cankers

[Loopy_laura]

hi all, my firends horse 'Jack' has been having problems with his feet since she bought him about 2months ago from melton market horse sales, (i know... she should have known better but it was love!) anyway... he had the stinkiest feet in the world, really they where vile. her farriers came out and said it was just bad thrush, and to clean them daily with hibiscrub and keep him on dry bedding, but after four weeks and no improvement she called her vet. the vet trimmed away some of the dead rotten frog and polticed the foot told her to change that twice a day. the vile puss that came out the foot was nothing less than horrific! i was nearly sick it smelt so bad! after a 5days of this he went to a family friend who was and still is looking after him for her, cleaning his foot dressing it so on... he has advised her to have another vet look at the foot and the verdict is... Canker! with 2 options, 1 surgery 2 putting him down.
according to the vet he has had this for months.
if anyone has any experiance of this or has any advice it will all be apprecated.
also on legal issues of selling a horse in this condition?
she has the weekend to decide!
he has made a massive inpact on everyone who has met him, he really is the sweetest horse.
thanks Laura xx

i have posted this already in the vet forum but havent had any response... please any one??!!! <font color="purple"> </font>

 

[amage]

I don't know anything about the condition really however i think th ebest thing is to look at it pragmatically: Is the surgery fairly guaranteed to work? Can she afford it? What does she want the end result to be ie will she be doing it with a view to having a riding horse in the future or is he only ever going to be a companion? Legality wise i don't know where she stands however if it can be proven that the animal had the condition for a long time and that there was negligience in his care they may be able to do something to at least prevent it from happening some other poor horse.
Whatever she decides at least if he does have to be PTS she will have made his last couple of months more comfortable.

 

[Theresa_F]

I found these articles which may assist her.

http://www.equipodiatry.com/canker1.htm

http://www.liphookequinehosp.co.uk/llcanker.htm

http://www.petcaretips.net/equine_canker.html

If I had insurance and/or could afford it, I would try the surgery but my horses are all first and foremost pets.

 

[GatefieldHorses]

At an auction, you have no come backs. One the hammer goes down the horse is yours, even if it drops dead the second it walks out the ring, its still deemed your horse unfortunately.

 

[Blizzard]

oh how awful for your friend.

I know absolutely nothing about horse sales or the goings on but regarding the outcome for the horse,

well what does she want to do, how much is the op and was is the success rate?

Would she really sell him on without telling someone about his condition, meaning he may suffer?
Or would she tell someone about his condition in which case no one will want to pay for a horse that is going to cost them money and have an uncertain future.

Is the horse insured?