Strangulated Lipoma Colic

H

happyhacker20

Member
Joined
21 May 2013
Messages
10
Visit site
Hi,
Last week I lost my wonderful beloved mare to strangulated lipoma colic. She was my best friend and I'm absolutely distraught.
We rescued her 10 and a half years ago while we were living in Spain and then brought her back to the UK with us 18 months later. She was the sweetest, kindest and most loving mare.
She was a 24 year old 14.3hh Andalucian/Arab, and she had recently been diagnosed with Cushings, but was responding incredibly well to Pergolide and was looking the best that she had done in a couple of years. It had given her a new lease of life.
Just 2 days before she came down with colic, I took her out for a hack and she was absolutely fine. My friend, who is also an experienced rider, had a little go on her as well and she actually commented on how well she felt. She was always incredibly fit and healthy for her age, apart from the Cushings. She had never had a touch of colic before in the time that we have had her.
That was on the Friday evening, she was her usual happy self eating her dinner on the Saturday evening, but then she came down with colic sometime in the early hours of the Sunday morning.
As it was so completely sudden and very shocking, I am now trying to think up ways to blame myself. Was there anything I could have done to prevent this from happening? Could I have somehow caused this? We made the horrible decision to have her put to sleep, as she was in a lot of pain and the odds were not good for surgery due to her age. Was this the right decision?
It all just feels so wrong and unfair. Just as the medication had given her a new lease of life and she was such a happy horse, and then this happens.
I'd be extremely grateful if somebody could answer some of these questions and give me just a tiny bit of closure for my lovely girl.
Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
I am so sorry for your loss. Colic is sadly a very common killer in older horses. You did nothing to bring this colic episode on, it was just very sadly her time to leave. cherish your beautiful memories and accept her passing as fate and far better for her to go without a slow decline, however desperately sad for you.
Losing a horse is so painful. I too lost a beloved mare 4 years ago, I still miss her.
 
I don't know the answers to your specific questions but know from loosing my own 2 horses I have very similar questions. Did we do the right thing, could I have done anything different or anything else? If I had got to the yard an hour earlier would it have stopped it happening? In solis case he ripped half his foot off, the pedal bone got infected so we operated. The infection came back and we could do No more. I had all these questions and actually rang the vet about a month later with questions. Vet was incredibly patient and we chatted for a while about all the ins and outs and he was 110% certain we had done the right thing at the right time and that really helped. Maybe it is worth ringing your vet when you are feeling less raw and chatting through things?
 
Sorry you lost your lovely horse. By the sounds of what you have described, I very much doubt there would have been anything you could have done differently. This type of colic can present very rapidly, a 28 year old gelding had the same thing at the livery yard I am on and similar to your horse, had never had colic before. It sounds like you gave your mare a wonderful life, please try not to blame yourself, the important thing is that you made the right decision at the right time for her, it probably would have been far too much for her to go through surgery and the equine hospital may not have wanted to take the risk. Sending hugs. x
 
So sorry for your loss.

'Was there anything I could have done to prevent this from happening?'
No. There simply wasn't.


'Could I have somehow caused this?'
No.

'We made the horrible decision to have her put to sleep, as she was in a lot of pain and the odds were not good for surgery due to her age. Was this the right decision?'
Absolutely. There is no other decision to be made. I would have done the same in your position. I've seen a few strangulation colics - they come on fast and are usually very bad news.
 
moosea said:
So sorry for your loss.

'Was there anything I could have done to prevent this from happening?'
No. There simply wasn't.


'Could I have somehow caused this?'
No.

'We made the horrible decision to have her put to sleep, as she was in a lot of pain and the odds were not good for surgery due to her age. Was this the right decision?'
Absolutely. There is no other decision to be made. I would have done the same in your position. I've seen a few strangulation colics - they come on fast and are usually very bad news.
Click to expand...

