Opinions Please!! Congestive Heart Failure....

[rachelle]

I've been off here for a few days.. Trying to get a couple mares rescued...

Anyway, I got some heartbreaking news today... One of my rescues that I placed at the beginning of the month died Monday from progressed congestive heart failure...

Coti came to me in Jan. In very bad shape. He was vet checked then, again in April and a had a quick exam in June, when he was cleared for retraining and placement.

I have many questions about this. I am not familiar with congestive heart failure in horses. Is anyone here?

My questions are:
1) Is it possible to miss this in a vet exam (with the whole works done - twice - Jan. & April)? I know vets can miss things, no one is perfect, but to miss it twice???

2) How quickly does it progress? Can it go from undetected or not started(in say April) to killing the horse in less than three months ( to now)?

3) Is it hereditary? I have Coti's TWIN brother here still and I'm worried about him. Because they are twins (not just normal sibs) would that make this other twin predisposed to it?

4)About my vet??? Should I consider trying to find a new one? I have no idea if this is a common thing in horses or not (I'd never heard of it in horses before) and I'm wondering if this is something most would miss or if it's just a case of the vet being in too much of a hurry kind of thing...

5) What should I do about the situation? The nice lady that she is, was more worried about telling me than the fact that she was now without a horse and had to pay vet, lab, and rendering fees... That just shows how nice a lady she was. I just feel awful for her and am not sure what to do now....

Any info, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[schwung]

I'm sorry to hear this Rachelle, this is very sad.

First of all, how old was this horse?

I don't know much about Congestive Heart Failure, I don't think it is super common. We had one of the rescues that had a heart murmur, and while it was not a problem at the time (she was a young mare), we were cautioned that it could become a problem down the line and turn into congestive heart failure. However, I seem to think that our vet said you would start noticing an intolerance to exercise if it was becoming a problem.

Being a twin makes me also suspicious, as twins so rarely even survive and often have problems. If the horse is young, I would suspect a heart defect that I would think a vet would catch just be listening to his heart. Horses with congestive heart failure start collecting fluid in the lungs in the advanced stages as well, so I would think that would have been caught.

If I were you I would also have a lot of questions.

[rachelle]

The geldings are 14. They had problems when we got them, but healed up and gained weight pretty quick, one quicker than the other, but then had more weight to gain too. They both seemed just fine, didn't respond negatively to excersise (well once they were healthy), didn't have any health problems that you could tell by riding them or looking at them. One is over 15 hands, the one that died was just under. Big happy healthy guys, straight legs, good hooves etc... If I hadn't had thier certificates I would never have believed they were twins, they didn't have the 'typical' twin problems...( Identity was verified through the IAHA based on photos - they were definetly the twins on the certs).

I can't understand how my vet could miss this, especially if it was so advanced as to kill the horse. So now I'm worried about the one remaining guy. He's still here, does fine with excersise and seems perfectly healthy... just like the other one...I'm thinking I need a new vet, but I don't know enough about this disease to say for certain the vet just did a sloppy job... I don't want to say the guy didn't do what I paid him to do until I learn more... I have to be fair even if I just want to slap him a few times and demand answers as to how he could have missed it! He gave me clean bills of health on both horses, lungs, heart, liver, bowels etc. The vet exam was the works including blood work etc...

And the poor lady. Had I known he was so sick (he didn't show any signs until a few days before he died and then it was only a cough - he still played and ran and had fun with the colts she has...she was waiting on test results when he didn't come in for food) well, I never would have placed him. I would have kept him and kept him as comfortable as possible for his remaining days. You could not tell he was sick by looking at him. He was out playing, happy, healthy, and seemed just fine... Just like the remaining guy does... I feel so bad for her and I have no idea what to do now.

So, how quickly can this progress?
Any suggestions for a new vet?
I'm not having much luck on internet searches on this subject... does anybody know where to go for answers?

[schwung]

I wish I had more ideas. Is it possible the cause of death was misdiagnosed? Could it have been something else like pneumonia?

[rachelle]

I guess they found a valve in his heart that was stiff and appeared to not be working (or not working well) and lessions on the heart as well, fluid on the lungs and around the heart, they thought it was probably just pneumonia (when they took blood and examined him) because he was still so active and the cough was the only symptom, but the fluid, lessions etc, showed that it was progressed congestive heart failure. (this was after he was dead). I'm only going on what the lady said to me, she seemed pretty certain on the diagnosis, but again she is only going on what the vet and the lab told her.

I guess it could have been something else, but I don't know enough to determine that. I just want to know more about this in horses so I know what to look for and so I can determine how it slipped through the cracks with my vet.

My main concern right now is the remaining twin. And the lady. I know what to do about the horse, find a new vet (I'm thinking that would probably be best at this point - I'd probably never really trust the guy again - I mean how could you miss something so far advanced???), have him examined as best we can to see if he has the early stages or whatever and go from there. As for the nice lady, well I have no idea really... I just feel so bad, she really really liked this horse, didn't have him really long but she was still crushed he was gone and she was so upset to have to tell me too...

[cat67]

Do you have another rescue that you could give her? I think in general that if someone takes on a rescue horse and it quickly perishes from something that was not in any way the adopters fault, that it's a nice gesture to at least offer another animal to the person. I did that when one of our cats keeled over a month after adoption from an aneurysm and it did make the adopter feel better that I would do that. Everybody's different, the lady may not want another horse so fast, but I would offer if I could.