Monday, May 23, 2016

Bad News First

I am back from delivering Frosty to his new home. It was an amazing trip. Couldn't be happier for the big buckskin!! But I am exhausted and having to deal with bad news first...

Miss, the gray mare is not breedable. I dropped her off at the breeding station before I left, knowing she would be coming into heat while I was gone and on my way home I got a call from the breeder and vet telling me that Miss's birth canal is filled with malenomas. Even if we could get her to carry a foal, she would be unable to deliver it.

I took a day to process the information and did a little research on the likelihood of harvesting some unfertilized eggs from her, since I cannot afford an embryo transfer this year, but that particular reproductive science has not been particularly successful and I finally had to conclude that I was just not going to get a foal out of that mare.

When I got home, I talked with the vet a little more about the possibility of waiting until next year to do an embryo transfer on her and he said that considering the rate of growth on the malenomas, it was highly unlikely she would even be able to accomplish that by next year.

So that is that.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as too harsh, but I picked the mare up from the breeding station and delivered her to the vet's for euthanasia.

Outwardly, Miss looked better than ever, but her insides are a different story and I was just not comfortable with the thought of bringing her home and letting her stand around until she did finally start going downhill externally. Who knows how much internal pain she would have to suffer before it became obvious on the outside? I just cannot stomach letting an animal suffer like that, so I just had to make the call that now was as good a time as any for her to be laid to rest. Lord knows the poor mare suffered enough in her life. Her last few years were good. That was the best I could do for her.


11 comments:

Unknown said...

Long time reader here, don't usually say much but I had to on this one. Thank you for making the tough decision. Thank you for not letting an animal suffer until you were ready. Thank you so much for letting her go. Thank you.

TeresaA said...

Oh I am sorry- what a hard decision that was to make. You did the right thing by her. I agree with the not waiting for the inevitable pain and decline.

IanH said...

That's a tough decision, but the right one.

C-ingspots said...

Oh, I'm sorry to hear this. :( Deciding on euthanasia is never an easy one, but in many cases it's the kindest and most appropriate for the animal's welfare. Thank you for stepping up and doing what needed to be done. There are some who just cannot accomplish this, and it's always the animals that suffer because of their weakness. I am sorry about it though - she would have produced a very nice foal.

Genie said...

I am so sorry. You had such great hopes for her. But you made the right decision. If she had that many melanomas, she had to be in pain and it is better that you eased her suffering.

Crystal said...

Oh no that's a tough one. Too bad not to get a foal out of her but for her you made the best choice.

Mrs Shoes said...

You put her before yourself - that's love.

2 Punk Dogs said...

That was a kind decision, better than waiting until she was in a lot of pain or getting into a crisis. A foal would have been likely to inherit the cancer gene too. Glad she had a good life with you!

We lost a good dog to cancer a month ago, it's a tough thing.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

2 Punk Dogs - Just to clarify...Malenomas are not a hereditary gene that can be passed down. They are almost strictly associated with the gray gene, regardless of breed or bloodline. They do however have a strong association with 'flea-bitten' grays, which this mare was one. It probably didn't help that this mare lived in appalling conditions for about 7 years of her life and lack of care and poor nutrition made her even more susceptible. If she would have produced a gray foal, it would have been no more or no less likely to develop malenomas than any other gray horse. Also, as a rule, malenomas are benign, although as the horse ages, they can become cancerous and you can usually tell when they do. It's often the location that causes problems, as was the case with this mare. :-(

Sherry Sikstrom said...

SO sorry, but I agree, why wait till she is suffering obviously, she may already have been in considerable pain,. Its the right thing to do, but its not often easy is it?
Wishing we could have connected for a visit when you were this close, but 6 hours is just not quite close enough lol. Maybe in Vegas this year

Cut-N-Jump said...

Well shit. There. Everyone was thinking it and I said it. I agree that letting her go now was probably one of the toughest but best choices for her. Its not like that can tell us-> this hurts, that don't feel right or anything else. She lived the good life for a while after you brought her home. You did what you could for her during that time. That's what counts.

If her repro tract was full of melanomas, no telling how many others she had or where they were.