Colic surgery.. would you put yours through it?

Horsecrazy721

Horsecrazy721

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Interesting subject, lady on my yard mentioned insuring specifically for colic surgery but was then shocked to hear I wouldn't put mine through it!
 
For me it would depend on the horse. An older horse with other issues no, but a younger horse who is otherwise healthy then yes I would consider it.

To consider it I would want a discussion with the surgeon on the prognosis. I would also say to them that if when they opened the horse up and it looked poor, to not bother bringing it round from the anaesthetic.

I think until any of us are in that situation you may not know, and you may change your mind (not you personally as such but generally). There are so many factors to consider including the reason for the colic, facilities to rehabilitate, the horses temperament and of course finances. Insurance will often not cover the entire final bill including aftercare.

Consideration also needs to be given to future management.

Personally I probably wouldn’t do it for an unproven horse either and nor would I put a horse through a second round of surgery.

It is all very individual and personal.
 
Fanatical said:
I think it is very much down to the individual horse/ owner combination. I have one that I wouldn't put through it, the others I would.
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this.
And the prognosis. I have one that I would, if the vet said she had a good chance.
 
I did. Nine year old who I’d only owned for three months. I’d never stabled him in that time and didn’t know if he was a stress head! He was!! Don’t think I’d do it again for him or even at all with the old boy but I have a friend whose mare has had three colic surgeries.
 
I've always said I would defer to vet advice with a pinch of salt, he's 6 and otherwise well but it really would be situation dependent and how early it was caught.
 
Even without surgery colic bills can add up. A livery on my old yard had a mare with peritonitis (sp?) who was on an antibiotic drip at the local vet hospital for a week. No operation but still a huge bill - insured luckily.
 
Am not insured for it. For us its about a 3 hour drive to nearest horsepital (and on bad roads) which I think would reduce chances of successful outcome
 
I am of the same mind as GS. By definition, you are not taking a healthy horse into surgery and the statistics of those who sustain good health after the recovery period, don't make it worth me considering it. I would be loathe to put any horse through prolonged box-rest, with an indeterminate outcome.
 
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Interesting topic - had this very discussion with my trimmer yesterday & need to seriously consider if I would or wouldn't.
Interestingly there was a message on one of our Equine Vets covering exactly this with the period of box rest, restricted grazing etc but cant find it now sorry.
 
I don't think you can generalise about it, colic is too vague a term and every case is different. I have a mare who did have surgery 8 years ago, she recovered really quickly, jumped out of her tiny paddock at 8 weeks post op and galloped off (despite company, sedalin etc) and never looked back. I know another that had surgery at the same vet college and went back eventing up to 2* and is still out eventing now at 100 aged 19. Equally, I let an older mare go at home last December when the vet was suggesting urgent admission to hospital as it wasn't fair to her to put her through so much.
 
Definitely wouldn't put J through it as he has breathing problems. I think I'd be very unlikely to put any through it as like Reacher we have a 3hr drive on bad roads and of the admittedly small number I've known personally of the two that made it through the surgery neither had trouble free long lives after.
 
I think this is such a hard question. To be honest one of the reasons I have insurance is so that finances don't come into it - I can look at it from the horses point of view.
My last mare I would have, she was tough strong and fit and an excellent patient and a calm traveller. Also potential brood mare material should she not come completely right again.
Current gelding not so sure - he's 14, I don't know how he would cope with being cooped up all the time, hes a bit of a stressy traveller so even the journey to the hospital would be a bit of a trial.
Its 2 hours for us to the nearest surgery place, to be honest the ones who survive the journey often survive the surgery, and the ones who wouldn't, don't come through the journey still operable. Its whether you can bear to make their last hours travelling desperately to the hospital, rather than in their own surroundings.
 
I wouldn't for the two I have now I don't think, they hate being in very long and one in particular would find vet hospital very stressful as he's not seen much of life-saying that I did have a panic about it when he had a touch of colic a few years ago! I probably would have put one of my horses through it as he was an entirely different sort of character.

