Colic cases - how supportive was your vet?

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DuckToller

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Just had a very traumatic time with colic. Despite many years with horses, I have only ever had mild cases, which usually rectified within a few hours some with vet help, and some just before the vet arrived (how annoying is that).

But the other night my horse went down with very bad colic. The vet was already out on an emergency visit, and took a while to arrive which was just unfortunate - can't be in two places at once. Vet then administered pain killers and did rectal exam etc, then said walk/lunge for an hour, and keep an eye on him throughout the night.

Vet then went, and I was on my own for several hours as the horse got steadily worse for 3 hours.

I rang again and asked vet to come and put horse down as surgery wasn't an option (he was a very stressed teenaged horse and not a good patient or candidate for after care). Vet arrived and said there were still gut noises so all not lost, administered stronger painkiller, more instructions to lunge and give painkillers a couple of hours to work, then drove off.

My most likely horse friends who would have come out at that hour were on holiday. I watched dawn rise, with my horse in unbelievable pain, and rang the knackerman as early as I felt I could. Silly really, as they said they are used to emergency call outs and I should have rung any time, but I was also thinking I needed to wait the two hours.

Do all vets just drive off? I know it was middle of the night, but the painkillers seemed to wear off so quickly, I wanted vet to see the horse in pain, to see the reality of how bad it was. The painkillers gave him temporary respite, but wore off so quickly. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, perhaps if I had insisted on having him pts at the 2nd visit I would always have wondered if he could have survived. But now I have such horrid visions of my horse in agony for hours and feel awful.
 
So sorry to read this, what an horrendous time for you and your poor horse. If the vet was being called out to other customers, then I guess he couldn't stay with you, but that doesn't mean you could most certainly have used some support right then. Know that you did the best for your horse and were strong enough to make that awful final decision to put an end to his pain, despite your vet hoping for a different conclusion.
Try to remember the good times you're very shared together, and stop beating yourself up over something that was out of your control for a while. Healing vibes coming your way...
 
So sorry you lost your horse and the way it happened.

I have to say that our vet was brilliant when we had a mare colic earlier this year. He was out in record time, did all he could and promised to come back if there were any problems.. and, knowing him, he would have done. He also enquired, very tactfully and in a kind way, whether, if she got worse we would go the route of an op or PTS. Like yours, she is not a candidate for an op so we said we would have to PTS. He agreed and said he had to ask so he would come prepared for whatever was needed.

I couldn't have wished for better treatment.. oh, and she recovered fine.
 
I am so sorry you lost your horse, it is awful (and colic is the biggest cause of death), but I'm not sure that having the vet sit with you would have necessarily helped anything. The degree of pain does not determine the severity or resolvability of a colic, many acute colics do resolve spontaneously or with treatment. The only further treatment would seem to have been surgery so you ultimately did the right thing.
 
I had a better experience than you with my vet, although my horse developed colic symptoms straight after finishing his breakfast, so it was a different time of day and easier to get hold of people. Like you I had already decided surgery was not an option and after the usual treatments the vet had one last go at a non-surgical treatment before we surrendered to the inevitable. They did drive off but they left me with mobile numbers to call if anything changed.

However I would say that even though I've owned horses for many years this was my first acute colic and I felt so unprepared and ineffective. I was quite disappointed in myself. So if you felt like that, rest assured you weren't the only one. Sorry for your loss.
 
My vet was brilliant when Bailey colic-ed and although she didn't stay past giving him his painkillers, she rang to check in on us and was on the other end of the phone at 3am when I was watching him from the hayloft. It took three visits in one day (anti spasmodics and painkillers at all three visits) to sort him out though. xx
 
mine are really good, they've never left her in pain still, she usually gets a gastic colic twice a year, they always tell me to keep checking her through the night, its always evenings that it happens! and ask me to give them an update in the morning how many poo's she has done, has she had a drink etc, if still worried they will come out!

sorry that it ended so sad for you! hugs!
 
