General anaesthetic

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diamondrockharvey

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Has anyone here has their horse go under general anaesthetic??

Our vet has had 2 failed attempts at giving out TB his Cortisone hock injections, as soon as the needle is in his reflex in his leg goes and the needle pops out. Can't put too many needles in as there is risk of infection.

He has been doped to the eyeballs, clipped the area and used local anaesthetic cream and held front leg up but no joy.

So now it's either retire an otherwise healthy 10 year old horse, or go for the general anaesthetic option so the injection can be administered, sounds so scary though!
 
Had a total of 9 anaesthetics altogether on a number of different horses, including two who were very ill.

8 went without a hitch but the other (and the only time this horse was anaethestised) did not go so well as he had a very poor recovery with a great deal of trouble in standing. He then had a number of complications and eventually had to be pts.

I always worry about it but I think things are improving all the time. One horse had two anaesthetics just a few months apart (different reasons) and the vet did say that if they have had a good recovery before then they usually have a good recovery the second time.
 
We have tried heavy sedation, he had 2 syringes this morning, he was almost falling over he was so wobbly, but we still couldn't do it. Every time the needle goes in his leg kicks and out it comes. This was the second attempt in a week.
We even clipped the leg and applied local anaesthetic gel but that didn't make a difference!

He used to be fine having them done, then last year was a bit more difficult, but this time seems inpossible!
 
Ask to be referred to a equine hospital for this every day procedure!

There is no need to do a GA!

I would ask myself why your vets are unable to do this.

It DOES take practice! So Please I would ask to go to an equine hospital!

No need for a GA!

GA's carry risks! Depending upon the hospital but anything more than 1 in a hundred is high

Good luck
 
GA has its risks as does anything surgical etc I'm afraid.

I lost my youngster last year due to a bad reaction to GA for a simple operation. In recovery he was fine, but couldnt get up,found out he was paralysed from the GA from mid point of spine and his all back end. He had to be PTS - I was totally devestated.

My old horse was fine when he had a GA (going back about 3 years ago now) and he was fine with it, and recovered with no complications.

Totally depends on the individual horse.
 
Last edited:
foraday said:
Ask to be referred to a equine hospital for this every day procedure!

There is no need to do a GA!

I would ask myself why your vets are unable to do this.

It DOES take practice! So Please I would ask to go to an equine hospital!

No need for a GA!

GA's carry risks! Depending upon the hospital but anything more than 1 in a hundred is high

Good luck
Click to expand...

Our vet used to work at the local Equine hospital before going out on his own and has over 25 years experience, he has always been able to do the injections before, but the horse is reacting so much even though he is heavily sedated it just isn't happening.
He said he will do the procedure with the GA in the field. But sounds worrying to me, it's not something I have experienced before. He said his legs might twitch after he lays down, I think the comparison to the experience I had when my elderly pony was PTS last summer will be too much!
 
My late TB went under a general for a throat op and no problems and had already had another op before I bought him. HeWaac a big lad at 17.3hh and quite solid and I stressed on how he would cope. He was taken to an equine hospital for the procedure and recovered quickly with no problems (I on the other hand was a bundle of nerves). One of our racehorses also had 2 or 3 ops on his legs over a 3 year period and no issue there either.
Any anesthetic comes with a small risk, similar to people so you always need to be aware that there might be a slight chance of something going wrong. However my old vet in Oz used to do on average of two ops per day over a period of about 20 or so years and told me it is extremely rare for anything to go wrong.
Good luck and hope your neddy is well again soon :)
 
At the end of the day its up to you weather or not it is worth the risk. As someone said there is a 1 in 100 chance you horse will not make it. It sounds a small risk but horses do not do well with anaesthetic. i have known many horse over years have GAs for things and most have had no problems however one was PTS after due to colic as a result of the GA the other was mine 2 years ago had a GA and in recovery had cardiac arrest and should be dead but she defide the odds and with the quick think vets made a full recovery. This really made me think of those risks before this i wouldnt have thought twice about but now i would seriously think if this was the only/best option. While the risks are small they are there and you have a 1 in 100 chance of it happening to you.
Sorry to be negative but i think you need to be realistic about those risks. Make sure you have explored all options.
 
Horses (any large animal, actually) are not great candidates for a general. I always look upon it as a last resort and wouldn't do it unless COMPLETELY essential. I'm looking at my fellow out in the paddock now after his general last week and thinking "phew!", got away with it! 1 in 100 is quite a high risk factor.
 
Well he has the general, he was absolutely fine, and can be ridden again by the end of this week.
I am pleased we went through with it at the end, as the prognosis without the injections wouldn't be good, and this way at least he can continue doing some light hacking and having fun :)
 
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