Disclaimer: Please note that none of the information contained in these files is meant to be professional information. Consult your vet, attorney or other professional for their advice. To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: Williams Subject: EQ-ResQ: Euthenasia question Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 18:25:43 -0500 How do you all (those in rescues) decide when it is time to ehuthenize one of your horses? What is your policy for deciding when it is unjust to make a horse continue fighting for its life? And those who aren't in official rescues, how do you make that decision as well? Sorry to bring up such a sad/depressing topic, but it is one anyone in rescue needs to be prepared for.. -- Jennifer Williams President, Lone Star Equine Rescue - http://www.lser.org/ Editor and Designer, Equine Designs - http://www.equinedesigns.com/ ICQ # 21839353 ========== Williams ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: The Zoo Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Euthenasia question Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 21:57:17 -0400 >How do you all (those in rescues) decide when it is time to ehuthenize >one of your horses? What is your policy for deciding when it is unjust >to make a horse continue fighting for its life? And those who aren't in >official rescues, how do you make that decision as well? We've had to put down 2 of our doll babies (we're in private rescue). One was fairly easy. He was 22, fell in the pasture while running and broke his hip. No question. The vet was there within an hour and we said goodbye. The second one was not so easy. We had rescued her from sure starvation. When we got her, she was a 14hh skeleton with skin stretched over it (probably 300+ pounds underweight). She had been bred continuously since she "came of age" and had just had a baby pulled for weaning (her bag hadn't even dried up yet). She was "guestimated" at 42+ when we got her (the vet was amazed that she could have had a foal at that age, but he said her bag indicated that the baby had recently been weaned; she was still making milk). She never got as fat as we would have liked, but she sure had a lot of spunk. She was with us for more than 5 years. One day she just laid down and was struggling to get back up. The vet came out and said that her body had simply given up; the starvation had continued too long before we got her and she never fully recovered. She was as healthy as could be expected; she still had spirit; but her body wasn't willing to go on. I knew it was time when I looked in her eyes. No matter how much I wanted to keep Elegant Little Bit (Ellie) around, she told me she was ready to go. We don't believe in allowing animals to suffer, so if it is evident that an animal is suffering, we let them go. A friend of ours had a mare who stumbled on frozen mud in the pasture and broke her ankle severely. The vet came out and told her there was no way to save the mare because the bones were shattered. He said the mare was in a serious amount of pain, but he couldn't in good conscience give her anything for the pain because she might use the leg if it didn't hurt and she'd hurt herself worse. The girl decided to have her put down. BUT..... (and this is what really upset me) She made that mare stand in her stall for 3 days until she could find someone with a backhoe to dig a hole so the mare could walk to her grave. I don't have anything to do with that girl anymore. Another person we knew had a huge, gorgeous QH gelding who had a simple break in his right hind leg from slipping on ice. She had the vet out, the leg was repaired, and she thought things would be OK. Over the course of the next 3 weeks, after further X-rays, it was discovered that the leg wasn't healing. It was also discovered that his good hind leg was breaking down due to being over-used to compensate for not being able to use the bad leg. She had the good leg heavily wrapped for support. She knew the animal was in pain and that he was not going to heal, yet she made him stand in a stall for another 2 weeks before putting him down. I haven't spoken to her in several years. Unfortunately, a lot of humans tend to be very selfish about their animals. They just can't seem to let them go, no matter how badly they're hurting. I cry and I rant and rave that I'm going to die without them, but I let them go before I get too upset; I save the crying for later, then I go wrap my arms around a big furry neck and cry my eyes out. I'm just as selfish as the next human; I'd love to have every one of my animals with me forever. But I can't bear to see them suffer, so I say goodbye when it's necessary. Janis M. ========== The Zoo ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: SPetty1620@aol.com Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Euthenasia question Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 23:43:47 EDT I pretty much let my vet help me with that. Then I make the final decision. I ask him if he feels that there is a reasonable chance of the horse recovering to a point where he would live a comfortable and happy life. Also, how much pain will he have to endure and for how long, to get to that point. I don't believe that a horse should have to endure a life of misery just for the sake of living. A few months of intense pain may feel like a living hell when you don't know what you are working toward. A person could endure life in a wheelchair because he still has family, friends and can take up hobbies and even work that don't require walking. A person might also be able to handle a year of painful physical therapy for a small chance to live a somewhat normal life again. There is hope for the human. A horse does not understand that he might be ok later. I think we should try to put ourselves in the horses' place, considering that his needs and feelings are different from ours. Would we want to live this way if we were him? I have seen horses that still had a good attitude even when they were in constant and severe pain. Is this really a good judgment of whether he is happy? Horses have no fear of death the way that we do. They DO know pain and fear, and I take this into consideration when taking any animals' life into my hands. Death is sometimes the best decision. Don't get me wrong, I am not one to jump right into euthanasia. I just believe that once we have done our best, and the animal does not have a reasonable chance of living a happy life, letting him go peacefully is the most loving and morale way. I have seen too many people let an animal suffer way too long because they were not strong enough to make a decision. I am not any stronger than average when it comes to putting an animal down, but I know that I have to do the right thing if I want to be able to live with myself. I have recently dealt with this question with a wonderful AQHA gelding, but after several vet visits we have decided that he is comfortable enough to live his life as a pasture pet. Nothing can be done to make him sound again, but he seems quite content and even has a nice relationship with another gelding. He seems to be more handicapped than in