When do you decide its time...........

N

NewyddP

Active Member
Joined
19 February 2009
Messages
40
Visit site
I dont really post much on here so Hi all!

Im in such a dilema, my old boy has reached the grand old age of 34. He's a 15hh tbx and my first ever horse. Ive had him for 11 years so this breaks my heart to write this but when do you decide its time to say goodbye? He has gone very lame which happened very suddenly. I have had nerve blocks etc done and the vet has diagnosed djd. He was on box rest but dropped an awfull lot of condition and was miserable. He is now out 24/7 and is much happier. Vet and farrier are working on getting his feet sorted (no heels which doesnt help his joints) so he is unshod at the moment. He is on 1 1/2 danilon a day but is still not sound. Some days are better than others and he will canter with the rest of the horses then days like yesterday when it was wet and cold he wont even walk to me to get his food, i have to take it to him.

I have tried all i can and i dont want to give up hope but i cant leave him in pain. He seems happy enough and is still eating. I just dont know what to do. Im dreading the vet coming tomorrow
crazy.gif
 
I haven't had an old horse, but I had to have a young one PTS last year. It gets to the stage when you just know. My vet had eased me into realizing where we were headed, and my girl told me when it was time. She couldn't stale and found walking hard, even on three Bute.

Hugs to you hunny.
 
I think if you have brought yourself to writing this difficult post then perhaps you know in your hearts of hearts it's time to let him go. I had the exact same heart breaking decission as you. My 1st pony i had for 11 years and he had suffered with Lami for most of it, he was at the Royal Veterinary college on many occasions. Alot of money & time and effort was spent on him to try and make him better. The last time he visisted the vet college he was sent home with a carrier bag of drugs and i was told he would pull through his latest attack soon, but on the 3rd morning my old mate couldn't even turn in the stable and i knew it was time to stop his suffering. It was the hardest decision of my life and broke my heart (actually tearfull know) and it happened over 14 years ago. But the point of this post is that it is heart breaking and it will make you sad each time you think about it, but it was the right decision he had had a great life and i just didn't want him to suffer. Quality of life is paramount for any animal and what ever decision you make it will be for the sake of your horse and no one else.
 
He has reached a grand old age.

You know him best and you will know when its time.

If he is happy and eating then there is no decision to make.

If he is unhappy and not eating or eating loads but just dropping weight then you will know its time.
 
I think as others have said, you know your horse better than anyone and trust me, they do let you know. If he seems happy in himself then I would be inclined to let him be for now but ultimately the decision is yours. Ask your vet if you are unsure if you're doing right by him.

We had a v old pony at one stage, he was thin and had some respiratory problems. The vet saw him quite regularly opn general visits and he would check his heart etc and basically said to us that, if he was still eating eagerly and enjoying his life then just to let him get on with it. The only problem we had with him was deciding if he was enjoying life - he was always a misery! However, he did let us know eventually, it was surprisingly simple.
 
You have managed to keep your horse healthy until he is 34, which is amazing, well done. However, I think the line in your post that said it all to me was... when he was cold he didn't want to walk to me for his food...

Personally I would prefer to choose a warm sunny day and get the vet to do "the deed", in a controlled manner. I would not leave it until you have a trauma situation and then you will have even more unhappy memories of his last day. Animals do not live forever, he has had a long and happy life. Animals very rarely die in their sleep, so you do need to take control and make a decision.
 
I had an old pony with djd. We were able to keep her comfy on bute for quite some time but at 34 years old she became very stiff, and although she was still eating she sometimes struggled to get up. I was concerned she would go down when I was at work and be struggling all day so made the sad decision to have her pts. Although it was hard I don't regret it and think the time was right for her. I suspect you are beginning to think the same with your lad, all I would say is the old cliche, better a week too soon than a day too late. Sending you hugs.
 
I am currently going through this with my pony who I have had for 22 years. She is 26. She will most definitely have this summer and then I will decide whether to take her through the winter or not.
I've had such an emotional wknd and I'm still finding it difficult to concentrate on anything else as the thought of her not being around this time next year is just heartbreaking. So I know how you feel.

However, if your horse cannot walk across his field to you at times then I'm afraid in my honest opinion he should already be at rest. Saying he is happy and eating is all well and good, but are you really going to wait for the day when he gives up completely? I'm sorry but I never want to see my girl give up on life, I want to remember her happy and relatively healthy.

Sometimes the kindest thing to do is also the hardest. Don't keep them going just to avoid your own heartache
frown.gif
 
Thank you all. I know that this has been on the cards for a long time and it was just a matter of when. This may sound horrible but i sort of hoped something would happen so i didnt have to make this descision. I dont know yet what the vet will suggest as i still want to try accupuncture and have ordered him massage boots which will hopefully arrive today. However its not looking promising. I think yesterday just shocked me that he wouldnt walk to his feed bucket, but it was pouring with rain and he has always been very grumpy when its raining so its not as if its something 'new'.

