gelding - how many vets?

NeverSayNever

NeverSayNever

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sounds like a one liner, lol - but when you have a gelding done surely only 1 vet comes out? ive been told by my practice they always send 2 ? ?
 
It seems to be the more modern approach - it used to be one but I had one done almost two years ago and there were two.

Main vet to do the job the other to do anasthetic and monitor horse.

To be fair it didn't cost much more than years ago when there was only one - and that difference I put down to inflation/cost of drugs etc

This was an equine vet too
 
They have a couple done every year where I keep rose with them being a stud and in 7 years I've only seen one vet come out (tho I do normaly hold the horses for him and pass him stuff as I find it really interesting)
 
only ever known one, last time a 3yr was done he needed to put out and laid down, we managed to move him away from the wall, and when it came to holding the testical i got that job.. dont reccomend it though!
 
well my vet came out to do my sec A and 2 of them arrived - they said it was standard practice, but the young lass vet stood as far away from my colt as she could possibly get, was dressed in smart trousers and shoes and admitted to not being horsey and it as me who had to do all the leg holding etc so im not sure quite why she was there.

anyway, before i knew it he had been injected and was down out cold. surely it must be standard practice to check the heart first at least? i said to the vet i presumed he had 'had a feel' (i had nipped in for water so although i hadnt seen him do it he could have at this point) and the vet said no i never do i always just 'go in'. Turns out my wee colt only has 1 testicle down and they spent the next hour prodding at him trying to find the other, leaving him very bruised understandably and not gelded. So he was K.O'd for no reason:rolleyes:
 
NeverSayNever said:
well my vet came out to do my sec A and 2 of them arrived - they said it was standard practice, but the young lass vet stood as far away from my colt as she could possibly get, was dressed in smart trousers and shoes and admitted to not being horsey and it as me who had to do all the leg holding etc so im not sure quite why she was there.

anyway, before i knew it he had been injected and was down out cold. surely it must be standard practice to check the heart first at least? i said to the vet i presumed he had 'had a feel' (i had nipped in for water so although i hadnt seen him do it he could have at this point) and the vet said no i never do i always just 'go in'. Turns out my wee colt only has 1 testicle down and they spent the next hour prodding at him trying to find the other, leaving him very bruised understandably and not gelded. So he was K.O'd for no reason:rolleyes:
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Maybe the smart dressed one was a student/vet in training? Granted, they shouldn't be dressed like that but could explain how she appeared nervous of the colt?
Hope you get your boy sorted soon!
 
Cobrastyle said:
Maybe the smart dressed one was a student/vet in training? Granted, they shouldn't be dressed like that but could explain how she appeared nervous of the colt?
Hope you get your boy sorted soon!
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no she's not - she's a small animal vet at their practice.


can someone please tell me if im right that his heart should have been checked before he was put under?
 
To some extent it may depend on the anaesthetic used. If it's a standing castration with just a sedative and a local anaesthetic, I don't see why a single vet can't handle that by him/herself as long as the owner is present to provide water and to hold the horse. On the other hand, if the vet intended to knock the horse out completely in the field with Immobilon, then correct practice dictates that another vet is present to administer the 'antidote' Revivon should anyone be accidentally injected with anaesthetic. However, some vets don't like Immobilon because of the potential side-effects - muscular tremors, rarer (but very serious) effects on respiration and/or blood pressure, and post-op aimless walking (or even a second episode of unconsciousness) due to 'recycling' of the drug.

My TB Lucky was gelded using Immobilon and only one vet attended. He asked me to hold the syringe filled with Revivon and jokingly told me that I would have to use it to save him if there was an accident. Not very funny really, even though I had given IV injections before. (This was many years ago and he has long since retired.) As it happened, Lucky needed a second dose of Immobilon, there were some alarming looking shaking of limbs while he was on the ground, and he did do the 'walking' thing which necessitated me leading him around the boundary of the field for 30 mins to make sure he didn't bump into something. Otherwise everything went fine!
 
Our vets won't even come out and do it anymore, out in the field like they used to!! They have to go away to be done! So i'd be happy with the 2 vets coming to you! :)
 
When my colt was done nearly 8 years ago a vet and a nurse came to do him - standing sedation and local, I held his head and kept my eyes firmly shut, mum kept my mare ammused with a haynet outside the stable!
 
