There's no such thing as a "free" horse........
On Friday afternoon March 30, I left work a little early in order to meet the vet at my house. She was culturing one of the mares to make sure she was ok to breed this year. Luna was lying down in her paddock and she often does swiching her tail (many times that's the only way you know she's alive). She didn't appear any different than normal.
Well, 20 minutes into the visit, Dr. Peroni noticed that Luna was lying funny, with her legs spread at a funny angle but it still didn't cause us to be alarmed. When Dr. Peroni was finishing up her exams and loading her truck, I noticed Luna starting to roll.....over....and over......I went to pet on her and she dropped to the ground while I was petting her....and rolled. Oh no. Something was wrong! It got worse VERY fast. I called Dr. Peroni back from her truck and she said it was colic and administered some meds and wanted me to watch her and keep her comfortable. What a long night had started for us all.......It all came on very quickly and I'm so glad it happened while we were at home and the vet was there. I guess it couldn't have been more "convenient".
It's hard to keep a 4 week old up and going. She was not halter broke so I couldn't walk her. I kept walking the mother and Luna would follow most of the time. But I could tell the pain was just not subsiding so the vet was called out again around 11 pm. An ultrasound showed LOTS of gas buildup in the intestines but it could not tell exactly what was going on. Meds were administured again with the advice that if that didn't give her comfort, we should to to the vet school. After an hour of NO improvement, we loaded up and went to the University of Georgia vet school. Believe me, it's a blessing that we live so close (15 minutes)!
They worked with Luna all night hopeing that they could resolve this without surgery. They said since she was so young and small, they really didn't want to do surgery if there was any other possible way. But, it's such a hard call because you don't want to wait too long until too much damage has already been done inside. So, I put my trust in the vets and techs there. They kept her "fairly" comfortable during the night after working with her for 4-5 hours ultrasounding, and xraying and doing other procedures. They clipped her belly to do the ultrasounds and it was so bloated! I was surprised after the surgery to see how small it was "supposed" to be compared to what it was. They eventually stalled Blossom and Luna around 5 am Saturday morning. They kept administering meds until lunchtime on Saturday when they decided surgery was the only way. They gave her 70 percent chance of full recovery due to her age and size.
Luna had an ENTIRE waiting room full of people to give her (and me!) support and I had friends calling in all during the several hour ordeal to check on us all. There were so many in the waiting room that the doctors looked surprised when they came in the first time to give updates. Within a very short time, they said they had found the blockage in her large intestine that was basiclly a huge hairball. They said things looked good at that point. A while later they came back in to say the surgeon had felt Luna's stomach and there was something in there larger than the blockage in her intestine. The options were sew her up and risk that getting blocked and facing a second colic surgery OR do a gastrodomy which, by itself, carried some SERIOUS consequences. Opening of the stomach could risk very bad gastic liquids getting into the body cavity and causing septic situations, infection and possible death. Now the chances were down to 50-60 percent for a full recovery. But, we decided the best thing was to do the gastrodomy, too. That was going to add another hour or so to the procedure......
When the doctor came to give another update, she said that they had pulled a hairball EVEN BIGGER than the one in her intestine from her stomach and that they had saved that one for me to see (ick). I wanted to frame it and hang it in my house if it would have lasted because it is definitely the most expensive piece of artwork I'll ever own! Due to it's "organic" nature, I couldn't frame it, but we did take a photo of it (we added the quarter to give you a size reference). She said it was definitely something that could not have passed and the gastrodomy had been the right thing to do. They were now closing and Luna would be in recovery in 45 minutes or so.
The surgeon came out to talk with us and said the surgery could NOT have gone any better than it did. He was extremely happy with the way the gastrodomy had worked out and he deemed it necessary (after the fact of course). He lifted Luna's recover to more like 80 percent or more since she had done so well. He also said it ended up being a good thing that Luna was so small. They cannot really do gastrodomys in "big" horses because you can't easily get to the stomach and it's contents and it is located so deep in the barrel that the surgeon would have to be up to his biceps to get to it. Luna was so small that he was able to get to the stomach easily and much more safely.
About 45 minutes later, Luna came out of recovery and was reunited with one very happy Blossom (she can not STAND to be away from her babies). For the first day or two, Luna had to be muzzled and was only allowed to have it off to nurse supervised. That was to keep her from ingesting any hay or other solid items into the recovering stomach. Luna did NOT like the muzzle at all. While she was pretty sedated the first day, she started showing signs of her old self the very next day by being very interested in visitors, etc. She was able to wean off antibiotics much quicker than expected and she was able to come home by Thursday night (only 5 days after surgery). She and Blossom were confined to a stall for two weeks with supervised outtings. Then, slowly they were introduced to larger surroundings. Luna was spunky from the very beginning of recovery and she insisted on bucking and kicking in the stall and trying to run about in it. The doctors said she would let pain be her guide to know when to stop.
|
|
|
| Contents of Luna's stomach (minus the quarter - it's just there for a size reference). The majority of this is hair with some grass/hay mixed in . The hair acted almost like a "glue" to hold it all together. The same type of obstruction was what they found in her intestine as well. | Poor Luna stayed muzzled most of the first few days and was only allowed to nurse while supervised to make sure she was only ingesting milk and not trying to eat Blossom's hay or more of her hair. | Blossom was TOTALLY body clipped the day after Luna's surgery (we used one of the exam rooms and yes we cleaned it up afterwards). I braided her mane and tail, too, to keep ANY possible hair out of Luna. |
Just weeks after surgery, Luna would run around my back yard and even buck and kick a bit. You'd never know she had surgery unless you were curious about the funny clip job she had (her belly and some on her legs, neck and face). I will admit that everytime I see her lying down, my heart beats fast and I stare at her for a LONG time making sure she's "just" lying down or if see her bite at her sides I make sure she's "only" biting at flies.
So far, so good. It's been 5 weeks as of her 9 week photos on this site. She looks very healthy and I don't think you would suspect she's been through the ordeal she has been.
My "free" horse (I own both the mare and stallion) is now my most expensive one and I love her dearly. What a cutie she is. I pray that the Lord sees fit to have her live the rest of her life healthy and without any complications. We'll see!
 |
 |
 |
| Luna on April 23rd - a little over 3 weeks after surgery. It's hard to see from this angle but she was shaved under her neck, on her front legs and all on her belly so we decided if it was not too staining on Luna, we would clip her whole body. | I guess since she had had so many "hands on " experiences with clipping already, she was pretty darn good for her first clip and did not get very frustrated by any of it (except the very lower legs). We gave her many "rest" breaks and here is the result. | Blossom sporting her braided mane and bagged tail to keep Luna away from as much hair as possible. Luna had a healthy appetite from right after the surgery and it continues. |