Knee infection, euthanised

R

Royalpavilion

New User
Joined
14 March 2015
Messages
9
Visit site
My lovely hunter hit a wall out hunting. When I got home I discovered a small wound on his knee no bigger than my fingernail. I thought best to be safe and called vet.
They came and were worried straight away about infection and were talking gravely about the situation. It was cleaned etc and they took a sample. It was confirmed later that it was infected. We took him in to the equine hospital the next morning. An X-ray revealed a small chip of bone or wall. I couldn't justify surgery at £4-5000, and they advised me a simple flush out wouldn't work .
So I made the hardest decision I've ever made to have him put down.
I can't believe how just a knock on the knee led to this. It just shows the severity of joint infections
Very sad
 
Im very sorry for your loss. Unfortunately joint penetrations from hunting formed a large part of our surgical case load simply due to the nature of what the horse is jumping over/ through and we saw at least one a week on average.
 
I am so sorry to read your post. Poor you. A very sobering tale too for any of us dealing with apparently superificial injuries.
 
Any injury near a joint requires veterinary attention so you did well, OP to get the vet as many people would not. I am so sorry you were unable to save him. £4 - 5 k sounds a bit OTT for such an operation. I had a similar one done to remove a bone chip from my gelding's hock at Rossdales and it was under £3k. It is a very straight forward keyhole operation with excellent prognosis. It is a shame they quoted you so much!
 
I'm not surprised to hear they quoted so much as 7 years ago my horse was kicked on the hock in the field and ended up in horsepital as the vet was worried about an infection from a small wound. He was only in there for a few days and didn't have an op but it still cost £2000!
 
asmp said:
I'm not surprised to hear they quoted so much as 7 years ago my horse was kicked on the hock in the field and ended up in horsepital as the vet was worried about an infection from a small wound. He was only in there for a few days and didn't have an op but it still cost £2000!
Click to expand...

It's an much easier OP to do on a hock .
OP I am so sorry it's a horrible thing to go through I hope before next season you find a new hunter to love and have fun on.
 
So sorry OP

I had one of mine do an almost invisible injury to his hock in the field, it was only his complete wossyness about it that made me worry it was more than a scratch. He had an emergency GA to flush it and remove a chip, it went swimmingly and he had no complications - bill was £3,800 - so I'd guess their estimate is about right
 
So sorry to read this. I sympathise with you desperately. I had to make the very same decision last week with my 3yr old daughters 10yr old LR pony. Hardest decision I've ever had to make and feel I'm grieving for her too.

I've had a little moment every day over the last week but 8 days on its ever so slightly easier. But it's going to take a long time to get over it.
 
OP I too am so sorry to hear about your tragic loss. I have always got a vet out to anything near a joint, sometimes the smallest of wounds can be life threatening, and I have heard of horses literally opened up like a can opener due to an accident recover incredibly easy and fast, my friend had one. And I know of someone who has also lost a horse to a joint infection, like you she got the vet out immediately but it was too late. So very sad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top