I have just had my beloved boy pts due to colic. My vet came out administered strong painkillers and waited with us. He had to be sedated several times and once the sedation wore of he got worse.she stayed several hours and eventually said we had to pts or opt for surgery. I didn't want to put him through surgery he was 22 and I didn't think we'd even get him to the hospital. That's awful that you were left. It was a while before my vet could get to me and that wait was awful. Sorry for your loss
 
ALO said:
I have just had my beloved boy pts due to colic. My vet came out administered strong painkillers and waited with us. He had to be sedated several times and once the sedation wore of he got worse.she stayed several hours and eventually said we had to pts or opt for surgery. I didn't want to put him through surgery he was 22 and I didn't think we'd even get him to the hospital. That's awful that you were left. It was a while before my vet could get to me and that wait was awful. Sorry for your loss
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sorry for your loss too. just wondered, was yours a colic due to a twisted gut? mine gets a gastric colic, which seems to be fixed easily, thankfully!!
 
She wasn't sure, originally thought gassy colic as rectal was fine, second rectal was abnormal and she thought she could feel and band and said it felt abnormal. I don't think we'd have got him to hospital as I'm sure he would have gone down in the trailer. All a horrible shock tbh, I've had him 14 years and he'd never colicked. Wouldn't wish it on anybody :(
 
ALO said:
She wasn't sure, originally thought gassy colic as rectal was fine, second rectal was abnormal and she thought she could feel and band and said it felt abnormal. I don't think we'd have got him to hospital as I'm sure he would have gone down in the trailer. All a horrible shock tbh, I've had him 14 years and he'd never colicked. Wouldn't wish it on anybody :(
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oh blimey that is really horrible! I always worry about them going down in the trailer when my girl has it! luckily she's never needed to go in but the vets is a 40 min drive away, so there is no way she'd stand up that long! its such a horrible thing for the poor horse to go though!!
 
did you ring the vet to say he was getting worse again? If he gave meds and horse improved you can see why he would leave to get some rest/attend other calls. I assume your horse improved after the injections while the vet was there?
 
We once had to wait for the emergency vet to finish at a lambing, by the time he got to us, the colicking mare was feeling much better I'm glad to say.
We did once have a vet on sick leave called out to us as the emergency vet was also busy. She waited with us for the knacker, which was a good job really as the knacker hadn't realised that she needed to bring the gun.
Latest colic needed 3 vet visits, the last time she brought a colleague with her, as they were passing, fortunately the mare was improving and needed no further visits.
I've had some poor experiences with vets and absolutely refuse to have one practice anywhere near and won't allow one particular vet from the practice that we do use on the yard (God knows what we will do if he's ever the only vet on call) but really can't say that we've ever been left with a seriously ill horse in an emergency, like you.

We did once have to ring round to get an emergency vet because our (then) usual one man practice vet was on holiday and the holiday cover was only for small animals.

I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your horse under those circumstances.
 
So sorry that you lost your horse. Lost my old girl to repeat colic but she was 32 and we knew that the time was coming. My vet said he could treat her but he would probably be back with the same problem next week so we didnt let her suffer. Mine were great with us .
Sorry to hear you didnt get the support you needed from anywhere
 
Sorry for your loss, it's always a difficult decision to PTS.

First hirsd that had colic - very bad colic- she was a very highly strung horse, constantly stressed, vet came out and because she was behaving like a normal horse didn't believe us that there was a dramatic change in personality! They left and told us to ring them if it got worse- it did. she fell over and we had to.take her to the surgery where they put her in the AI metal stall bit to keep her up right. They said they would monitor her, but still didn't think she was that bad- we drove half hour down the road and they rang and said they had to operate or PTS, we told them to operate, after the operation she got an infection and had to be PTS anyway. But if they had believed us about her behavious change, she could have survived!

Other times our horses have had very mild colic, but we always get the vet out to administer pain killers. Our new vets are very helpful all the time and they do drive off because they have other clients to tend to and the colic hasn't been that bad.
 