I had a yearling colt done by my regular equine vet. He checked initialy that two testicles were present (even tho I told him they were both def there.) Did an initial listen to his heart and then put him out. He came on his own but then he knows I will hold the leg for him. Whole job took less than five minutes. By the time he microchipped a filly the boy was back up on his feet. My vet no longer uses immobilon tho. We then got onto the subject of castrating the tricky ones with only one present. My vet refuses to charge the exhorbitant prices charged by some vets as he says he could not sleep at night.
He castrated my boy for £75 (and that included his call out and mileage, drugs etc) The tricky ones areabout £120. He has a fabulous new surgery with an operating theatre where you can bring your animal. A very ethical man. Few of them about!
 
one vet and one anaesthetist(sp). When I worked in the clinic it was one vet if done standing with me passing what was needed.
Here's Paolino. Out cold , up and about almost immediately and no problems at all (he was turned out 2 hours later.)
DSCF0002-4.jpg


PS, I have his balls in a jar which I keep in my medicine cupboard (along with other 'delights'). When he plays up, I show him his balls and threaten to have his willy off too! He becomes a 'good boy' in a flash.hehehe!
 
chevallover said:
Our vets won't even come out and do it anymore, out in the field like they used to!! They have to go away to be done! So i'd be happy with the 2 vets coming to you! :)
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Same here. I think it's because one pony wouldn't stop bleeding and they had to take him to the RVC quick sharp. :confused:
 
NeverSayNever said:
anyway, before i knew it he had been injected and was down out cold. surely it must be standard practice to check the heart first at least? i said to the vet i presumed he had 'had a feel' (i had nipped in for water so although i hadnt seen him do it he could have at this point) and the vet said no i never do i always just 'go in'. Turns out my wee colt only has 1 testicle down and they spent the next hour prodding at him trying to find the other, leaving him very bruised understandably and not gelded. So he was K.O'd for no reason:rolleyes:
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If that happened here, I'd be replacing vets - but it never does. My 'own' vet always does the castrations - I won't have anyone else. Normally he brings a vet nurse, unless he has a student - or a new vet who needs the experience. Of course we provide experienced help.

We never even BOOK a castration without getting vet to check everything is 'present & correct'! He starts by measuring the horse to properly estimate weight (for drug quantities). He then checks heart THOROUGHLY! THEN they go down!

IMHO - a vet who says "I always just 'go in'" is admitting professional negligence!!
 
I had Archie castrated last year and as he was 5 years old ( and a big boy) my vet wanted to take him in to be done at vet hospital because of the risk of heamorraging (sp) but as he was still fairly unhandled then and had only travelled once before as a foal I didn't want the added stress (to him and me!) of loading him.

I agreed to sign a disclaimer to say that I was happy for him to be gelded in the field under standing sedation and thats what happened with me assisting. That was female vet on her own.
 
I had one done in 2009 and another done in 2010, same surgery, different vets, both times only 1 vet! I expect some surgeries may have had history with owners not able to stand the sight of blood etc and not be able to hold the horse etc, therefore from past experiences they send 2??? Just a thought? Or it could be one student vet and one main vet? I've known a nurse to go out sometimes to pass sterile equipement etc, but have to say on the whole it's the norm for just 1 vet!!!
 
I've had lots of colts gelded by my vet. Only 1 vet comes out (unless they have a trainee vet who wants to view) and I do all the handling of the colt and pass the tools to the vet or do whatever he needs me to do.

My vet always does a health check prior to knocking the colt out. He checks heart, lungs, temperature and gut sounds. He asks me if there are two testicles however he still always checks himself before sedating the colt. I tell him the colts weight and we're ready to go. For normal castration my colts are done standing up. If surgical intervention is needed for a cryptorchid then I take that colt to the vet clinic to be castrated in sterile conditions.

I do not think that in your case pre-castration attention was being paid.
 
One Vet and his assistant who also happens to be his wife.

Talking of different methods, apart from seriously considering standing the mini on a table to be done, my Vet leave the clamps on overnight. Has anyone else seen this done?

He also told me (although sometimes I am not sure whether he is pulling my leg or not :o) that in some places donkey foals are gelded immediately as otherwise testicles disappear and don't come down again for years, and that in Russia it is common practise to geld colts within the first week. Fact or fiction?
 
I've had many colts done over the last 20 years and it has only ever been 1 vet and me. It hasn't mattered how many were being done (7 of them 3 years ago) or which practice was doing the job (3 different ones) and all were done standing. The only time we knocked one out was to do a hernia last year and again it was 1 vet and me. The vet I use now does alot of them in the spring and is very quick and good at the job and can do 3 in less than an hour!
 
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