He has gone from winning condition and turnout, light legged and riding club horse last year to this and it just feels so sudden.
crazy.gif
 
I really feel for you. Your situation sounds like what I was facing a few months ago. In October last year everything started to go wrong and I knew the time was coming when I would have to make the decision to PTS. In the end I had tried bute, accupuncture, magnetic boots, suppliments, corrective shoeing and who knows what else, I had to try to make sure that when the time came I knew I had done everything I could.
The night I made the decision to PTS I went to feed him in the field, he wouldn't walk up to me and when I gave him his feed he wasn't fussed and something just told me it was time. As it turned out he made the decision for me, on the day before I had arranged for him to be PTS. He lied down in the field and just didn't want to get up, so I got the vet immediately, he went peacefully on a beautifully sunny January day and although it was painful, it was his time.
Your horse will tell you when it's time and I'm sure by reading your posts that you will listen. Huge hugs x x
 
I feel for you. It is never a nice time to have to make this decision but it is something you need to do at some point. If you know your horse well, which it sounds like you do, then you will be in no doubt (unless you are blinded to this realisation) as to when that moment arrives. I always advocate the old saying "better a week too early than a minute too late". Don't let it get to that stage
frown.gif
.


This quote sounded like you were perhaps a little too tied up in emotions to understand fully what is going on?
[ QUOTE ]
I have tried all i can and i dont want to give up hope but i cant leave him in pain.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hope for what? He's 34, he's lived a wonderful life no doubt, he has a chronic condition which will never go away. All you can ever "hope" for is a few more months or years of him being in comfort which sadly isnt' going to happen without him being pumped full of drugs. He will never be the horse you remember, he is an old man now.

I think you have to try to take out the emotional aspect here - this is something I have trained myself to do over the years. Forget about what you want, think solely of him. Does he have a good quality of life? Is there still that sparkle in his eyes? Does he manage to get around easily and does he appear happy in himself? Once you have answered these questions, I believe you will have your answer.

Have a big hug though, I know how horrible it is and no matter how many times you have to go through this, it doesn't really get any easier, you just become more highly tuned to doing the right thing at the right time.
 
I completely agree with Tia on this one .
I looking at this with my 5yo and I know how hard it is .
You need to look at his quality of life in the short term and in the long term

Have a big (((((HUG))))) .
 
Well done for getting him to 34.
We had a 24 yr old mare who was very lame on all four legs and was on the point of pts when we decided to try magnet boots, they made a lot of difference to her and she became sound enough to get her through the next few months. She then had a stroke so there was no further decision to be made.
If your boots make a difference in a very short time perhaps you could give him another summer (and hope for good warm weather
smile.gif
) This will give you time to come to terms with the decision and give him a comfortable retirement period. I would say that if your boots & acupuncture don't work very quickly you will need to decide that enough is enough. It is very hard but it is the last thing that a caring owner like you can do for the horse.
 
you will know when the time is here. for his lamness have you tried devils claw or comfery along aside his bute? his he holding weight? his he doing things horses should do? my heart goes out to you!xx
 
When this started he was more footsore than lame (if that makes sense) and he was on his usual glucosmine and no-bute. This made little difference and the lameness progressed. The reason im quite reluctant to make a descission is that he had his feet done a few months ago with rolled toes and lateral extention and he almost skipped out of the stable - went from being sore to walk to happily trotting, this was a massive change but as the feet grew he became more lame. unfortunatley we do not have a resident farrier and can only get done every 7 weeks! The farrier has taken the shoes off this time to try and get the heels to grow so thats really why he's so sore again. His weight is fine, he's rummaging for sweeties as usual and his eyes are bright and he's still interested in whats going on.

Last night he was really bright and moving around the field brilliantly. His massage boots came today so i will try these out. He has a magnetic band on the worst leg and has a magnetic rug. I have started him on Equilibra 500 so hopefully that will help his feet.
 
If what your last post is saying is really the way it is, then that gives more information than your original post for why he was the way he has been recently. In which case, based on the post above, it doesn't sound like he is anywhere near being ready to be put down. All it sounds is that he is a bit footy with having his shoes taken off
confused.gif
.

If all that is needed is he has his toes trimmed/rasped more frequently to keep him happier and more comfortable, then why do you not get another farrier who can come more often? And if you can't, then ask your own farrier to teach you how and where to rasp/trim for the period of time inbetween him doing him? This is exactly what I did when my pony suffered from acute laminitis 5 years ago. My farrier wasn't able to come and she needed her heels trimming every 3 or 4 days as they were growing at a rate of knots! My farrier taught me how to do the job correctly and properly and I did it. He still came on his usual every 5 week intervals to do her. My pony survived and is now happily living half way round the world with us as after that highly traumatic experience we couldn't bear to leave her behind.

The sparkle in his eyes sounds to me that he isn't ready to go - that is always the biggest tell-tale sign, and if he isn't showing it, then he's still content and he needn't be put down just because he is old if he is still managing to get around relatively comfortably.

If you go into Photo Gallery, there is a step by step guide to posting photos.
smile.gif
 
He is lame and this is down to djd but i think having the shoes off makes him worse. He's sore on his off fore and near hind especially. The vet said he's more uncomfortable than sore (if that makes sense) so he wouldnt consider PTS yet. He's back on pro-dynam which worked well last time and will hopefully get shoes back on in 3 weeks. We are on an island so dont have a farrier here - one has to travel across every 7weeks so he cant get done sooner. His feet arent really growing at the mo but that will change with the spring grass im sure.

Here is a pic of him from Monday.....
IMG]http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt204/gailbuchanan/CharlieBrown230309.jpg[/IMG]

I think it just really hit me on Monday that he wasnt going to get better and I only want to do whats best for him. I'll give him the summer and decide in the Autumn.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top