The first time my mare had colic the vet came out had a quick check and said its spasmodic, gave her an injection and left saying if she didnt improve to call gain. Luckily she was fine after that!
Second time she had colic it was clear from the start that it was alot more serious. So as it was getting late in the afternoon and it was a bank holiday vet reccomended that she went up to the hospital for scans sooner rather than wait it out and see and thankgod she did because i can guarentee my girl wouldnt have pulled through if it wasnt for my yard calling me when she started acting out of character, and the vet erring on the side of caution.

Colic is a horrible thing :(
 
Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Still in shock, he was homebred, put him down outside the barn where he was born, very poignant.

I didn't expect vet to stay the first time (pretty sure vet was going back home to sleep, not called away by another emergency) but once I had got vet out of bed for the 2nd time it was such a quick in and out visit, I had already expressed a preference for pts and said the horse was in a lot of pain, the 2nd lot of painkillers hardly touched him, he stopped rolling and pawing for maybe five minutes after vet had gone, and although I was told to ring, I felt there was no point, especially as I had been told to give it two hours.

It was two hours of hell for me and my horse, and then another hour waiting for the knackerman. As I had already got vet out of bed, felt that there was little else to lose sleepwise if vet had stayed for a half hour to see what I was seeing. Maybe I am expecting too much - it wasn't my usual vet either which didn't help.

Horse had a twist round a lipoma, so it was fairly hopeless from the start, not that anyone could have predicted that.
 
First of all, so sorry for your loss :(

But in answer to your question, I have to say I have had first class support from my vets at The LEH.

My old mare colicked 2 years ago, vet came first thing at 7.30 administered buscopan and pain killers and she was up and eating within minutes, but like yours, it soon wore off. So, we had a repeat, plus rectal exam etc, this went on all day and into the night with 3 more visits. At the last visit the vet said if this went on, she would have to come into the hospital. The meds wore off again, and as she was insured we took her in....... well, it was like Emergency Ward 10! A whole team of people at 5 in the morning taking peritoneal taps, inserting a canular, pain killers, rectal exam and loads more. They admitted her, and she was in for a week. No op though they weren't sure what caused it, the only thing they could find was a bit of soil in her gut, so now she has wet hay twice a day forever. I really can't praise my vets enough, so sorry you had a bad experience. x
 
DuckToller said:
but once I had got vet out of bed for the 2nd time it was such a quick in and out visit, I had already expressed a preference for pts and said the horse was in a lot of pain, the 2nd lot of painkillers hardly touched him, he stopped rolling and pawing for maybe five minutes after vet had gone, and although I was told to ring, I felt there was no point, especially as I had been told to give it two hours.
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Yes, I think I would have expected the vet to wait to see if the meds worked on the 2nd visit.
 
That's horrific.

My vet was very supportive, infact I couldn't have asked for more. He stayed with me until the moment Rods was on the trailer and going (vet left the yard after I did...), he told me to keep him informed, and he was calling me before I even had chance to update him, and responded to messages at silly-o-clock. I owe him a lot for that.
 
so sorry for your loss and your bad experience hun :(

my mare coliced last year , my vet was fab.

I rang and within 15 mins she was there, gave my mare buscapan and painkiller then waited to see if they took effect, which they did, she then advised walking her gently, it was a weekend so vet was on emergency call, she left to go visit a cat which ahd been hit by a car but rang me every half hour to check my mares progress. About an hour after the first visit my mare went down hill so vet returned (again within 20 mins) adminstered more drugs and a mild sedative stayed while these took effect, she left for another job and said would return straight after but to ring if any probs before then, after half an hour mare didnt look right seemed to quiet and was breathing heavily rang the vet who suggested we take her to oakham, i rang round and arranged transport which would arrive within half an hour ( was a good friend) vet said she would return at the same time to administer a sedative for travelling, the vet returned but sadly as she was getting the sedative and the lorry was coming down the drive my mare started fitting, vet could do nothing as veins had collapsed and my mare died :(

the vet was in tears and i was distraught, vet stayed made sure my mare had definately gone ( massive heart attack) she then helped arrange for the knacker man before finally leaving. She then rang me that evening to see how i was and i also recieved a card from the surgery.

colic is a terrible experience :(
 
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