Would you put a horse through colic surgery??

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lilym

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Forget about money, I mean morally. Personally I wouldn't. But on talking to alot of people I seem in the minority. None of my horses would cope well with the rehab therefore their quality of life would be compromised so i would choose to PTS.
 
we had one back from liverpool today.... depends on your horses age. if you forget about the money side, and the horse is of a sensible age to be able to recover, surely (as this horse has been prescribed) 5 weeks box rest and 8 weeks field rest, with regular walking out for grass has to be better than death?
 
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If the horse was young enough and the vet thought surgery was a fair and viable option, then yes, I would.

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ditto this
 
From personal experience I would agree with you lilym. I had a 15 year old horse who suddenly got colic. I desperately rang everyone I knew to get him transport to horsepital but the vet wasn't sure he would even survive the journey. I reluctantly agreed to having him pts. I was completely devastated but then I did lots of research, really just to justify why my precious horse was pts.
The more I researched, the more I realised I had done the right thing for my boy - in his circumstances.
He wasn't a youngster anymore;
He hadn't been in a trailer/lorry for 9 years;
He was in uncontrollable pain - nothing the vet gave him would relieve it;
There was a good chance he wouldn't even survive the surgery;
I wanted to be there with him when he died, in his field, with some dignity.

I do, however know of a friend's horse who had colic surgery at the age of 7, he is now 14 having had a successful dressage and eventing career. It very much depends on individual circumstances!
 
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we had one back from liverpool today.... depends on your horses age. if you forget about the money side, and the horse is of a sensible age to be able to recover, surely (as this horse has been prescribed) 5 weeks box rest and 8 weeks field rest, with regular walking out for grass has to be better than death?

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None of mine would cope with the box rest. Sorry I would PTS they would know nothing about it anyway....good luck with your horse BTW. It is a very personal decision and I stand by my reasoning with my lot. If people want to give it a go and the horse will cope with recuperation then I am not saying they shouldn't just stating that I wouldn't agree to the op for any of mine.
 
I am not so sure. I was shocked to see a friends horse that has recently had colic surgery. It is handling the enforced R&R well but you can see how hard it has been hit by it. My last horse however,had had colic surgery before I got him. I think he was very Psychologicaly damaged by it. He was full of pent up anger and dangerous to be near. I think this upset him as well. Once he was out and being rideden however,he changed completely and was a kind and willing friend.I think it was partly his breeding that made things worse, but he was the first horse I have dealt with that I just couldt figure out.I think he must have suffered a great deal and I would have to think very hard before I put a horse like him through it now.
 
One of mine had the operation and got lesions (sp?) and so had to be pts because of a very serious bout of colic. The saddest thing was that the horse didn't need the surgery in the end (whole other story). For a while I swore that none of my horses would ever have the surgery again but now im not so sure, at the end of the day if it meant that there was a chance that my horse would survive, I'm not sure I would refuse, but obviously I would asses the situation. Good luck with yours, I have heard of stories where it has been a great success.
 
Only experiance was a few years ago with my mums old horse. He was 22 I think, colic came on very quickly and managed to get him to leahurst (we live quite close) where they started to operate. They came to mum halfway through surgery, said it was quite bad but they could continue to operate however he would need 3 months box rest (horse hated being in) and then there was a 1 in 3 chance he'd get it again. I think pretty much immediately she said dont bring him round. It was really hard for her as she had him since a foal but she couldnt do that to him. So, IME no, but it really depends on the circumstances and the possible recovery rate
 
I think it completely depends on the horse's age, health and mentality, and in that respect you have to make an objective call.

A horse of a lifetime that I had, 4 years ago, aged 23 came down with colic, and money was not an issue, but we could hardly get him on his feet, he was awfully claustrophobic, (so a terrible traveller, and seriously panicky in a stable), so that, and a look in his eyes,
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said I had to just let him go. It was awfully sad
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But I have no doubt that it was the best thing I could do for him.

My old mare. She is not only elderly, but a cribber, so I doubt colic surgery would be worth it for her, as she is mostly colic prone when stabled....

My younger mare, (hopefully going in foal this year) well, I would be in a serous dilemma about that right now...
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and have to judge it by veterinary advice and gut instinct at the time and circumstances.
 
Its such a tough decision to make! it would always have to depend on the circumstances. could the horse cope with that kind of stress, would it cope with the recovery and would it survive the who ordeal? its easy for me to say because if one of mine was in that situation i would want to do all i could to make them better. but i know if it wasnt right i would be able to make the right decision.
 
