I need a rant! And some advice QUICKLY!

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scattynuttymare

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So my old mare that is a 'wobbler' appears not to be. I have not agreed with the vet at all on this but thought i'd give it a couple of weeks and see what happens.

So it started with her loosing co-oridination in her back end, I says she's had a stroke, Vet says otherwise. Gradually co-ordination improved but she is still far from right

Now the right side of her face has dropped, considerably! So much so that the right nostril is a lot lower than the left and her lips are hanging. Making it hard for her to eat esp. bucket feed but she can manage to snatch the grass.

So this says to me that she's had another stroke! Will see what vet says this morning when I ring and tell him the latest update!

Is there such a thing as a 'free' vet visit? To re-assess? I can't think what to say to the vet without turning the air blue!

Suggestions?!

Please
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This is very bad news, if she's deteriorating and having difficulty eating then, no matter whats causing it, I think you might be wise to consider her quality of life.
 
I understand your frustration. How old is the mare?

Whether it is a stroke or "wobblers", also of neuro origin, makes little difference. There is no real treatment, other than perhaps steroids. Vet is probably just trying to do the right thing and probably doesn't want to have a battle with you
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This is very bad news, if she's deteriorating and having difficulty eating then, no matter whats causing it, I think you might be wise to consider her quality of life.

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We have been looking at the options of having her PTS when it got too bad. Thing is she still looks so happy and still trundles round with the othersand has even stopped falling over! So hard to know what to do......
 
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I understand your frustration. How old is the mare?

Whether it is a stroke or "wobblers", also of neuro origin, makes little difference. There is no real treatment, other than perhaps steroids. Vet is probably just trying to do the right thing and probably doesn't want to have a battle with you
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Old, well into her late 20's! Although she doesn't act it!

I just feel a little cheated because he wouldn't even do a blood test on her when he came. I understand not doing x rays and scans etc because of her age but a blood test?? All he did do was stand ummmming and ahhhhing for an hour. What makes it worse is I love my vets and really don't want to have a grumble
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Suggestions?!

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Put the old girl down.

Regardless of what the problem is, and whether you agree or not with the vet, certainly sounds time to say adios........
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Hi Scattynuttymare,

I think, no matter what her age, if you want bloods taken, you should have bloods taken...
If she's still having a wonderful time in her field and with her friends and you don't think it's her time then I would demand bloods and x-rays for that matter haha
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She sounds like a lovely character
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Hi Scattynuttymare,

I think, no matter what her age, if you want bloods taken, you should have bloods taken...
If she's still having a wonderful time in her field and with her friends and you don't think it's her time then I would demand bloods and x-rays for that matter haha
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She sounds like a lovely character
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Someone who is on my wave length! She is bright and wandering around, still tugs me about the place, ok one side of her face may have dropped but she lives out and is still able to eat the grass which we have loads of, its her hard feed she just stugglrs when she's nearly finished it cos she can't scoop it up. She doesn't seem to be a danger to herself or the other horses.
 
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ps, In my experience, there is no such thing as a free vets visit
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hmmmmmm shame, maybe if I phrased it right they might give me a free call out!

Well I'm just waiting for him to ring me back, I swear he must hear my name and break out into a cold sweat!
 
she's having trouble eating, "snatches" grass, she's been falling over, she has prolapsed facial muscles...you think it is ANOTHER stroke, pointing to the fact she's had previous ones, she's in her LATE 20's...and still you think the Vet has a problem???


good grief...................
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Surely it would be better to let her go now, while she IS still 'happy', rather than waiting for her to have another one/fall over and break her back/leg/neck etc/run blind through a fence/deteriorate until she just wants to give up????

We had our old girl put down before she went downhill; we knew it was going to happen, but thought we owed it to her to let her go while she still had all her faculties. It was the best thing we ever did.
 
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she's having trouble eating, "snatches" grass, she's been falling over, she has prolapsed facial muscles...you think it is ANOTHER stroke, pointing to the fact she's had previous ones, she's in her LATE 20's...and still you think the Vet has a problem???


good grief...................
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Nothing has been confirmed, just 'suspected' what the cause was. Have followed vets advise which was bute her but I could have worked that out myself. The falling over has stopped and she is grazing quite happily.
 
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Surely it would be better to let her go now, while she IS still 'happy', rather than waiting for her to have another one/fall over and break her back/leg/neck etc/run blind through a fence/deteriorate until she just wants to give up????

We had our old girl put down before she went downhill; we knew it was going to happen, but thought we owed it to her to let her go while she still had all her faculties. It was the best thing we ever did.

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Very true, I know it is coming in the very very near future. Obviously I would never want to see her suffer
 
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Nothing has been confirmed, just 'suspected' what the cause was. Have followed vets advise which was bute her but I could have worked that out myself.

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Sorry lovely, I don't understand the point of your post.

Your mare is old, infirm, has a problem that is (by the sounds of it) making her condition deteriate - and you consider your vet inept.

Age catches up with everything eventually. And the time to do the right thing is when they are still functioning well.

Make the call to your vet, and ask them to bring the drugs to pts.

It would be awful for us to read next week about how her condition has deteriated to the point where she's down and can't get up - and that is what will happen.
 
