Colic Surgery (Urgent!)

Irishdan

Irishdan

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To anyone who has had to have colic surgery on a horse, I need a rough idea of costs involved. Possibly may need to make a decision regarding an uninsured animal?? Thanks in advance :)
 
Dependent on what the vets charge (it does vary!) ime anything from 3.5k upwards because you don't just need surgery but aftercare too, plus although the stats are good for surgery you need to understand the risks of reoccurrence and what you do then. There are lots of threads bout it and some do make it through long term, many don't and re-colic :-(. Really depends on what's caused the colic?
Good luck, a dreadful place to be xxx
 
sorry didnt want to read and run but cant remember exactly and was many years ago. involved a weeks stay in hospital and vet visit later to remove staples. mine had a straightforward recovery. hope some one else posts and hope everything is ok. if you contact the emergency vet or a large hospital im sure they would give you a rough idea.
 
I lost my youngster four weeks ago to Toxic Shock after her ate 15kg of corn.

I was quoted around £3000 - £5000 for surgery. The chance of him pulling through was so small that I didn't opt for it, but the vets were fab about talking me through it all.

I'd suggest ringing your vet and asking them to come back to you with a rough idea of cost.

Good luck. x
 
I paid about 6000 in may but that included 18 days intensive care. He was already in hospital for surgery on his annular ligament and had complications.I hope this helps you.
 
I have just paid £3500, incl VAT, for a foal. Fortunately, she made a full recovery, despite being offered only a 30% chance of recovery. About 6 or 7 years ago, I paid £4k for a mare. Again, fortunately, she is still with me.
 
A really horrid position to be in. I don't envy you. I didn't want to read and run, I've never had one have colic *touch wood* but I know people who have paid in excess of 6 or 7k but I don't think they were straightforward colic ops so I can't be of much help, sorry :(
 
I think that if they know you are unibnsured they do keep costs down to a minimum. We were quoted £3 - £6k for colic surgery on our uninsured boy three years ago. Unfortunately we lost him. But the bill was just under £3k.
 
Talk to your vets although it genuinely is difficult for them to be accurate because until they see inside they don't know how much work is involved. A simple smooth op could be as low as £3/4k, with removal of dead gut and complications easily £7/8k and they really won't know until they start/ she comes out of anasthetic.
Really tough decision, sorry your in this nasty situation.
For me the decision isn't just about money, firstly consider quality of life (current age, cause of colic/ likelihood of reoccurrance, coping with box rest afterwards, vets view of sucess percentage etc. etc.) only if those things all looked very good would I then take the next step and think about affording it.
 
My mares colic surgery and aftercare was about 4k but then there was the constant colic episodes afterwards. Once the colic settled she came down really bad a year after the colic op.
I think it depends on the horse and what they need to do as well as any complications afterwards.
 
Sorry to read you post, horrible. 6 years ago it cost 3.5k for just the hospital stay for my boy who coliced badly, I was quoted another 3.5 for surgery. I was insured and they paid in full, but now am not due to the colic exclusion on my policy. I seems as if it can be anything from 3.5 to 8k. I decided at the time not to opt for surgery, very hard decision. Luckily it didn't come to that. Please also factor in the extensive aftercare, both in time and money. Good luck x
 
I had to make a similar decision to yours last christmas with my TB who had impction colic...he isnt insured and I told the vet this. The price does seem to go down when they knoe you are not insured and I was offered the option of paying over a 12 month period. In the end he pulled through without surgery and I am not sure I would opt for surgery know after looking i to it further though at the time I probably would of done. Fingers crossed you are as lucky as me and my horsey were
 
Thank you so much for all your replies:)

The decision has been taken out of my hands. Its my OHs wee 3 year old. He has nursed her for almost 72 hours, day and night and is not letting anything get in the way of giving the wee mare a chance. He is currently on his way down to the Dick Vet in Edinburgh.

Keeping everything crossed that she makes it.
 
I've got everything crossed for you. Please let us know when there is any news. My pony had initial complications but he's recovered well now.
 
Looking forward to an update, hoping for a good one!
Have been where you are with an orphaned 6 month old and don't think we would have done anything different, the extra year changed our lives. (Am still paying bills now! But herniated twice)
 
Big hugs, awful position to be in. Didn't want to read and run but sadly can only offer estimates. My mare was taken in with colic a couple of years ago and after 2 days wasn't improving much, was told could be between 4-6K with a low success rate due to the nature of the colic she had. Was told to come and say my goodbyes and sign paperwork and fortunately whilst I was en route she started clearing it herself and we decided to watch and wait another couple of hours during which she righted herself. Still cost me just under £2000 but mare is happy and healthy (touch wood!). Cousin's horse did have surgery (went to Liverpool and had emergency surgery within a couple of hours of showing signs) and her bill in total was just over £8500 including after care from her vet although she did have a significant reduction as a close friend is a veterinary nurse and I'm an ex VN so we did a fair bit between the three of us to save on call outs.
Hope it helps and thoughts and prayers with you xx
 
My chap had his op 13 years ago at Leahurst when he was still with his previous owners. There's no point is going into the costs because it's so long ago but from a financial point of view, the cost of the actual operation is only part of it. There is the cost of his keep while he is in hospital (about a week in my horse's case) and then six months monitoring by his own vet.

Part of the choice to go ahead is dependent on the animal itself. You have to decide whether the prognosis is sufficiently good to make the operation worthwhile. It isn't fair to put the horse through the op if the likelihood of him/her having a good and comfortable life thereafter is too small. Your vet is the best person to advise on this although the surgeons will not know exactly what is involved until they actually get in there.

Having said that, my horse has done very well. He is 20 now and has no problems. We know what caused the colic ('nuff said!!) and we make sure it doesn't happen again. Since his operation he has hunted regularly with the drag hounds and spent 18 months on working livery on the riding school. He's been fit and healthy and has had a really good quality of life so it's not always a sentence of death.
 
Really hope things are looking better!

My horse has an epiploic foramen entrapment - an unusual colic - the first operation they did not remove gut - decided they needed to go back in to remove the gut 24 hours later - he had 2 operations, but sadly did not pull through - the prognosis was always 50:50, it cost £12000 but I would have done anything to sve the horse - only £5k was insured.

The team dealing with this were fantastic - they were so caring and really helped me with the decisions.

Best wishes hope you manage to avoid surgery and the horse is fine!
 
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