What would you do with this horse

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Shutterbug

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18 year old mare with melanoma's around her back passage, along her spine and underneath covering one of her teats. She cannot be ridden at all.

Owners father wants her PTS, owner is clearly very upset

I am not the owner btw - I am just having to provide a shoulder for her to snivel on and I have no idea how to advise her not having dealt with a horse who has melanoma's before.

Vet has given bute for a few weeks and basically said they cant do much - she has had melanomas for years and hasnt been ridden in over 2 years.

Thoughts?
 
Key to this is if the vet thinks the animal has any quality of life or if she is in constant pain.

If she is happy in herself and the owner wants to keep her as a companion then no problem.

If she is in daily discomfort and just being kept alive for the owners sake then I think we all know the kindest and right thing to do would be to have her pts.
 
We had one at our yard who lived happily for years with melanomas under tail and around ears (retired). Last year though they grew a lot, and would occasionally rupture blood vessels in the skin under the tail, causing massive bleeds. We used to find her stood in pools of blood, the flies would get at them and maggots occasionally would be picked out of them. This was a very difficult situation as the mare was bright eyed and breezy. One morning though we got up there and she was submerging her head fully underwater in the water trough and looked to have had a stroke. It was horrible to see.

If they are small I would let her carry on as long as she seems happy, but I wish this mare had been PTS a little earlier than she was to be honest.
 
amymay said:
What is the quality of life that this horse currently has??
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Oh forgot to mention she also suffers from laminitis so cant get out on rich grass - currently out during the day and in at night, with hay in a paddock with some grass and hay when she gets out which is not all the time (totally unrelated reasons). One other horse for company also owned by same person, 5 year old just broken.

Her poo is smallish round droppings rather than the normal - owner has mentioned horse has "pain lines" around her backend - this was something new to me, didnt know horses got them
 
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My 20 year old has large melanomas under her neck and tail. They have not affected her quality of life as far as I am aware, though she has to wear a fly rug 24/7 in the summer to prevent fly strike.
 
OK so, horse sounds to be in obvious discomfort - why is the owner questioning the need for her to be pts.

It's cruel to keep her alive when she has the option to put her our of her misery.

No question really is there!
 
TBH I would PTS, as what you see on the outside may actually be only a snap shot of what is going on internally. For her to be prescribed bute indicates that she has a level of pain. With the added complication of laminitis, one needs to consider what her quality of life is.

I think the father is being extreamly sensible and not allowing emotion to cloud his judgement
 
Thanks for your replies guys :)

Owner is clearly thinking with her heart - shes very upset as she has owned the mare for quite a long time. Its quite a shock to her and Im just trying to find the kindest, most helpful way to push her in the right direction in order to achieve what is best for the horse.

Guess Im just looking for some tips on how to word it without causing her any more grief than absolutely necessary :(

If she was mine, I would PTS - as difficult as it would be because she is an absolute sweetheart of a mare.
 
Angua2 said:
TBH I would PTS, as what you see on the outside may actually be only a snap shot of what is going on internally. For her to be prescribed bute indicates that she has a level of pain
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This is a really good point. Its often forgotton that actually there can be far worse things going on on the inside, and whats showing on the outside may only be a small bit of the picture.

When i was a child, we had a cat that i doted on, and it had some issues a couple of lumps came up on its skin and a few other smallish external issues. My mum is very level headed and when the vet was saying "we can do this, we can do that and that will give the cat x amounts of years" my mum said no and decided to have the cat put down even though it broke her heart. An x ray showed that actually inside the cat was riddled with cancer and would most likely have been in considerable discomfort so my mum was reliveved she stood her ground and had the cat PTS.

I would take the fact that she is on bute means that she is in discomfort and its a completely different kettle of fish than giving an older horse a sachet of bute on a day that they have worked hard or something. If she needs bute as a companion horse then i personally would think that some serious thought needs to be given to putting to sleep.
There was a brilliant quote on here the other day, "its better a month too soon than a second too late" i cant remember who posted it but its definately a really good quote.
 
Always a tough decision especially so when you've owned the horse for a long time.

We waited too long to put my shetland down - she was my first pony and we'd owned her since she was 9 mnths old, finally had to let her go when she was 22.

She developed liver problems and the vet treated her but in the end she became depressed and unable to walk more than a few steps.

I wish to heavens that I had made the decision a month earlier & someone had given me a kick to get on and do it.

Don't envy your friend but give her a hug and tell her straight that it is the best thing she can do for her equine friend.:(
 
Since she is such a sweetheart, you need to point out that it isn't really fair to keep a horse in pain, just because you cannot bare to part with them.

as Sky chick quotes

"its better a month too soon than a second too late"

While she feels bad now, how guilty would she feel if she knowingly allowed her horse to suffer. Humans have the ability to cause suffering or take it away. It is a strong person that knows when to take it away.
 
Angua2 is right.

I would tell her about Laura and her pony Lucy - in fact I'd print a copy of her post here : http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=383841 Laura knew her pony Lucy so well,, and, despite loving her so much and although she didn't want her to go, she knew when the right time was even though she wasn't able to be there to say goodbye.
 
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