pain. We believe this to be true because no attempts to block the pain make any difference, and they should. I think this is a good decision. He is quite happy, just a little slower than he normally would be. If I believed him to be in pain with every step, the decision would be different, I assure you. Just my thoughts, for whatever they are worth. Sharelle In Houston, where Magic, a beautiful and very sweet black AQHA gelding is looking for a permanent home as a pasture buddy. ========== SPetty1620@aol.com ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: Dody70@aol.com Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Euthenasia question Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 08:51:17 EDT I have just in the past few months put my yearling to sleep due to colic and it was one of the worst decisions in my life.I made the decision after walking all night and a day and I knew in my heart he was suffering so the next step was to put him down.I really feel for anyone who does the same. Dody ========== Dody70@aol.com ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: Dody70@aol.com Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Euthenasia question Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 08:51:17 EDT I have just in the past few months put my yearling to sleep due to colic and it was one of the worst decisions in my life.I made the decision after walking all night and a day and I knew in my heart he was suffering so the next step was to put him down.I really feel for anyone who does the same. Dody ========== Dody70@aol.com ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: "slyshot" Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Euthenasia question Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 08:58:44 -0400 This is something we have to deal with several times each year, due to the large numbers of animals that come to us. It is virtually never easy, although often there is no question it is the right thing to do. With input from our vet, we let the horse tell us when it is time, based on the horse's will to fight and the long-term prognosis. When there is a question in the rescue president's mind about whether this is the time, she will poll three other board members before making a decision. If there is not a concensus the horse doesn't get put down. It is not a call I look forward to, but the only time I have said "no" the horse suffered for it, when the coffin bone rotated more and went through the sole. I still consider all the info before I say "yes". (I should add that we have one director who never gets called because that director would never, ever say yes. A good director in many ways, but not in that way.) And sometimes economics does play a role in the decision, esp. with colic. Our view is that if we spend thousands of dollars on surgery for colic, how many other horses would we have been able to help with those dollars? Occasionally there will be someone who says "I will cover the cost of the surgery if needed", in which case we would go ahead, but I don't think that has ever come to pass yet. We always have a necropsy done to determine exact cause of death. If there should ever be any questions about why a horse died we have it in black and white. The necropsies also help us in dealing with the loss as they show other things going on which weren't apparent, which made euthanizing the right thing to do. I will give examples of some of our situations which might be helpful. As a final note, there are some rescues who euthanize horses just because they are old, and this is something we do not do. As long as the horse has the will and a good shot at reasonable quality of life we will do everything within reason to save it. - We lost our poster horse Scrapper a few months ago. While we were soundly blasted by a number of people for not putting Scrapper down when she first came to us several years ago (so starved she couldn't stand on her own for 8 weeks), she had the will to fight then. This time she colicked and after two days of intensive management on the farm went to the vet's clinic. She did not improve, didn't have the will to fight, and surgery was the only option. The post-mortem revealed that she had a lipoma, a fatty tumor growing at the end of a long strand, which had wrapped itself around her intestines. - A teenaged TB mare was running, bucking, jumping in the field, came down wrong and busted her pelvis and could not get up. This can heal with about 6 months of stall rest, but we knew this mare would self-destruct within days of stall confinement, so there was no point in trying. The bad part of this situation was that it happened on a Sunday in the dead of summer so we knew it would be 1-2 days before the renderer could remove the carcass, and the volunteer most attached to that horse was there at the time. All we could do was put her down, cover her with a tarp, and leave her in the middle of the field. - A teenaged QH mare, very sweet and patient, had been turned out with a bunch of wild ponies before we got her. We were pretty sure she would never be rideable, but an excellent companion horse. She had a large, deep puncture wound that would not heal. She went for surgery, the surgeon looked her over completely and took more x-rays, to find that her ribs on the other side of her body were so badly damaged that she would have little quality of life even with the surgery. Sorry this is so long but I hope it is helpful. Klondike (Cris May) Days End Farm Horse Rescue (MD) http://www.defhr.org ========== "slyshot" ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@MyList.net From: "Lackey, Darcy" Subject: EQ-ResQ: Euthanasia Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 08:18:53 -0600 As I just went through this with Cassidy, I found that I was lucky that she was at CSU as they have a wonderful grief counseling program. The program helps with the decision and provides support afterwards. There are guidelines established by the American Equine Veterinary Association (I think this is right) that really helped me know that I was making the right decision, I don't remember them off the top of my head exactly, but are something like: 1. What is the prognosis for recovery? 2. Is the horse a danger to himself or those taking care of him? 3. Can he defend himself? (very important as they are herd animals, even if they live in a stall) and also, the emotional part: 1. If you prolong this horse's life, is it for you or for him? 2. Are you hoping the horse will die on its own so that you won't need to make the decision? 3. If you want to put it off, how will it be easier tomorrow? The bottomline is that we provide our animals with a good quality of life, but the real responsibility is in providing them with a good quality of death with it is time. If you are in tune with the animal they will tell you when they are ready. Darcy ========== "Lackey, Darcy" ====== ============================================================ Disclaimer: Please note that none of the information contained in these files is meant to be professional information. Consult your vet, attorney or other professional for their advice.