ago, he was 2 & didnt know any different he was that laid back he could have fell over lol
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6 months is over the top as regards fertility, but behaviour wise with mares it's probably about right (as long as he hadn't been used as a stallion.) But it varies. My 6 year old who'd never been used still only goes out solo - because I wouldn't trust him not to get too playful (and he's 17hh and built like a brick outhouse - so his 'playful' could be dangerous!)

DON'T be lulled into a false sense of security by the change of behaviour. I had a downright nasty colt cut - he was good as gold for 4-5 weeks and then the nasty coltish behaviour started to come back. (I DID ask the vet if he could knock him out again so I could give him a good kicking while he was on the ground and he'd wake up sore and dazed again! :D) Coltish behaviour IS testosterone-fuelled, but it's learned behaviour first and foremost. Use this period to ensure his manners are well-instilled!!
 
The more you can get him moving the better and would be wary about cold hosing as castration sites are usually left open and any water going into the incissions could also take in infection. My vet tells owners the risk is very very slight but could be fertil for 4/6 weeks. If he is only swollen with no discharge, eating and ok in himself dont worry.:)
 
Operation site will swell totally because of the trauma of the surgery - however it is excessive then ask the vet to call back - my boy swelled to the size of a football - the wound had closed so fast that the fluid oozing from the operation site was trapped - vet just wipped a finger throught the cut area and the fluid gushed out.

My boy was living out 24/7 - moving around id the best thing for them as the site should then drain freely.

Wound will ooze for some days but if there is excessive fresh bleeding or it smells awful then vet is definately required immediately
 
Thanks for all your advice, his swelling has now gone down and everything seems to be fine, his wound has 'fused' quite well, when I posted my first thread I was slightly worried as he had a lump forming towards where his belly button is, I kept on lunging him and put some epsom salts in his drinker and he is now back to 'normal size'.

We bought him to breed with because of his excellent breeding, his manners were fine up until the latter end of last year and then he just changed, he would start throwing his head around when you approached him, started nipping (only over the stable door), once inside he would stand all day to be groomed & worst of all when he was out in the yard & he was approached to be brought in he would rear up, he was getting to the point where he was borderline dangerous, he is now one happy horse, his hormones have calmed drastically to the point where we have taken the boarding down from the grilles between the stables and he doesnt bother with the horse next door, he stopped nipping & rearing basically straight away. I am one happy person to be honest, it is the best thing we could have had done for him, I feel at the moment like someone has swapped my horse and left me another one in his place.
 
I had a 7 year old sec A gelded last week. He was very placid prior to gelding and I didn't intend to breed from him so bought him relatively cheap and had him gelded. The vet was great, told me about the swelling and gave me anti-biotics to cover him just in case which he finishes tonight. Because of the temperatures last week I left him in his stable in the stone barn which is lovely and cool with clean bedding. The last 2 days however, I've noticed he's got swelling in front of sheath which is half way down is belly. It doesn't appear to be bothering him and the sheath itself seems OK. Trouble is, he's such a lazy pony by nature when he's turned out he doesn't really do much exercise, just eats and if I walk him out he doesn't walk fast enough to reduce the swelling so I've been trying to trot him in hand, I now realise I am nowhere near as fit as I thought!!
Any suggestions as to how I can reduce this swelling which I'm assuming is because he is a lazy laid back pony and not moving about enough? Tried lunging him but he did a couple of circuits and thought enough of that! The sheepdog down the yard can't even get him to move!! Short of taking time off work to walk/trot him out 3 -4 times a day I don't know what else to do. I know people want quiet laid back ponies for their children but he really takes the biscuit!! I can turn him out with my section C stallion who is very sociable and used to going out with geldings, just thinking he may encourage the Sec A to move about a bit.
 
Forgot to say, he seems to eating and drinking as normal and his droppings seem normal too. He's OK in himself and is just concerned where his next feed is coming from.
 
mine was the same it was like fluid build up i originally thought it was because he wasn't urinating but he was, i lunged mine no problems this is going to sound awful but if you have a school how about chasing him around in there, i noticed that once mine was lunged the swelling went. I think its normal for this though, mine had the swelling for a few days then it just went, I did however put him quite a few scoops of epsom salts in his water, I only lunged mine once a day for about 10 minutes.

I did put him out but due to the heat & flies somedays I left him in with loads of fly spray on.

Mine was eating fine, I ended up syringing the antibiotics & bute as he wouldnt eat his breakfast or tea with it in.
 
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Mr T is fine in himself, eating anything and everything that is put in front of him. If it's a case of exercise, I might put him out with the stallion when I get home. They are used to one another over a fence and Scoobs is looking lonely on his own. He lives out 24/7 as he hates being stables and frets so is quite sociable and non-aggressive, I think I'll leave Mr T out 24/7 with him and put a lightweight run on him to keep the worst of the weather off him for the time being until he toughens up a bit. Hoping this might encourage Mr T to exercise himself a bit. We don't have a school or small paddock I can put him in to chase him around a bit or I'd consider it. Even the dog barking and threatening to nip his fetlocks wasn't going to get him to move but if you shake his bucket, he'll come galloping across the field like a little white bullet so it's not like he can't move, it's more a case of won't!
Update tomorrow!!
 
Good news! Mr T was turned out yesterday and his swelling has gone down by more than half I'd say. I think being out with Scoobs has helped him get active as he doesn't seem to want to get left behind, especially coming for breakfast this morning!
Have someone coming to view him next weekend so fingers crossed, with long reining and light exercise I'm sure he'll be fine. It will be a lovely home if they have him so keeping fingers crossed.
 
Dont forget as well - when he was first cut, basically they created a large space that the swelling fluid filled up - and because he was older, it would have been bigger than others... Gravity takes the swelling to the lowest point - so if he swelled towards the front, it stands to reason that he will swell under his stomach a bit as well,it will go - as long as hes bright in himself with no temperature and eating and drinking well, it should be fine.
 
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