pony&cow
Well-Known Member
I am ready to talk....
I lost my girl on Monday night and its still so raw. I feel weak, lifeless and have run out of tears but my baby girl was so brave right to the end.
Thursday morning I fetched her in and rode her, only a walk round the field she seemed fine. I knew something wasnt quite right when she turned down her carrot so i kept her in and stayed with her for a while. she seemed sleepy so i left her to it for a bit presuming the heat had got to her. when i realised she had been 4 hours without a poo I popped her on the walker really slow just to see if i could get something moving. put her back in her stable and she was just chilled again. no rolling pawing at the ground ect. after 6 hours with no dropping I called the vet. vet came out after about 20mins and done a rectal examination which confirmed impaction colic. stomach tube of liquid paraffin was given with electryolytes and vet left saying if she hasnt passed droppings by morning call again. she must not eat until she poo's. I stayed the night with my girl in her stable.
friaday morning vet came back out.and told me not to worry sometimes these impactions take days to clear. stomach tubed her again and agreed a time to come back out that evening. vet had no concerns and all was going to be ok. once again I stayed with my girl, pulled the car up next to her stable and slept with the window open so she could rest.
Saturday still no droppings and I was getting really worried now. different vet from same practise came out first thing. vet was now worried about dehrydration so agreed to tube her 3 times today and left me with a syringe to give her electrolytes to give her inbetween which i did relegiously on the hour every hour day and night. vet said when i was crying don't worry we deal with this all the time she'll be fine. still no concern from the professionals.
Sunday morning still no droppings. rang emergency vet at about 8 when she was due for another stomach tube. vet said dehydration is becoming a worry now lets get her to hospital so she can be tubed more often without a call out fee each time. so we rounded up a trailer and off we went.
she arrived at hospital and within 10 minutes had been examined and given another highly concentrated parrafin mixture. vet again didnt seem to worried and said we will tube her every 2 hours until she passes droppings and we will call you as soon as she does. that night i went home knowing she was in good hands i washed my hair and brushed my teeth for the first time in days and got into bed full of hope and feeling positive.
12 midnight the phone call comes.... she has taken a.turn for the worse and we may need your permission to PTS. beside myself we rushed to hospital to see my poorly girl lying down and not really with it. by the time we had got there they had stabilised her with more pain killers and said its 50/50 whether she'll make it until morning but was comfortable. I had to leave her like that. it was soul destroying.
was there early sunday morning but times were all a blur by now. she was standing up and splashing in.water a was excited and thought this has got to be a good sign. she neighed when she spotted me, my heart melted and I thought she's on the mend. vet came over explained that the impaction was just not budging and gut noises are decreasing and her bowel had moved. we were offered surgery with not great odds...
50/50 chance of survival with no surgery
70/30 chance with surgery BUT the bowel is highly likely to move again if its treated by surgery and not the body fixing it on its own. we were also warned that she was not and ideal candidate for surgery due to her high heart rate and there was an increased risk of her not coming round. vet recomended against surgery but said the choice was ours but we have to deciede now so she can get a team together to operate.
we choose not to go for surgery and had to leave her again. soon after had another call get to her asap. we rushed back and she had hydration drip in and vet said I think its time to say goodbye. and they were now 90% sure it was grass sickness that had caused the colic so she never really had a chance. she was still in no pain and mildly sedated but gut sounds had completely stopped, impaction hadnt moved a cm and her nervous sytstem was now shutting down.
vet agreed to heavily dose her with painkillers as overdose was no longer an issue so we could get her home. we rushed to get a trailer again and loaded her up for home.
I unloaded her at home and her little eyes lit up, she neighed and my other two neighed back it was heart braking. I kept myself together for her and stayed strong as i led her through her field and into the silage grass field that she always admired and let her graze in hand. the vet came over and explained what was going to happen now. she kept her head down for another load of sedative and i had a chat with her while that kicked in. the vet then gave the last injection as I said "sleep tight princess" and handed her over and walked away. the rest is a blur.
my gorgeous loving princess has gone and she wasnt even 5.
