ServiceMini
Well-Known Member
I'll start this off by saying Sodapop at nine months old, not even 24 inches, and 56 pounds with a mild lung infection(that her regular vet missed a week before she coliced) survived her surgery, despite having issues with the anesthetic, the surgeon running into complications, and having a very drawn out wake up time.
At midnight on the 28th/1st, Sodapop rolled a couple of times like she typically does every night as soon as I turn off the lights. I thought nothing of it- she rolls for a few seconds every single night, and sometimes once in the morning right after we get up. It's just her nightly ritual, and the vet agrees it just seems to be an odd personality trait vs a pain thing, as she quickly hops up and runs around every time afterwards and it is a daily thing with a typical cause (lights off, or lights turned back on in the morning).
But then once or twice an hour, she would roll again and wake me up. I also noticed that my dogs, who have a knack for knowing when things are wrong (they can even warn me up to a day BEFORE I have a pain flair), were pacing around, watching her, and whining. My German Shepherd especially.
Fast forward a little bit, and we got a hold of our regular vet. We got the okay to give her some oral Banamine left over from a small cut the week before that we had the vet out to check because it was near her eye (a result of her trying to steal catfood and getting caught on a now-removed staple). This is because from the time we called and the vets scrambled to figure out if they even had tools small enough to work on her, she went from being okay standing, to parking out and struggling to walk. They did not, so we were told to rush her to Cornell. After about half an hour the pain meds kicked in so she could manage the car ride there safely, and she was significantly better. Trying to eat, and even having zoomies on our way to the van before hopping in without prompting or letting me help her. Hopeful, we rushed to Cornell.
Her only symptoms were rolling, not pooping, standing in her litterbox (she kept trying to go), and then suddenly having issues standing/walking that came on in under an hour while on call with the vet.
She skipped sweating, biting at her stomach, kicking, pawing, shifting her weight frequently, being overly still, grunting, she didn't even start frequently looking at her side let alone touching it until just before I reached the vet.
We got there, and she had fun whinnying at her neighboring stallmates (though she was far too tiny to see them, but still knew they were there) and zooming down the hallways to keep up with the typically fast-walking vets (who are used to much larger horses, and forgot how teenie tiny her steps are). She was looking good.
We waited about an hour and a half for them to be done doing a full colic workup- and she was diagnosed with impaction colic. They also luckily caught that mild lung infection (though they weren't sure yet if it was lung or sinus), so she was started on antibiotics and they took a few x-rays to check for any forgin bodies that might show up, and to check her lungs and sinuses. Her lungs looked good, and no forgin bodies were found that showed. She was started on more pain meds, IV, and stomach was pumped with water while also given medicine to try breaking up the blockage.
When we said goodbye, she came running towards the waiting room door that was closed and whinnied until the vet tech opened it and let her come inside to see us. She was parking out and having trouble standing normally, but still gave me kisses, held onto my clothes, nuzzled my moms jacket, and kept trying to shake hands and do tricks. The vet tech said that she kept trying to do tricks during her exams too.
We went home, and at 8 were told she passed a tiny bit of manure.
At 4am, I was woken up to a call. She had passed just a few tiny pebbles of manure (half the size of a grape, or smaller), and was having serious gas buildup and breakthrough pain despite being on an opioid and ketamine. I of course gave them the go-ahead to to the trocarization (inserting a needle to remove gas/liquid buildup).
At 8am, we got a call saying that the gas hadn't built up any more, but that so far there was no more progress in passing anything. They said the current plan was to continue with the current treatment, but that surgery might be something to start thinking about, but that she really was not a good canident for it. She was in the ICU.
At 12:20, we got a call saying the gas had started building up again, but very quickly this time. This was a very bad sign. The likelyhood of having progress with medical colic treatment was unlikely. They had done another rectal for a ultrasound, and they found the manure hadn't moved at all. But at the same time; the odds of her making it through surgery were just as low. They doubted the surgeon would even try it. They said it was a lot of money for something without good odds. They said this might be a lifelong thing where she just continues to colic over and over again, no matter what we do. She is a failure to thrive baby. It turns out her mother? The palomino? Genetically impossible to be her mother. Bays and Palaminos cannot produce Red Dunns. So it's unknown if she ever even got colostrum, and she definitely wasn't nursing well from what i'd seen and the breeder said. She has never been a fan of hay (no matter how much we try), and will half-starve herself(No, it's not pain from ulcers, and our vets are working with us to try finding something she DOES like other than grass, grain and treats but its a very slow process), so unlike MOST minis she is a very hard keeper. Even with high grain rations (she loves her grain), a command to make her eat a few nibbles, and free choice hay and plenty of treats and monthly worming and perfect teeth; she dosen't have the fat reserves like most other horses have. She's also tiny- 56 pounds and the size of a lab. She is very young, I've had multible people tell me stories of how their foals got colic and simply went down and gave up.
They said it was our choice. They said they could talk to the surgery team. They didn't say it in words; but in tone and phrases, there was no hope. There was no talk of the surgery being successful. There was no talk of her ever coming home. When we asked about recovery, and when she'd be able to come home after surgery and what her care would be, we were just told it would be 'a lot of work if it happens'.
We told them to talk to the surgeon. To give us ten minuets, and we'd have the next 4k paid to get her the surgery. They called us back, and said that the surgeon agreed and that it was really the only chance.
We got there to see her at 1:40ish. I walked into her stall and knelt next to her, and she perked up. Even with drugs and pain to the point of trouble standing, she lifted her head and flicked my hand around for pets. She looked at my mom. She started sniffing around her stall, and even started clumsily walking a few steps. She still had her sparks in her eyes and was looking for trouble, trying to eat shavings through her muzzle. We spent some times with her.
