Had horse gelded, is this cause for concern?

[sandybank]

Hi all, I had my 10 year old gelded a fortnight ago. The procedure went well and he was back with his field companion within a couple of hours. He was sore for a couple of days, walking a little gingerly, which the vet said was to be expected. He's quite an active guy without being silly, and providing he kept moving, which he has done, I was told there was no need to lunge him or anything.

The wounds are still draining, one side's a bit more healed than the other, but both look nice and clean, its a watery substance, a bit yellow but see-through iykwim? not a lot of it, just drips, but he's still swollen.

The area is a normal pale pink, there's no redness or heat etc and he's happy for it to be touched. I obviously haven't touched the incision area, but there's no redness around them either.

I have the vet coming monday for a look, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience of gelding the older horse and if maybe this was normal (I'll still have the vet look, obviously) or whether the vet ought to be out sooner?

He's happy in himself, lives out and is moving freely. He's lying down and rolling, urinating normally etc, I'm just suprised he's still swollen, or wondering if maybe it's closed a little too soon and needs opening again to allow more drainage.

Anyway, any experiences or advice would be appreciated.

 

[JanetGeorge]

Even younger horses can swell up - I'd say about 1 in 5 of mine do - and 2 weeks is not a long time for it to take to settle. If mine swell I give them some cold hosing and some gentle 'bouncing' of the swelling - helps get it dispersed faster (but be careful he doesn't kick!)

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Usually day 10 after the surgery is about the turning point. Your lad sounds absolutely normal. As long as he's moving, wound is healing well, no pus or muck coming out, no temperature, eating well, lying down then he should be fine. If the swelling is still rock hard you might want your vet to have a look - it should be soft by now and feel sort of fluid if you have a gentle grope.

 

[sandybank]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'll cold hose him and give him a bounce in the morning then! He was quite happy to be handled around there earlier, so fingers crossed he'll be a good boy in the morning.

I've never seen a castration before and found it quite distressing as he was very vocal throughout the procedure, though the vet was constantly reassuring me it was fine and he couldn't feel a thing. My OH who was holding his front legs (he's a diddler and had to be put on his back) did pale a little at the crunches!

I was googling (bad idea!) which had me panicked, everything seemed to refer to swelling going down 3-5 days later etc, but most were also young colts, I found very little in the way of gelding the older horse. I know it's riskier due to an increased blood supply so wondered if swelling for longer would be plausible.

Thankyou very much, I shall do that tomorrow and stick to the vet visit on monday anyway, just as a precaution.

 

[sandybank]

Usually day 10 after the surgery is about the turning point. Your lad sounds absolutely normal. As long as he's moving, wound is healing well, no pus or muck coming out, no temperature, eating well, lying down then he should be fine. If the swelling is still rock hard you might want your vet to have a look - it should be soft by now and feel sort of fluid if you have a gentle grope.

He's moving fine, his usual self, quite active without being silly, wound's looking good, I think, though I worried if it had closed too soon? It seems to be the norm in USA to keep them open but my vet said to leave it be. All that's coming out is the honey coloured water, like what comes out of a wound? It doesn't smell or anything as I got on my knees (he's a little guy) and had a good sniff, also sniffed some of the fluid, lovely aren't I?!!! It's fluidy, not hard, more full feeling. We're day 15 now, looking at the time actually day 16, maybe some road walking or lunging would help do you think?

Thanks for replying to me

 

[sandybank]

Me again! It's about the same size wise today but there definitely more drainage, though he's been pretty active. I'm wondering if the on-off rainy weather we'e had for the last few days may have hindered it a little, as he spent time under the hedge during the wettest parts of it instead of constantly wandering and grazing? Maybe this slowed the drainage during the time he stood still and it pooled a little?

The vet's coming in the morning anyway, I wanted him to look over my other pony at some point anyway so it won't be a wasted trip