|
|
Veteran
Posts: 171
 
| Colic surgery yes or no.
I had a horse that I opted to do colic surgery on, but it was unsuccessful.
So if faced with this decision in the future... what would you do. |
|
| |
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 304
Location: Up and over to the right | Not likely on my horses. The 17k+ cost plus the recovery is too much for most people and horses to endure. EPSM/PSSM horses and many others can't handle the anesthesia either. Depends on if they are registered, insured and if they have a successful career or could withstand being retired/broodmare status. |
|
| |
|
 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
  
Location: Phoenix | We also opted for the surgery...horse appeared to have improved...it was only because there was likes many, many feet of dead intestine. So sad. And expensive. I sure don't have the $$$ to afford a surgery like that and hate making payments on a dead animals (currently paying off my dog's unsuccessful surgery). It would be hard but I'd say no. |
|
| |
|
  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | depends what the issue is .. and why horse is colicing .. |
|
| |
|
 A Gopher's Worst Nightmare
Posts: 5094
Location: Southern Oregon | Unfortunately the closet hospital to us that does the surgery with any success rate is about 1.5hrs away. So by the time we get there the chances are horrid for survival. |
|
| |
|
The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| My vet told me there is a 25 percent chance of them living through the surgery and recovery.
I'm still not sure what I would do when faced with the decision |
|
| |
|
 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I wouldn't put my 22 year old Joker through it. I'd be a lot more likely to do it on my other 3 because they're younger, better patients and honestly financially they are more valuable than Joker. He would not enjoy being laid up for any amount of time so I have known for probably 10 years that I wouldn't do surgery on him. |
|
| |
|
 I Am Always Right
Posts: 4264
Location: stray dump capital of the world | It really depends on what type of colic, where it is located and the odds. I had one with a displaced colon. They gave her 80% odds of recovery, so we did the surgery. She's still going strong 8 years later. |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 1440
Location: Texas | It really depends why they are colicing. I have done it on one of mine when he was 10 and he is 31 now and didn't have any issues post op or down the road. I was not so lucky with another one opted to try to sVe her but had too much dead intestines. Most insurance policies these days cover colic surgery up to a certain amount and most of time it is not much more than what the policies cover |
|
| |
|
 Proud to be Deplorable
Posts: 1929
| I have only done it two times. One TB stud who lived another 15 years. And one show gelding he lived another 7 years. Was it worth it? I would have to say yes. |
|
| |
|
 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | I had one done and it wasn't successful.
Would I do it again...It would depend on alot of things but I would lean more not to have it done. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | Depends on the vet and prognosis..some horses are better candidates than others...friend of mine had one done this time last year at K-State and horse is already back clocking top of the 2d and improving with every run...doing it requires rehab and special feed and a certain degree of pampering as they are very sensitive for a long time after surgery in their gut...but i would do it if I had to...it's one of the reasons I insure mine just incase ! |
|
| |
|
 I"m Jealous!
Posts: 1737
Location: Benton City, WA | I've had 2 horses that successfully went through colic surgery.
Horse #1 was a project horse that I was in the process of selling when he colicked. He was not insured, and there was no way that I could afford the surgery, so I called the people buying him and told them that if they paid for surgery, they wouldn't owe me anything. He went through surgery and is still doing great as far as I know. That was a few years ago, and I think his surgery cost around 5K.
Horse #2 was my good barrel horse, and was insured at the time. She colicked bad and ended up having 2 surgeries, less than 12 hours apart. It was awful. I slept in her stall on a foal bed for 2 or 3 nights. That was october I think. She came back the next spring and was already placing at rodeos in May. Never missed a beat. But she can't eat alfalfa anymore, so she requires more expense in grain than other horses. I could care less about that. I would do it again in a heartbeat for her. If she didn't come back, she would still be worth it as a broodmare to me, or even a pasture pet. She doesn't owe me anything. JMO. She has not had any more digestive issues, and I think that was 2013 that she colicked |
|
| |
|
Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7264
| Nope. |
|
| |
|
 Saint Stacey
| Depends on the colic, the horse and what needs done. If they have the type of colic that the colon floats up and gets trapped between the spleen and the kidney, I would do the surgery. It has a very high success rate and if you don't do it the surgery, you have a dead horse. A lot of times they can use drugs to shrink the spleen and then they jog the horse and the colon falls back into place. If they have to do a Belly Dump, those are usually successful because they slit the intestine horizontally and dump the contents. Horizontal slits don't have the scare tissue problems like when they do a full splice. If part if the intestine has died and needs to be cut out, this is the type I would probably opt out of. Even if they survive, you usually have problems 7 years down the road because scar tissue builds up around the splice site and you end up with the same colic problem. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | Yes, yes and yes! How could you not?! I've had 2 successful colic surgeries. And it did NOT cost 17K as a previous post mentioned. Also, why would you not have insurance to cover this??? |
|
| |
|
 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3310
Location: Jersey Girl | I would not on my older gelding (he's 22). MAYBE on my 7 yr old gelding but prob not. |
|
| |
|
 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| I likely would... Ive had colic surgery done twice. One was successful and one was successful through the colic part but had an aneuryism and dies 10 days post-op. I had another gelding that was older and we opted not to. And my bill was $4800ish... no $17k. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1074
| We did it once, and she didn't survive. Our surgery cost less than $5000. Thought we were going to possibly do it again about 3 weeks ago, but thankfully impaction passed before we had to go that far. I have many friends with horses that have lived through colic surgery. Our horses are older and insurance is very expensive for the age group. That really frustrates me, but that's another post. LOL! |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 5290
| JLBerry - 2015-05-27 5:08 AM
Yes, yes and yes! How could you not?! I've had 2 successful colic surgeries. And it did NOT cost 17K as a previous post mentioned. Also, why would you not have insurance to cover this???
Maybe because everyone cant afford major medical coverage on their horses? Maybe because the quality of life wouldnt be the same even of the horse survived? |
|
| |
Folks on-line