I've seen a lot of colic surgeries (ex VN) and nursed even more non-surgical colics. I feel that generally its too long for a horse to be on its back (and the bigger they are, the worse it is) and too invasive-some did really well afterwards, some required more surgery and you never really know what you're going to find until you open them up so its a judgement call on many different fronts.

The ones that did make really good recoveries even when it looked really bad were sand colics-it was always shocking to see how much sand one equine can contain.
 
AnShanDan said:
I don't think you can generalise about it, colic is too vague a term and every case is different. I have a mare who did have surgery 8 years ago, she recovered really quickly, jumped out of her tiny paddock at 8 weeks post op and galloped off (despite company, sedalin etc) and never looked back. I know another that had surgery at the same vet college and went back eventing up to 2* and is still out eventing now at 100 aged 19. Equally, I let an older mare go at home last December when the vet was suggesting urgent admission to hospital as it wasn't fair to her to put her through so much.
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that's my feelings too, and why I don't have a blanket policy for mine. I have 2 that are just in god's waiting room so it's a definite no for them. One that would be a question mark, and one that if it was indicated as a good option, I would do it because she's a fit performance horse and I don't think I could cope with not trying.

the schoomaster they had where I train had been through a few surgeries and was a happy horse that enjoyed his work, I wouldn't want to write a horse off if they were fit & healthy before hand and it was a good option clinically.

ETA. I knew another young horse that had surgery about age 2.5 , he did colic again and was PTS but the original colic was left far too long before referral (I know because owner was away and I had to call original vets and then push for further treatment AND organise transport etc) so that's another factor - and the reason I registered my horses with the referral practice direct! :(
 
Goldenstar said:
The economics of it don’t add up and ehically it falls , for me ,on the wrong side of the line of whats fair to put a horse through .
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Agreed, having lost one in horrendous circumstances a couple of months post surgery it would have been far far kinder to pts when it initially colicked.
 
Absolutely - if it was the right thing for the horse.

I have two horses - both of whom have had colic surgery (one for a blood clot for no apparent reason in her small colon, and the other for IFEE which is allergy related). Both made good recoveries, and are still here, nearly 13 and 9 years later respectively.

For both, the recovery period seemed very low pain, the biggest issue being the need to stop them leaping around and bursting their wound. It was 6 weeks of intensive work for me though - they are both horrors to muck out at the best of times. :D I did resort to making a 'field stable' to keep them entertained (and me sane).

Statistically, I remember reading that for first colic surgeries, the odds are substantially in the horse's favour - but for horses that require a second surgery, the prognosis seemed very poor indeed. You would also need to consider how old the horse is, its general health, your financial resource etc.
I rather suspect a lot of the people who say 'I would never consider colic surgery because I'm too concerned about my horse's welfare' are actually not able or prepared to pay - and that's fine. As long as the horse is either treated or PTS as required, I have no issues.
 
Such a hard decision, I don't think I would but depends on the situation (if insured or not, as I am aware its very expensive) and vets outlook. I know of a few horses to of had surgery, some successful but mostly not. One had surgery as a youngster and returned to a successful eventing career but was PTS in his late teens from colic.. I'd class that as successful as he lived for 8 years. A friend had hers operated on, he was then PTS a few months later as suffered again with it. She regretted putting him through the surgery and said she'd never put another horse through it.

I've had horses have operations in horsey hospital which have resulted in weeks of box rest, nothing like colic surgery. Yet the stress it puts on them, they just don't understand.. I just couldn't imagine how serious colic surgery and the rehab back from it would be? Plus the worry they could get it again.
 
Weirdly I was thinking about this today, no idea why it just popped into my head. I’ve always said no. My horses for the past god only knows how long have all been getting on a bit and each had their various ailments anyway, so no definitely not.
However now I have exracer who’s only just 9 maybe? He’s insured, I’m pretty sure for enough to cover it so I’d certainly not rule it out if the need arose.
What is the box rest time after? What are the complications most common? Roughly what cost would you be looking at?
I’ve only experienced colic surgery once and sadly the horse died (not mine) so I know very little about it.
 
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