Saturday, March 23, 2013

more questions

Lucy had her vet visit this afternoon. I had spoken with the vet a couple times this week and sent her video of Lucy looking lame, so she had a good idea of what was going on. When she arrived at the barn, she started off by doing a basic physical exam. Lucy is usually very well-behaved for vets but today she was a tail swishing, ear pinning wench. She lifted a leg at the vet more than once, I am ashamed to say.

We moved over to the indoor so the vet could watch her move on the lunge line. Lucy gave the vet a nice show, even standing up on her hind legs and waving hello toward the end. She looked sound at the trot, which I was a little annoyed about, but cross-cantered in both directions so I didn't look like a total fool. The vet flexed her and thought she looked ouchy on both hind legs, but the RH more than the LH. The problem with flexing the hind legs is that it's very hard to single out one joint - you kind of have to flex the fetlock, hock, and stifle all together so if there is a positive result, you don't really know which area it is. Lucy was quite difficult through all of this. It was very cold and windy today, she's had a week off, and she is in heat (AGAIN) so it was not a fun time for anyone.

After watching Lucy carry on, the vet asked me about any other behavioural issues. She had seen video footage of Lucy kicking out and being very bad under saddle. She asked if she ever exhibited "studdish" behaviour and I told her she will squeal and strike out at another horse if she is allowed to sniff noses with them. I decided to have the vet do a repro exam on her since she was already there and for the sedation and exam it was only going to be $90. The vet was able to easily palpate Lucy's left ovary but could not find the right ovary anywhere. She searched around, gently of course, for a few minutes before deciding not to poke and prod in there anymore to avoid the risk of damaging the horse, but was very concerned that she couldn't find the ovary or any structure involving the ovary. She said sometimes a tumour can start growing on the ovary and when it becomes large and heavy, it weights the whole structure down into the abdomen so that it can't be palpated internally like a normal ovary can. She said they aren't usually cancerous, but they do continue to grow unless removed, and they will throw all of the horses hormones out of whack. I decided to have her do a blood test to look at all of the hormone levels in her body, and the results will tell her if there's an imbalance or presence of a tumour.

Great, just great.

If there is a tumour, the only option for treatment is a spay, or half spay...meaning she could keep her healthy ovary and be able to have a foal if that was ever in the cards, but she would lose the unhealthy ovary that was causing all the issues. Or the vet could remove both ovaries. Then of course there are two ways to do the surgery: one standing up and sedated but not anesthetized via laporascopic instruments, and the other flat on her back under anesthesia, via an incision in her abdomen (similar to a colic surgery and with similar recovery time). For the abdominal surgery we'd be looking at about $7,000. A friend had her mare spayed laporascopically and said it cost about $1,000.

So basically, I paid $650 today to not only get no answers (won't get the labs back until the middle of next week), but actually get more questions and as a result I feel twice as worried as I did before. The vet was excellent and spent ages with me, and answered all of my questions.

Oh wait, I did get one answer: there is nothing wrong with her SI joint or her back as far as this vet is concerned. Once Lucy was lightly sedated enough to not kick the vet, she palpated her entire spine/SI/hips, and I mean she really leaned into the horse and poked all the spots that could possibly be sore, and there was no reaction at all. She assured me that even under light sedation, if she was hurting Lucy, Lucy would flinch at the very least, and there was absolutely NO reaction at all. So that's good to know.

11 comments:

  1. Well you may not have found an answer today but it sounds like you could be heading in the right direction. To me it seems like it would be good to find an actual issue even if it costs some money to fix. I think a spayed mare sounds lovely. :)

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  2. Ughhhhhhh....I'm so sorry Kate. Try not to worry too much, and I hope you get some answers next week. Seems like horses are a lot more heartache than they are fun!!!

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  3. Wow, I am having the EXACT same situation with my mare! She was having horrible heats, even in winter, and acting like a total nutcase. Luckily, we've ruled out the ovarian tumor for her, but the quest still continues. So, I know the frustration and really do sympathize!

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  4. I have to say that if it is an ovarian tumor, it's a pretty straightforward fix from what I've seen. I've watched a couple of the laproscopic spays at the vet school and they seem pretty straightforward - one mare was getting a full spay so that she could be a teaser mare and another had a grapefruit sized ovary (tumor) that had to come out. They made a small incision, the mare stood the whole time and for the one ovary it only took about an hour for the actual surgery time (prep of course took a lot longer) and from what I heard, the mare recovered easily and was back to riding quickly. Hope you get some real answers soon!

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    1. thanks, that is helpful to know. funny that a spay was the one thing I really, REALLY did not want to even entertain the idea of doing, but it is the only permanent solution for these granulosa cell tumours. she could go on Regumate forever but that would be even more expensive, and a PITA.

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  5. The BO at my last barn spayed her Mare (at age 11) to help with her personality and sleep issues (long story but she would NEVER lay down and would fall asleep standing up but was so exhausted, would buckle/fall so there was risk of her breaking her leg, etc)-she did the LAP at Michigan State University. Easy surgery on horse, recovered really quickly.

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  6. Best of luck, Kate. I'm thinking of you and hoping for a good long-term result. This horse stuff is very stressful. Chin up, friend.

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  7. Sorry, I know how frustrating not knowing what's wrong can be. You did get some answers, you know she is not point tender along her spine. Hopefully lab work will help you figure some stuff out. Sometimes medicine (whether human or animal) is just the ability to know what something isn't.

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    1. exactly, and I am glad it's not a spine issue. who knows if she has this tumour, and the hormones are making her so batty that she can never relax. of course we always hope for some all-encompassing miracle cure but things with this horse are never easy or straightforward so I won't be shocked if there is no tumour at all, or if spaying her doesn't "fix" her.

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  8. So sorry. Hope you find out if that was what was going on soon.

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  9. Sorry to hear that you3ve been left with more questions then answers. Hopefully bloodtests will give you some answers and you can know what the next step is!
    *bighug*

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