I lost my girl on Monday night and its still so raw. I feel weak, lifeless and have run out of tears but my baby girl was so brave right to the end.
Thursday morning I fetched her in and rode her, only a walk round the field she seemed fine. I knew something wasnt quite right when she turned down her carrot so i kept her in and stayed with her for a while. she seemed sleepy so i left her to it for a bit presuming the heat had got to her. when i realised she had been 4 hours without a poo I popped her on the walker really slow just to see if i could get something moving. put her back in her stable and she was just chilled again. no rolling pawing at the ground ect. after 6 hours with no dropping I called the vet. vet came out after about 20mins and done a rectal examination which confirmed impaction colic. stomach tube of liquid paraffin was given with electryolytes and vet left saying if she hasnt passed droppings by morning call again. she must not eat until she poo's. I stayed the night with my girl in her stable.
friaday morning vet came back out.and told me not to worry sometimes these impactions take days to clear. stomach tubed her again and agreed a time to come back out that evening. vet had no concerns and all was going to be ok. once again I stayed with my girl, pulled the car up next to her stable and slept with the window open so she could rest.
Saturday still no droppings and I was getting really worried now. different vet from same practise came out first thing. vet was now worried about dehrydration so agreed to tube her 3 times today and left me with a syringe to give her electrolytes to give her inbetween which i did relegiously on the hour every hour day and night. vet said when i was crying don't worry we deal with this all the time she'll be fine. still no concern from the professionals.
Sunday morning still no droppings. rang emergency vet at about 8 when she was due for another stomach tube. vet said dehydration is becoming a worry now lets get her to hospital so she can be tubed more often without a call out fee each time. so we rounded up a trailer and off we went.
she arrived at hospital and within 10 minutes had been examined and given another highly concentrated parrafin mixture. vet again didnt seem to worried and said we will tube her every 2 hours until she passes droppings and we will call you as soon as she does. that night i went home knowing she was in good hands i washed my hair and brushed my teeth for the first time in days and got into bed full of hope and feeling positive.
12 midnight the phone call comes.... she has taken a.turn for the worse and we may need your permission to PTS. beside myself we rushed to hospital to see my poorly girl lying down and not really with it. by the time we had got there they had stabilised her with more pain killers and said its 50/50 whether she'll make it until morning but was comfortable. I had to leave her like that. it was soul destroying.
was there early sunday morning but times were all a blur by now. she was standing up and splashing in.water a was excited and thought this has got to be a good sign. she neighed when she spotted me, my heart melted and I thought she's on the mend. vet came over explained that the impaction was just not budging and gut noises are decreasing and her bowel had moved. we were offered surgery with not great odds...
50/50 chance of survival with no surgery
70/30 chance with surgery BUT the bowel is highly likely to move again if its treated by surgery and not the body fixing it on its own. we were also warned that she was not and ideal candidate for surgery due to her high heart rate and there was an increased risk of her not coming round. vet recomended against surgery but said the choice was ours but we have to deciede now so she can get a team together to operate.
we choose not to go for surgery and had to leave her again. soon after had another call get to her asap. we rushed back and she had hydration drip in and vet said I think its time to say goodbye. and they were now 90% sure it was grass sickness that had caused the colic so she never really had a chance. she was still in no pain and mildly sedated but gut sounds had completely stopped, impaction hadnt moved a cm and her nervous sytstem was now shutting down.
vet agreed to heavily dose her with painkillers as overdose was no longer an issue so we could get her home. we rushed to get a trailer again and loaded her up for home.
I unloaded her at home and her little eyes lit up, she neighed and my other two neighed back it was heart braking. I kept myself together for her and stayed strong as i led her through her field and into the silage grass field that she always admired and let her graze in hand. the vet came over and explained what was going to happen now. she kept her head down for another load of sedative and i had a chat with her while that kicked in. the vet then gave the last injection as I said "sleep tight princess" and handed her over and walked away. the rest is a blur.
my gorgeous loving princess has gone and she wasnt even 5.
