need advice please

[soxsmummy]

i have a 19 year old gelding who has had various problems and now the vet thinks he has a tumour.
i am asking in your opinion when enough is enough.
ok i will start from when i bought him,
bought him because i felt sorry for him, he was grumpy and underweight and had been beaten. got him home and withing a few months he had fattened up a bit but still looked ribby, he was always really grumpy in stable and never looked happy, he got treated with gastro guard for ulcers and seemed to get a bit better.
He had a year off as he fractured his leg and done his sus ligament, brought him back into work and he started dropping weight , put him on suregrow and the weight went back on, about 6 months ago i was riding him and he bucked and fell on me, which at the time we couldnt
pinpoint a cause for , a week later he was treated for pneumonia , on and off inbetween times he has been trated 3 times for lymphingitis.
A

few weeks ago took a bad bout of lymhangitis that didnt clear up, and is still swollen, and he has had 4 abcesses in his feet , he went to the vets who done every test under the sun and couldnt find anything to say why the lymphinmgitis wasnt clearing up .
he got a bit better and came home, vet was back out on sunday as the leg had really swollen, he is on different antibiotics , but speaking to my vet who has looked at his history he is 99% certain he either has a tumour or an abcess on his insides , which there could poss be no treatment for. and he would need to be operated on, tbh he is 19 years old , he never looks happy.
money isnt an issue if it gets him better.
sorry for the rambly post
what are you thoughts when is enough enough??

 

[silverbreeze]

I had my 15 year old mare pts in Feb as I had decided enough was enough. We were constantly patching her up and it broke my heart everytime I came down to find something else.
You really have to go on what quality of life you think he is having. I found out my mare had a tumour in her foot but we had in confirmed by an xray. it wasn't this that made me decided as I had made my decision that she could carry on on bute until she was in pain on the bute. She damaged her hind leg and it just got too much for me and her and I had to make the decision.
Could the vet confirm the tumour and then your decision could be based on fact rather than speculation?

 

[Flight]

Hi, well done for trying to give him a good life and doing everything you can. I think only you can answer the question you are asking. Whatever you decide it has to be your choice based on what you know about horse.

 

[soxsmummy]

he can bllood test for a tumour, but it would only tell us there was a tumour 'somewher' in his body , he would need opened up to find out where

 

[silverbreeze]

At least you would know that what he had was terminal and if you think he is suffering on a regular basis then you have to make that decision. It was so difficult for me so I know exactly what you are going through, I had had my girl since she was 2. I watched her in the field and her stable and she had just lost that sparkle, I really wanted her to have the summer but she just couldn't last it out.
I think if you are considering it then you must feel he has had enough?
Good luck with the decision and I am sorry you're having to go through this

 

[soxsmummy]

in some ways i think he has had enough , bt tonite when he went trotting down the foeld happy then i dont think i know after all.

 

[Dogstar]

I am sorry to hear you are in this difficult situation. I know from personal experience that it's a really hard decision to make and sometimes you dont 'just know' when the time is right. I spent a tearful week trying to decide whether I should have my beloved horse of a lifetime PTS. In the end the decision kind of forced itself and I was relieved when it was over. I would speak further to the vet about treatment options but would not be over inclined to put a 19 year old through that sort of op. If he goes off his feed that would be a sure sign I guess...

 

[hadfos]

Tbh i think i would need to know it was a tumour before i did

,how quick can they test and get results back??I know you say 99% sure but that 1% would leave me questioning my decision...that is just me though.....i certainly wouldnt have him operated on at his age,and he sounds like he suffering now,but i would like to think i had ruled out everything before i pts!
Sounds like he has gone through ALOT,and only you can decide,you know him...you know how happy/unhappy he is,you have given this guy the best last yrs of his life if it comes to that

Am sorry you have to even think about this

 

[nickslynn]

Its never an easy decision to make. Sadly I had to make the decision myself in feb on my old boy ( I had only had him 20 years!) He had been "patched up" for the last couple of years, and many times in those two years I had thought maybe it was the time, but you will know when the time is right, I never thought I would untill 11th feb 09! (RIP Robert)
My only advise is to discuss all the arrangements with your vet well in advance, if possible.

 

[gothdolly]

The last 6 months of my mares life were constantly "Oh my god what are we going to find today" my heart in my mouth every time I went to the yard. In retrospect I dragged her life on too long. She was 31 and her body was shutting down and I should have respected that earlier

In your horse's situation, it sounds like things are fairly bad - you have done very well by him, tried your best and if you feel that enough is enough, you need to honestly tell your vet.

I felt that I had to beg my vet to let my mare go. But after I told him that I had made up my mind, he said I had made the right decision. The only alternative was hospitalisation on a drip, and the poor old girl could not stand unaided at that time so thats what made my decision on that day.

((HUGS))

 

[scotsmare]

I had my 20 yr old shetland put down two weeks ago from what we discovered was a tumour on his liver. I think if you still have the ability to make the decision for the horse before he gets to a point of real suffering then I would PTS.

 

[soxsmummy]

hafdos there is that 1 percent where i hope its not , have to wait 2 weeks after he finished the antibiotics to blood test which is monday he finished antibiotics

 

[MontyandZoom]

I agree that you need to find out for certain if he does have a tumour. If, as the vet suspects, there is a tumour this will no doubt be terminal without an operation.

It sounds like you know that pts is going to be the kindest option. Provided he is comfortable, spend a few days fussing him and spending time together, then give him the wonderful gift of passing peacefully.

It is really awful and only you know what's best for your boy. I'm sure you'll do the right thing. ((((((HUGS)))))))

 

[tasel]

You seem to have tried all you could do. To be honest, I think people should not just decide on the fate of the horse in a medical way, as one of the above posts indicate, some horses after time will lose that "sparkle". Some horses with pretty dire medical conditions have a fighting spirit that makes them look as if they were actually fine and still loved life despite it all. On the other side, you will find some horses with medical conditions that are not as bad who seem to almost give up on life.

Also, you should look at the age of the horse. If it was a very young horse, I would try my best to give it a chance on life. In an older horse, I would try looking for that sparkle.

 

[Bubbles]

Ditto what tasel has said, you've done your very best for your horse. He sounds like he's just breaking down, abcesses and lymphagitis are hard enough when there isn't (almost certainly by the sounds of it) something more sinister going on in the background. I had to make the decision for my old girl in 2007, she had Cushings which was getting progressively worse and I knew she was feeling it. At the end of the day, you have to weigh up his chances of getting better and having back a decent quality of life, in my case I knew there would only be short reprieves before something really serious came along, so I let her go before. She didn't know what was coming, and really, it's harder on us owners than it is on the horses. All the best to you, God knows it's not easy.