Well, I have a little bit of a scare last couple of days with my horse, Sandy. She's actually my husband's horse. He picked her out and it was
his horse. But, little by little she became more my horse as I am the main caregiver for all three of them.
Sandy has heaves, in human world it is comparable to CPOD. She's had it for quite a few years now and is on steroids usually throughout the summer. It's something that will only get worse and as it gets harder to breathe, it's harder to eat.
For the last few weeks I've noticed that she is not finishing her grain which is usually what we call their "candy." They love it! It's like a treat. So when they stop eating that, there's a problem. I noticed that she had lost weight and that really frightened me. I have a girlfriend who lost a horse years ago with the same thing. And, in the end, that's what made her decision to put him down. He was so thin and not eating enough no matter what she did or what she gave him. She knew that it was time.
So when I let the horses all out to the pasture the other day, I look out and see Sandy just standing by the run-in out in the pasture. That was unusual. They love going out in the pasture and eating grass. There'd be no way that any of them will be just standing around unless they been out there for 3 days! LOL
I went out to look at her and she was breathing hard. The medicine that I had given her for the last 4 weeks was gone and I was actually waiting on an order for another bottle to come in. But actually that medicine should have made her better. It's something that you give loaded up the first week. And then progressively give it in lesser amounts each week until you taper off to nothing. As each year goes by, it's gotten to the point where she can be on this steroid the whole summer. Not just for an interim time. When winter brings in the cooler months she does a little bit better. She still breathing harder than everybody else and damage to the lungs gets worse and worse but winter she's usually not on any medication.
So that morning when she actually stopped eating I was in a panic! She had eaten everything overnight in her stall so that was good. But for her to not eat in the morning was very unusual. I thought maybe I should call the vet and just get an evaluation. I wasn't ready for anything drastic but I thought maybe he should come out.
I called him up and surprised myself that I lost it completely on the phone as soon as I started talking.
He was so kind. He said, What's wrong? Something happened. What's wrong?!
I told him it was Sandy and that she wasn't eating. I told him I'm not ready to put her down but I would like you to come out and evaluate her. He said he would be out in an hour.
I tried to walk her back to the Corral and she went for a little bit and then she stopped and wouldn't budge. So I left her out in the pasture figuring we would just drive out there. A little while later I was going to go back out there and bring some more hay for her. I brought some earlier when she first stopped eating. I thought maybe if I brought her hay she wouldn't have to move she could just stand there and eat that and it would be more than the little bit of grass that she would have to keep moving to get.
So I was in the barn ready to get on my golf cart when I heard a soft knicker and recognized it as her! I looked up and she was right in the Corral by the fence! So I quickly threw her some hay and closed the gate so she couldn't go back out to the pasture.
When my vet got here we went into the Corral and he listened to her heart and lungs. He said, her lungs are very congested and her heart is beating 80 times a minute. Normal is about 40. So, he said, she is working hard just to breathe. He figured just by a visual that she lost about a hundred pounds. But he said she can gain that back in a month. We just have to get her comfortable enough to start eating again. So he gave her a shot of an antibiotic and also a shot of banamine which is a pain reliever. He said she should feel better shortly and start eating. And she did. Still breathing bad but at least she was eating.
Losing the weight is the thing that makes me lose my mind. Once an animal stops eating you know it's usually time.
Through tears I asked him when do you think I will know it's 'time.' He said, it's not now. Okay, good. We'll go with that. He gave me a tube of paste banamine that I can give her for the next couple of days for pain and inflammation.
So far she's been eating. Trying to give her more grain to help put weight back on but she doesn't always eat it. I leave a bucket of it in her stall sometime overnight just in the hopes that she will finish it though the night.
I was a basket case that day thinking it was 'my turn.' I've always said, every friend I know that has horses has lost one or more. It seemed like I was the only one that still had my three. Sandy is 25 years old. And that's not really that old for a horse. They can live into their 30s. I think with her disease it may take her sooner. I've always thought if it was one of them, it would be her first. We all need to breathe! And it's a horrible thing to watch when they can't. But I still won't be ready when the time comes.
Monday
In better days....
He told me that a long time ago and I kind of laughed but he said that there are some people that do it. Just to get them through the bad times like now. I just can't imagine doing that. It's like wrapping her in plastic! It would be a big ordeal to get that done. I suppose it would probably help though. It's like people with allergies that do better in the air conditioning.