-continued
At midnight on the 28th/1st, Sodapop rolled a couple of times like she typically does every night as soon as I turn off the lights. I thought nothing of it- she rolls for a few seconds every single night, and sometimes once in the morning right after we get up. It's just her nightly ritual, and the vet agrees it just seems to be an odd personality trait vs a pain thing, as she quickly hops up and runs around every time afterwards and it is a daily thing with a typical cause (lights off, or lights turned back on in the morning).
But then once or twice an hour, she would roll again and wake me up. I also noticed that my dogs, who have a knack for knowing when things are wrong (they can even warn me up to a day BEFORE I have a pain flair), were pacing around, watching her, and whining. My German Shepherd especially.
Fast forward a little bit, and we got a hold of our regular vet. We got the okay to give her some oral Banamine left over from a small cut the week before that we had the vet out to check because it was near her eye (a result of her trying to steal catfood and getting caught on a now-removed staple). This is because from the time we called and the vets scrambled to figure out if they even had tools small enough to work on her, she went from being okay standing, to parking out and struggling to walk. They did not, so we were told to rush her to Cornell. After about half an hour the pain meds kicked in so she could manage the car ride there safely, and she was significantly better. Trying to eat, and even having zoomies on our way to the van before hopping in without prompting or letting me help her. Hopeful, we rushed to Cornell.
Her only symptoms were rolling, not pooping, standing in her litterbox (she kept trying to go), and then suddenly having issues standing/walking that came on in under an hour while on call with the vet.
She skipped sweating, biting at her stomach, kicking, pawing, shifting her weight frequently, being overly still, grunting, she didn't even start frequently looking at her side let alone touching it until just before I reached the vet.
We got there, and she had fun whinnying at her neighboring stallmates (though she was far too tiny to see them, but still knew they were there) and zooming down the hallways to keep up with the typically fast-walking vets (who are used to much larger horses, and forgot how teenie tiny her steps are). She was looking good.
We waited about an hour and a half for them to be done doing a full colic workup- and she was diagnosed with impaction colic. They also luckily caught that mild lung infection (though they weren't sure yet if it was lung or sinus), so she was started on antibiotics and they took a few x-rays to check for any forgin bodies that might show up, and to check her lungs and sinuses. Her lungs looked good, and no forgin bodies were found that showed. She was started on more pain meds, IV, and stomach was pumped with water while also given medicine to try breaking up the blockage.
When we said goodbye, she came running towards the waiting room door that was closed and whinnied until the vet tech opened it and let her come inside to see us. She was parking out and having trouble standing normally, but still gave me kisses, held onto my clothes, nuzzled my moms jacket, and kept trying to shake hands and do tricks. The vet tech said that she kept trying to do tricks during her exams too.
We went home, and at 8 were told she passed a tiny bit of manure.
At 4am, I was woken up to a call. She had passed just a few tiny pebbles of manure (half the size of a grape, or smaller), and was having serious gas buildup and breakthrough pain despite being on an opioid and ketamine. I of course gave them the go-ahead to to the trocarization (inserting a needle to remove gas/liquid buildup).
At 8am, we got a call saying that the gas hadn't built up any more, but that so far there was no more progress in passing anything. They said the current plan was to continue with the current treatment, but that surgery might be something to start thinking about, but that she really was not a good canident for it. She was in the ICU.
At 12:20, we got a call saying the gas had started building up again, but very quickly this time. This was a very bad sign. The likelyhood of having progress with medical colic treatment was unlikely. They had done another rectal for a ultrasound, and they found the manure hadn't moved at all. But at the same time; the odds of her making it through surgery were just as low. They doubted the surgeon would even try it. They said it was a lot of money for something without good odds. They said this might be a lifelong thing where she just continues to colic over and over again, no matter what we do. She is a failure to thrive baby. It turns out her mother? The palomino? Genetically impossible to be her mother. Bays and Palaminos cannot produce Red Dunns. So it's unknown if she ever even got colostrum, and she definitely wasn't nursing well from what i'd seen and the breeder said. She has never been a fan of hay (no matter how much we try), and will half-starve herself(No, it's not pain from ulcers, and our vets are working with us to try finding something she DOES like other than grass, grain and treats but its a very slow process), so unlike MOST minis she is a very hard keeper. Even with high grain rations (she loves her grain), a command to make her eat a few nibbles, and free choice hay and plenty of treats and monthly worming and perfect teeth; she dosen't have the fat reserves like most other horses have. She's also tiny- 56 pounds and the size of a lab. She is very young, I've had multible people tell me stories of how their foals got colic and simply went down and gave up.
They said it was our choice. They said they could talk to the surgery team. They didn't say it in words; but in tone and phrases, there was no hope. There was no talk of the surgery being successful. There was no talk of her ever coming home. When we asked about recovery, and when she'd be able to come home after surgery and what her care would be, we were just told it would be 'a lot of work if it happens'.
We told them to talk to the surgeon. To give us ten minuets, and we'd have the next 4k paid to get her the surgery. They called us back, and said that the surgeon agreed and that it was really the only chance.
We got there to see her at 1:40ish. I walked into her stall and knelt next to her, and she perked up. Even with drugs and pain to the point of trouble standing, she lifted her head and flicked my hand around for pets. She looked at my mom. She started sniffing around her stall, and even started clumsily walking a few steps. She still had her sparks in her eyes and was looking for trouble, trying to eat shavings through her muzzle. We spent some times with her.
-continued
They specifically said 'Dogs eat weird things, horses generally dont'.
Prayers are being said.
) after you get something built and she can have it year round unlike grass.
