Re: Cost of euthanasia

[Bluebirdpr@aol.com]

We recently lost our 5 yr. old Morab mare from what we think was a twisted gut
colic.  Eight weeks earlier she had surgery to remove an ovary that weighed 11
pounds and was the size of a volleyball.  We found this after having her
ultrasound because she had been acting studdy around our other mares and would
actually mount them. At this time we were fortunate to have a vet working for
us full time.  Our vet noticed that our mare was not herself in the pasture.
She was running up and down the fence line and kept looking her shoulder like
something was chasing her.  By the time we got her in she started going down
and we started giving her drugs but it was evident that she had something else
besides a common colic.  Our vet could only get her arm in halfway for a
rectal exam and we knew she would not make a 3 hour ride to NC State.  Besides
we would have to stop every 30 minutes to continue the pain drug.  As it was
we were giving her pain medicine every 10 minutes because the mare was in such
pain.  We all agreed to put her down and believe me, we ALL were crying.  All
this started at 3PM and was over at 5:30PM.  It's hard to except that your
future endurance buddy is fine one minute and gone the next.  I guess I'm
writing this because we expect our vets to know all the answers and make
decisions that we cannot make and never stop to think that they hurt and
grieve as much and sometimes more than we do.  Oh well, my opinion.  Actually
this was good therapy to write about this sad experience.  I haven't wanted to
talk about it much.  This is why I like ridecamp.  Thanks.

Phil