All of this, I lost my old boy to the same, he had never had colic previously, I had owned him almost 20 years and in that time he had hardly ever seen a vet, he was a very healthy horse that I expected to live a long happy retirement. On the fateful day he had been in the stable as normal, I turned him out and he seemed 100% and he then rolled as he often did but within moments I knew something was wrong, despite quick intervention by the vet who arrived fairly quickly there was nothing we could do he was in such pain so he was pts.
Like you I looked back to think of anything I had missed but until he went down and rolled he was perfectly well and I knew that I could not have prevented it, take comfort from the fact that you gave her a great life and allowed her end to be as quick and pain free as possible without the undue stress of traveling for surgery which is unlikely to have been a real option, I know mine could not have traveled he was in far too much pain and it would not have been fair for him to end his days in a strange place.
 
A lipoma is a lump of benign fatty tissue present sometimes in the stomachs of older horses, geldings and ponies are more at risk. The lipomas themselves don't cause a problem, its only when they get wrapped around the intestine (usually the small intestine) and if they cut off the blood supply its then called a strangulated lipoma. The lipomas generally hand from a long stalk, making them a ticking time bomb for a piece of intestine to get caught around the stalk. The only way to treat it is through surgery and even after surgery the survival rates are only 50%. In surgery a horse can have 50% of its intestine removed but the prognosis is poorer in these situations. My friends older horse had surgery for this and whilst on the operating table they had to ring my friend to say they were going to PTS as there was too much intestine that had died. Even after surgery the battle goes on and on, and many horses do not do very well and weeks and weeks of box rest can be needed.

In a horse of your mare's age you did the only thing you could have done in the situation and the kindest thing. I decided many years ago in my (at one time) extremely colicy horse not to opt for colic surgery if it ever became necessary and my horse isn't even out of his teens yet.

So sorry for your loss.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Very sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately colics such as these can go downhill very rapidly. Strangulating colics have a very rapid progression and can lead to an animal deteriorating very quickly. I have in the past treated animals with these colics that have been so uncomfortable, that even with the strongest pain relief available we could not load the horse onto a trailer. On other occasions I have referred horses on for treatment and they have had 20+ foot of intestine resected. Prognosis is these cases is very variable, but really depends on how quickly you can get them on the operating table. Unfortunately recovering the horse from the general anaesthetic is only the first step in what is a long recovery process, and many horses do not return to full work.

I dont think there is anything you could have done to prevent this from happening, unfortunately it really is just one of those things.

Hope this helps you feel a bit better about the situation.
 
As Applecart explains it is a fatty lump that will sometimes flip and twist itself around the intestine. There is nothing that can be done to prevent this and it happens so suddenly.

I have lost two horses to this. The first I had only had for a couple of years. He was a lovely confidence giving horse and he bucked me off on a hack and bolted home. Totally unlike him. The next day he colicked and he went in for surgery and there was nothing they could do.

Last Christmas I lost Dylan to it, I had had him for ten years and he was up until the last year very healthy but now suffering a little from arthritis.

I brought him in the field as happy as Larry, and then he just started pawing the ground and went down.
He went to Leahurst and he had two operations, the second they found a further lump and we decided that it was too much for him and didn't bring him round again.

I'm so sorry for your loss, I really am but try to take some comfort in the knowledge that it wasn't your fault and there was nothing you could have done. xx
 
As others have said, you could not have done anything to prevent this very sad happening and you definitely made the right choice to end her pain.
The loss of a much loved horse is always devastating, try to take comfort from the fact that you gave her many great years with you after her bad experiences in Spain. I am sure that she appreciated your love and care, with the contrast to her earlier life, - they do.
 
Sorry to hear this but there wasn't anything you could do to prevent this.

I lost my wonderful three year old to strangulated colic some years ago. I had seen him in the morning and he was absolutely fine trotting over to say hello. A few hours later he was spotted thrashing around in the field obviously in extreme pain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top