For those who are following my tale of woe....

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Cedars

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Frankie has a diagnosis!

Suspensory ligaments are boogered.

Right worse than left but not by much.

We are 90% certain we're going for surgery.

Please tell me your experiences of this surgery, and also anyone who knows about death rates under anaesthetic? I wouldn't have worried but vet said thats the biggest risk of this surgery, and it can be anything up to 45%?!??!

xxx
 
Bugger. Glad you've found something wrong though, you can only move forwards :)
Eerm, since I've had horses we've had two ops, one on a horse who was VERY sensitive to any kind of drug. (Allergic to penicillin, it literally wiped her out for 3 days, unable to move. Would be out like a light if she smelt sedative etc etc) I was crapping it for that very reason, and was very worried about her. She was fine :D They both were.
I only know of one horse who's had hind suspensories operated on, and he's back in work (I suppose about 8 months later) he has been for a while and all is going well. I think he had 2 months box rest, but I stand to be corrected on that, I'm not 100%.

Good luck :)

J&C
 
The vet has said it will be 1 month full box rest no outside time at all, then 1 month still on box rest but walking in hand, grazing in hand etc. Then back out in field and back in to work suuuuper slowly.

Thanks for hugs and vibes. xxx
 
Oh heck - think I'd have preferred the spavin diagnosis!! Sorry, not what you'd have wanted to hear! I have no experience at all of the problem but I know of a couple of cases. I think alot of the recovery and success depends on the nature of the horse and how they look after themselves when recuperating.

There is always a risk with anaesthetic whether animal or human and remember the vet will give you the worst case scenario. Horses go under GA every day and it is a lot safer than it used to be so, although it is a concern i wouldn't get yourself worried about that too much.

All you can do really is go on your vet's advice and what you think is best from your horse. I think the main thing is is to alow the horse a long time to recover from this and don't expect a quick return to soundness - from what i know, it does take a long time but then again that'll depend on how bad the problem is.

I hope all goes well and wish you and frankie the best of luck!!
 
Thanks Ladyt25. Could you possibly tell me out of the cases you know what the worst case scenarios are?

He would have all the time in the world to recover. xxxx
 
flamehead said:
The vet has said it will be 1 month full box rest no outside time at all, then 1 month still on box rest but walking in hand, grazing in hand etc. Then back out in field and back in to work suuuuper slowly.

Thanks for hugs and vibes. xxx
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Eak! Be v v v v careful FH, it was post PSD op, boxrest & walking in hand when I had my accident!! However my mare got the ok to come back into work following it :) As I remember the risks of problems with a GA are tiny and the success rates of surgery for PSD is about 70-80% :)
 
my horsey went under for a colic op in 2009, came around very slowly and quite late, but was fine. A months box rest no time out about killed him, (hates being in) but the next 2 months he could be lead out to graze, before being turned out :) Now made full recovery and back hunting etc.

I know quite a few horses that have been under anesthetic and had no problems so lots of vibes!! xx
 
Puppy, I shall be buying a chiffney before that point as he can be a handful when he wants to be! But we will have to have him sedated up to the eyeballs anyway. xxxx
 
flamehead said:
Puppy, I shall be buying a chiffney before that point as he can be a handful when he wants to be! But we will have to have him sedated up to the eyeballs anyway. xxxx
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Very glad to hear it! Drugs for the horse (and be certain they are working!) and hat, gloves & steel toe caps for the handler - preferably your OH, rather than you ;)
 
Oh he will only be taken out by my OH unless the stables are burning down - he is a big bugger!

My OH is really upset bless him =[
 
flamehead said:
Thanks Ladyt25. Could you possibly tell me out of the cases you know what the worst case scenarios are?

He would have all the time in the world to recover. xxxx
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I am not going to go into details as I did not have a personal experience of either case, one was a friend's horse and one belonged to a lady in our RC but who liveries on a yard near to our stables.

One horse has the op under GA,no problems. The horse though was not a good patient and, although he had the box rest, leading out etc, when it came to being turned out he really didn't look after himself and, although as far as I know he wasn't out on his own, he decided to jump the fences to get out to see other horses. Unfortunately this di not help his injuries. It went on for a long time and sadly even though he went back to the vets several times the prognosis wasn't good and he did himself further injuries from the jumping and gallpping about. Sadlt my friend decided not to continue treating him and had him PTS. had the horse been a better patient it may have been a whole different story.

However, on the plus side there had been no issues with the operation itself or the GA.

The other horse I knew never had the op as the insurance wouldn't pay for it and the owner couldn't afford it off her own back as far as I know - or just wrangled on too long with the insurer. That horse again was a bad patient and also a rather weedy and quite weak TB type, she would go sound for a short while and then horrendously lame again. A
Unfortunately again the decision was made to have her PTS after about 18mths of treatment.

On the up side, i have just remembered i do know of another suspensory ligament injury case - a coloured pony who was a jumper and a little bit of a handful for the kid. I think they essentially just turned him away for about a year or so and he is now sound and back in work (I think they sold him to a vet friend!).

As I said before, I think a lot depends on the horse and their temperament and the owner being prepared to allow them time to heal. In my first example the injury was quite severe and at the end the damage was particularly nasty. It was a very hard decision for my friend to make but he had tried so hard with the horse but the horse wasn't helping himself.

Just thought i'd add - I wouldn't hesistate to put mine through the op if they ever had this type of injury though. I know mine would cope well enough with the recuperating afterwards so would consider it worthwhile trying. Plus, there would be no timescale for me to have them back in work. if they could never be ridden again I'd just retire them provided they were happy and comfortable
 
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Horses anaesthetic risk is about 1 in 100, including colic surgeries (which are more risky), about 1 in 150 I think without colic. Surprised your vet is quoting 45% and would be questioning if I would let my horse go somewehre with such an abnormally high rate?!
 
The vet said that they'd only had one die on the table, 6 years ago, and theyve done about 3000 since then with no problems. But he said depending on the book you read it can be up to 45%.

The vet surgery is Willesley, so I'm not worried.
 
Flamehead, I have no experience of this but I just wanted to say wishing you and your boy the best of luck and a speedy, smooth return to full health
 
Hugs hun!

Hm. My experience not so good. Wouldn't have gone for the op as nerves can grow back, etc. and it wasn't right for Tigs anyway. I did a lot of research at the time, but have to admit to it now being forgotten.
 
Vet said to us today about the nerves growing back. He says that he thinks it happens in all cases-but he thinks that it only actually causes further pain in very few cases. He does all this surgery for the practice and he says he's only ever seen two come back with pain.

We're going for the op I think. At the moment he's not comfortable in his field so we would have him put down if we did nothing. Steroids are no use as we just have this problem in the winter. The wave treatment is too likely not too work. And the operation, well yes he may die on the table but if we didn't do anything he'd be PTS anyway so we've not lost. And if the op gives him many more years as a happy hack then fabulous. Xxx
 
I definitely think the op is the way forward for you. I think the pros far outweigh the cons. As you say, it's sort of your only real option to have him comfortable. Sounds like your vet knows what he/she's doing anyway!
 
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