My mothers 29 year old catherstone pony was admitted to rcvs on 15th december after coming down fast and heavy with collected,my mother fell apart emotionally and they suggested they should operate - she was 29 years old and in great pain - my mother just followed their advice as she felt unable to take control herself. The pony was found to have lipoma's around the small intestine, surgery went well of course,then on day 5 she developed diarrohea so samples were sent off for analysis it would take a further 5 days for results to be ready. On december 27th we were called to say she had peritonitis,on december 29th at 05.45 she was euthanased minutes before an agonising death would have taken her. Poor advice given even after the college were warned about the owners emotional and financial state resulted this poor pony being put through hell.m Then came the 9.5k bill (estimate was 3k),of course we blew our top and it was reduced by 1k but that is neither here nor there, the result is that now she has to live with the knowledge that by not being strong and thinking the facts through and speaking to others who were impartial she caused a very sad situation.
For mine no never will they receive colic surgery unless the statistics for recovery after day 7 improve phenomanally.
 
It would depend on the condition and age of the horse before he/she colicked.

I once had to drive my friend's old 17.1 eventer to the surgery in the middle of the night. The horse went thru the surgery and lived. Great surgeon who was our regular vet. Then we had to take care of the horse after his surgery but he was a great patient.

Our vet said before the surgery that 60% of horses survive it. Luckily, this horse didn't require resectioning as he had twisted due to barn owner turning him out and letting him roll after he was colicky. Stupid BO cost my friend a lot of money.
 
Would depend on the age of the horse. My old horse had partial twist at 7 (over 20 years ago), she had the op, the rest and no riding was 6 months back then, she was fine and lived to the age of 26 with a very good competitive career. But she was a chilled out horse though and had a couple of mild bouts but not straight after the op and i was always very careful with being fed on time etc etc. An old horse deffo know not fair on them.
 
My old horse did at the age of 19, he had a lipoma. He got over the operation really well, went on to have a further happy 5 years, winning a lot of veteran classes.
 
Daughter is a 4th year vet student at Liverpool and we recently had this conversation, as they have been covering the subject I do agree it depends on individual horses and how you feel they would cope. My daughters retired jumping pony coped far better than we imagined with 3 months box rest when she fractured a leg, and is now a very fit 22 year old, so if it was necessary for her, and the vet recommended it, then would go for it, ditto Murphy If it was our little pony, who has Cushings, or the donkey (in his 30s) then sadly we would pts,
 
I really don't know - doubtful. I have a friend who worked at Liphook as a vet nurse for a number of years and she said she would never send one of hers for colic surgery.

Also I have hard so many horses breaking a leg coming round from the anaesthetic that that would frighten me too.

We did send my old 14.2 for surgery many years ago but told the vets only to go ahead if once they opened her up it would be a 'relatively simple' op. When they did open her up she had about 12foot of dead intestine so she was PTS on the table.
 
QR - Yes I would, just as I would excpect anyone else I know after being ill or having some sort of an accident to go through somesort of treatment/surgery. It's never going to be easy or pleasant but if it gets you back on tract then it's worth it in my books.
xx
 
It would completely depend on which one of mine it was to be honest, given their ages, temperment/suitability to the rehab plus whether the vet thought they had a good chance of survival.
 
i had a horse who had colic surgery.very traumatic for all including the drive down to newmarket.she recovered very well and had many happy years after.not sure what i would do now but at the time i would have done anything for her.she was at rossdales and despite being a neurotic horse coped with box rest well but jumped out the field with all her staples in when on paddock rest.
 
Mine yes, he would cope with the box rest fine. But he is now 17 so it would depend on how well he was in himself at the time, right now it would be a yes, if vet agreed.

The other mare who is younger would struggle more through the box rest and had to be sedated for box rest as a youngster after a road accident (before we had her)

Lilym I am interested, if any of yours require box rest after an accident/lameness i assume they wont be getting it?
 
after watching another liverys horse in total agony because the wound kept getting infected, watching there heartache, as there beloved mare was still PTS despite everyones best efforts. i would say no.

Joe i wouldn't dream of it in a million years he is too old and suffered enough already, Jazz i would consider it depending on the circumstances.
 
I think it depends entirely on the horse. I would not put a horse that suffered from stable stress through it, for example.
 
I had a virtually identical situation to you with my rising 15 year old
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Had no transport to transport him , had a 6 week old baby so could not travel with him and could not have sent him on his own on the 3 hour journey with someone else. Vet was doubtful he would have made it which was confirmed when he was re-examined a couple of hours later and pts.
He would have struggled with the rehabilitation and what worried me even more was the likelihood of reoccurence of colic.
Has anyone ever found grey horses more likely to get colic btw - just I seem to have come across it more in them than any other colour .
 
Been there....... My 15 year old had a second bout of gut displacement after 4 years of the first. IT was treated medically but he relaspsed within 48 hours. It was a hard decision but I decided that the best treatment was not to operate but to PTS........ we had so many other issues, that I felt that enough was enough. This was hammered home when he gave me the look of "make it stop". The odds I was given were in my mind poor and the risks post op were not the best.
 
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