Linda.. I'm sorry to hear you lost a horse. I've heard several stories
like this. So... I can't stand it and am posting this to the list.
I know we have a few vets on this list and I'm not one of them, so please
join in!
Every situation is different, but I have enough experience to think that
general anesthesia and endurance horses is a special case. I'm hoping that
this never happens to anyones horse! In a nutshell, general anesthesia
is metabolized first into fat tissue and then it is slowly filtered out of
the body... like in the urine. When a horse (or any animal) comes out of a
general anthesia, the drug is still in their body, it's just moved from the
blood stream and into the fat. The horse wakes up.
Interestingly enough, I heard this from Becky Hart years ago after she bought
her Irish Wolfhound, Baru. When he went in to get 'fixed' she mentioned that
the vet *had* to be experienced with site hounds --> *because they have about
1/2 the body fat of regular dog breeds*. This means they can only take about
1/2 the general anesthesia of, say, a collie pup of the same age. If the body
does not have enough fat tissue to absorb the drug, then the drug level in the
blood stream can rise to dangerous levels and the animal just does not wake up.
Please tell me your vets *know* this. Endurance horses have a lower percentage
of body fat than, say, a pleasure quarter horse. I have heard of too many of
our friends (one was too many) just not ever coming out of general anesthesia.
Is it related to the lower body fat? If so, do your vets realize this?
Can we get a FAQ put together by experienced vets to post on the www site?
*off soap box*. I hope I don't have to don any flame retardant gear.
Linda, I'm truely sorry to hear about your loss.
:( - kat
kmyers@collagen.com