Decision to make

[lively]

Well I have a decision to make and just do not know what to do. Many of you know Ms. Piggy's story. I have had her almost a year. We made it through the surprise baby and months of horrid diarrhea. I honestly love this mare even though she drives me nuts. She had very few molars left when I had the very float her teeth a while back. Well since then she had lost additional molars. No matter what we cannot seem to get any weight on her now. The poor old lady seems so miserable. We had her up to a healthy weight and then suddenly everything has gone downhill. Almost all of her fiber is a combination of beat pulp and soaked Timothy pellets (she can't eat alfalfa). She does not even attempt to eat hay any other way these days. She is arthritic and also has her heart murmur. She just isn't herself. I am planning to have my vet come check her over to see what I can do to increase her quality of life. Headshot is completely weaned at this point. Ms. Piggy has died up. Ironically enough she has done this of her own accord. We had planned to wean this month anyways but she has already handled it. I need to figure out what is best for her. She gets fed about four times a day right now. I went with small meals hoping it would help. Across the board though she is getting about 12lbs a day of pelleted feed,3lbs beat pulp, and 15 of Timmy pellets. These are all dry weights. As well as a fat supplement.
She is wormed regular and gets a monthly dose of psyllium. I had her on senior feed and she dropped so bad on her weight. So I went back with the mare and Foal even though she is no longer nursing. She does not seem to drop so fast with it. She almost holds her weight with it. I know she is in horrid shape right now. I had hoped with the baby being weaned it would help but she is continuing to drop. I highly doubt she will make it through the winter at this rate and am sorely tempted to go ahead and have her put down one we have her home. The thought tears me up, but I can't stand watching her suffer. Either way I will have to see what the very can figure out with her. I do not want to put her down but she is getting really bad. Add to all of this that her vision is starting to go as well. I reckon I just needed to get it all out with an unbiased party.

[elnini]

I guess you have to look at whether where she is right now is as good as she is ever going to be from now on, and whether that is a) quality of life and b) only going to get worse. The trick I think is to give them release just before they take the step into miserable, if she's miserable now then unless the vet can point to something correctable then she's only going to get more miserable.

Tough as it is, especially when you feel she deserves a tilt at some time happy and healthy, it might be time. See what the vet says and then make the decision.

[dinee]

Oh Lively, I am so sorry. I wish I could say that I had the magic cure all but I don't.
I would suggest you wait for the Vet and make the decision based on what he/she finds.
It's a really hard decision to make.

[Debbie Lincoln]

Hard call, but I would let her go before she is miserable. I did it for my old mare - and she was just weaning a foal, too. Her kidneys were failing and we might have kept her alive for 4 months more, but I could not bear to let her be in the pain she would have suffered or see her reduced to a bag of bones. We put her down while she was still beautiful. And it sounds almost as if Miss PIggy is even worse off with no teeth. But you'll know when it's time.

[karenp]

Unfortunately if you wait it always seems they go down under the worst circumstances; out in the rain or snow, a weekend or holiday when you can't get ahold of the vet. They never seem to go quietly in their sleep which is what I pray for. Listen to what the vet has to say, but it sounds like the time is close.

[jerseycowgirl]

This kind of decision is never easy. I just had to put my old mare down two weeks ago. She was 31 years old and this past year she just got thinner and thinner, no matter how much food I set before her. I knew that Monday morning that it was the day. Late that afternoon she got down and could not get back up. I had promised her that when that happened I would put her down. It was the right thing to do, just very hard. What was even harder was to watch one of my geldings, who was very close to her, mourn for her. For several days he spent most of the time standing where she always stood in the barn, with his head hanging down.
You will know when it is time. My heart goes out to you.
Pam

[dmbenson]

If you are observant, they'll tell you when it's time. I put my Blue down the 19th after many many miles and many years together. In fact, we bought this farm and moved to Kentucky in large part because of him - to give him pastures to run on, instead of a pipe corral to stand around in, in Utah. I had been watching him very closely for a couple of years (he started developing tumors 7 or 8 years ago and I knew it was just a matter of time), and this year he just didn't pick up condition at all. With all the pasture he should have been on the verge of founder, instead he was dropping weight like a Sudanese refugee. I could actually see fresh tumors forming under his skin - and he kept coming up and for want of a better word, hugging on me - I mean really clingy. Much more than his usual friendliness. He wasn't in any super active pain, but he wasn't 'comfortable' either. It was time and I made the call.

Our animals have no concept of 'tomorrow' they only have the 'now' - and if 'now' is miserable, that's all they know. Better a week too early than a day too late as difficult as it is on US. IMO.

Many hugs - I KNOW it's a difficult decision.

[eljay]

I've had a few gummers throughout the years, and there's something about a nice old horse that pulls my heart strings. With old horses summer is usually the time they are able to gain back. If she's still losing that says something important to you. I was able to keep the old arthritic guys comfortable on a daily dose of bute in their feed. You could try that for a while. I always keep in mind that if they are losing weight in the winter and they are already skinny that means they are feeling the cold acutely. While I'm happy for the fat horses to lose some weight in the winter, I know that if a cold snap hits I can feed them nonstop hay and they will be comfortable through it. Not so with the old skinny ones. It's an awful decision to make for sure. I think it's harder on us than on them.

[sable]

It sounds like you know what you need to do, since the thought is crossing your mind. I mean that in the best possible way. As much as we love our companions I feel that when we consider letting them go it is for good reason. I second about horses going down in the worst possible circumstances. When I got divorced I had a 27yr old gelding that had been declining for a while. My ex offered to take care of him before he left town, and I took him up on it because I was so afraid of the horse going down and having no way of helping him by myself.

Simply out of practicality also, the weather is a consideration. I hated not being able to bury Curly because it was winter.

[lively]

Thank you everyone. We have a nice spot picked out for her at the new place. My vet is due out next Monday to check her out again. I think we may be letting her go. I have a very soft spot for old horses.

[wyomama]

I've cared for lots of old horses, and I can tell you that it is far, far, far better to plan for their final day to be a beautiful, peaceful, crisp Indian Summer day where they have no pain and anxiety than to find them down and hypothermic in the bitter cold on a Saturday night when you can find no one to help.

I've also - and this may sound grim - when I wasn't sure how the winter would go, had a grave dug so that if things took a bad turn, we'd be prepared.

[lively]

Thank you Wyo. I am planning to have her retested asap for EIA. There has been a confirmed case very close to where my horses live. More then two hundred yards but i live next to a horse stable that has boarders who ride in the trails a stones throw away from where the case was confirmed.This way i can hopefully rule that out and if not,,,well i can be responsible enough to let those close to know. To my knowledge neither the barn owner or her patrons plan to retest until the due date on their previous tests.

[lively]

I figured I would update here. Ms.Pig has started picking up her weight regular and the diarrhea has stopped. She is not fat and Sassy but she does have a good winter coat and her ribs are no longer visible. Her top line looks horrid still but you can now see where it is starting to fill in some. The lines are slowly softening. Her Hindend no longer looks like someone pitched a tent either. The points are finally starting to round out again.

[suzorse]

was she nursing a foal when she got thin ? as worms will cause the runs in some horses
I have had mares milk off their back just like a cow , glad she is gaining weight for you
Suzanne

[dinee]

Well I think you know that Ms Pig is not done til she says she is. She sure is one fighter. I have a feeling that when she is ready to go she will let you know very clearly.

[lively]

I am hoping its not for a long time yet. The old girl drives me batty but I do enjoy her. Some people don't understand why I am more than happy having her around when she is essentially an expensive lawn ornament. I haven't had her long but she makes me smile