You must be really upset about your old mare...and wanting to do the best thing for her.
Why exactly do you want bloods taken - what do you think they'll show you? If there is a specific reason for wanting bloods done, then actually tell your vet about it when he's out. Tell him you think it's a stroke - ask him what he thinks is wrong, and the prognosis....and perhaps ask him also if it is time to let her go, in his opinion.
There's absolutely no point ranting about your vet on here - none of us can help you much....but it would be much better to say exactly how you feel to the vet him/herself - even if you're a little upset.
Good luck with it.
S
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Poor old girl and an awful time for you too. I expect because you are so upset you are taking your frustrations out on who you can.

Its a terrible decision to PTS but I am a firm believer that its best to do it when they are still well and happy, once their quality of life starts to degenerate slowly the decision becomes harder because you want them to have another week of summer.

Once they are gone, they are gone, they won't be wishing they had a couple more weeks - its us left behind that has to deal with our conscience and grief.

Good luck - whatever the outcome.
 
Oh you poor thing. I understand why you have posted, you are clutching at anything and hoping for a solution.
Yes she is old, she was falling over all the time but this has improved. If she can eat the grass well enough - is she still snatching? Can she cope with hay? With regards to her feed, when she gets to the bottom can you not scope it out for her and let her eat it from your hands? I would get the vet out and ask him honestly in his opinion what he thinks you should do. Its the summer so you could give her the summer and see how she is, if she is happy then let her be, but as soon as you see her start to go down hill then you will have to make the difficult decision.
Be strong xx
 
I agree with most of the posts on here but I think what you need now is some support not us telling you what you should/shouldnt do. If you feel it is a stroke and want that confirmed by the vet before you make a decision then you need to do just that and get the vet out. If he refuses to do it then there must be a valid reason why - have you asked him? I have never known vets to turn down the opportunity of earning money unless they thought it was in the animals best interest to not go ahead with any investigation.

I think the only way you will reach a satisfactory solution is to get the vet out and find out from them what they think the best course of action is - we can all have our opinions but only you and the vet know what is right.

Good luck.
 
Thnaks guys, Give her the summer is what I had planned on doing if at all possible. She is managing to eat and graze still and hasn't loast weight, in fact is the best I've seen her! Last summer I nearly lost her, she had peritonistis and we were all amazed she pulled through. She looked ill then adn the descision to let her go was easily made - till she decided she wasn't ready and picked up nicley! This time she looks so very normal apart from her slightly odd movement behind and a droopy lip, making it so much harder

I just want to add that I'm not ranting directly about my vet - he has been wonderful overall and put up with endless phonecalls. I'm just letting out frustration.
 
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If he refuses to do it then there must be a valid reason why - have you asked him?

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Because of her age and my last drama with her he thinks running tests will be a waste of my time and money. I guess I'm just holding onto that glimmer of hope that it is something that could be helped.
 
I'm unsure what you belive blood tests and x-rays may show up - certainly not a stroke. Would finding out the cause alter her management/treatment? I can understand your vet's point of view.

If she were mine and had a good quality of life I would watch and wait and give symptomatic treatment, however if she had little quality of life (and only people who've seen her can truely know this) then I would be stealing myself for having her PTS.
 
to be honest., if you want to know whats wrong and keep the mare alive get a second opinion. whats the point of using a vet that you dont belive??? so you pay for him to come out charge you tell you something and you disagree? the idea of vets is they know more than you. your paying for his company and getting no treatment for you horse in the mean time.
 
I don't think I really understand the question . . .

Bloodwork will not confirm a stroke and I can't see what getting her some sort of brain scan would solve or change. If you're thinking of the sort of stroke treatments there are now for people - the clot dissolvers - they require IMMEDIATE (within hours) hospitalisation and treatment. And I'm pretty sure you couldn't work it with a horse, anyway. There is no magic bullet treatment that would work for a stroke at this point, which is why they're so tragic in people.

"Wobblers" isn't really a disease, per se, it's a syndrome meaning the horse is neurologically impaired - one of the common causes is some sort of calcification that impinges on the spinal column, which might respond to surgery, but that seems not to be the case here. As far as "treatment" such situations are notoriously difficult to address except with basic antiinflammatories and time. So technically your vet isn't "wrong" - your horse is impaired and treatment is limited.

As far as not paying for him to come out . . . why? What do you want him to say? That you were right? I'm not challenging you, I just don't see what outcome you're looking for.

Now, all that said, I cared for an older horse that did have what was obviously a stroke. He wasn't as bad as you say your mare is by a long shot. however he did recover a fair bit with time. A friend of mine had a catastrophic stroke and we were told about 6 months for the most improvement we were likely to see, likely followed by a long term decline. Another friend had a small one (almost unnoticeable) and then quickly had a series of massive ones, which seems to be the common pattern if an obvious cause can't be identified and changed. In your horse's case it's likely the cause is old age. Not nice but hardly uncommon.

Are you looking for advice about putting her down? You say she's content and functioning safely? So it's not a crisis. But, having had two episodes obviously something quite serious is going on and you're likely to see another shortly. It's up to you whether or not you want to take that risk.

As far as your vet, if you don't like him don't use him again. If you want something specific from him and you are willing to pay he should probably do as you ask but remember he has taken an oath (literally) that he will put the horse's best interests - at least as he sees them - first so has a perfect right to disagree with you.
 
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