Post by lesliek on Feb 20, 2008 11:48:25 GMT -5
I am sorry in advance for the length of this!
In October my Mother bought a horse from a woman who said that she "rescued" animals, and found better homes for them. The horse was said to have had a minor hock injury which resulted in some residual swelling in the hock, but the woman said that she was healthy and sound for light trail riding and that a bigger rider would be no problem given the horses size. According to this woman she had had the horse examined by a vet recently, and all was great! She had a clean bill of health, just a little swelling that had not yet gone away. She also said that the horse had pretty much been out to pasture for around 4 months...Mom liked the horse and trusted to woman... When I went to see the horse once she arrived at my Mothers I was shocked! Mom had paid a big chunk of money for an underweight (down right skinny), lame horse with a hock that was easily twice the size it should have been!
So now four months, a few vet visits, MANY bails of hay and bags of feed, several rounds of different types of antibiotics (which of course mean LOTS of shots), X-rays, many different kinds of wraps and creams and ointments, and and and… we now have a horse that is a decent weight, and still has a hock that is nearly twice the size it should be! After the last vet visit which included the x-rays we got a very glum prognosis. The vet believes that the horse has Osteomyelitis; my understanding is that this is an infection of the bone, and has had it for quite some time. Had the problem been notices and cared for back when it was just a hock injury that had a little infection things would be A LOT different now, it seems that when you put a horse out to pasture for four months and don’t bother to take care of them, bad things can happen! DUH!
Our options seem to be few now.
1. Take the horse to a major vet hospital, and have REALLY expensive surgery done on her leg, and MAYBE she would make it through okay, and this MIGHT get her sound, but never sound enough for riding.
2. Put the horse down.
3. Treat her with more antibiotics, hope that she gets a little better.
For now we are going for option number 3. We just can not spend thousands of dollars on taking her in for surgery, especially since the likelihood of great results are slim.
So this is where you all come in… I NEED HELP!
We want a second opinion from someone who really knows their stuff! If there is a chance that we can make her pasture sound, and a happy healthy companion for someone we feel we owe it to her. My mom lives in Elma. She was given the name of Dr. Macomber in Centralia. Does anyone know of him? Or can anyone give me a recommendation on a great large animal vet. One problem with seeing another vet is that we do not have a truck and trailer. We would need help transporting her somewhere to see a different vet.
I am also VERY open to tips and ideas for treating her and bringing down the swelling. We are still doing antibiotics, and frankly both of us are quite tired of shots! She is sore in my usual sticking spots, and I am lacking in the confidence and knowledge to stick her in new spots. We have to inject her in two different spots, every other day. The easiest spot for me is the pectoral muscle. I am not 100% sure on the placement to inject her in the thigh. Where else can I do it! ACK
I am so fed up and frustrated! I know that we got ourselves into this situation, but I am still so mad at the woman we got the horse from! We just want to get her better, and then figure out what comes next…
I know this was long, but thank you for making it all the way to the end! I look forward to hearing from people!
Thank you!
In October my Mother bought a horse from a woman who said that she "rescued" animals, and found better homes for them. The horse was said to have had a minor hock injury which resulted in some residual swelling in the hock, but the woman said that she was healthy and sound for light trail riding and that a bigger rider would be no problem given the horses size. According to this woman she had had the horse examined by a vet recently, and all was great! She had a clean bill of health, just a little swelling that had not yet gone away. She also said that the horse had pretty much been out to pasture for around 4 months...Mom liked the horse and trusted to woman... When I went to see the horse once she arrived at my Mothers I was shocked! Mom had paid a big chunk of money for an underweight (down right skinny), lame horse with a hock that was easily twice the size it should have been!
So now four months, a few vet visits, MANY bails of hay and bags of feed, several rounds of different types of antibiotics (which of course mean LOTS of shots), X-rays, many different kinds of wraps and creams and ointments, and and and… we now have a horse that is a decent weight, and still has a hock that is nearly twice the size it should be! After the last vet visit which included the x-rays we got a very glum prognosis. The vet believes that the horse has Osteomyelitis; my understanding is that this is an infection of the bone, and has had it for quite some time. Had the problem been notices and cared for back when it was just a hock injury that had a little infection things would be A LOT different now, it seems that when you put a horse out to pasture for four months and don’t bother to take care of them, bad things can happen! DUH!
Our options seem to be few now.
1. Take the horse to a major vet hospital, and have REALLY expensive surgery done on her leg, and MAYBE she would make it through okay, and this MIGHT get her sound, but never sound enough for riding.
2. Put the horse down.
3. Treat her with more antibiotics, hope that she gets a little better.
For now we are going for option number 3. We just can not spend thousands of dollars on taking her in for surgery, especially since the likelihood of great results are slim.
So this is where you all come in… I NEED HELP!
We want a second opinion from someone who really knows their stuff! If there is a chance that we can make her pasture sound, and a happy healthy companion for someone we feel we owe it to her. My mom lives in Elma. She was given the name of Dr. Macomber in Centralia. Does anyone know of him? Or can anyone give me a recommendation on a great large animal vet. One problem with seeing another vet is that we do not have a truck and trailer. We would need help transporting her somewhere to see a different vet.
I am also VERY open to tips and ideas for treating her and bringing down the swelling. We are still doing antibiotics, and frankly both of us are quite tired of shots! She is sore in my usual sticking spots, and I am lacking in the confidence and knowledge to stick her in new spots. We have to inject her in two different spots, every other day. The easiest spot for me is the pectoral muscle. I am not 100% sure on the placement to inject her in the thigh. Where else can I do it! ACK
I am so fed up and frustrated! I know that we got ourselves into this situation, but I am still so mad at the woman we got the horse from! We just want to get her better, and then figure out what comes next…
I know this was long, but thank you for making it all the way to the end! I look forward to hearing from people!
Thank you!
and I've never, ever had a problem with doing them in the neck. You switch sides of the neck if you have to give daily injections, so they don't get sore.