Gelding Protocol

[LittleRibbie]

Well I made the appt. to have little Cam gelded a week from Fri....against hubbys wishes!! what is it with him, its not like they are cutting his jewels off .

Anyway I just wanted to ask what medications/ointments or things that I may need for after care. Things that I may not usually have on hand.

Also in your experience do they do the surgery in the stalls or just out on the grass with sheets on the ground. I know these are maybe silly questions but... do you or would you remove shavings and just work on the stall mats ( course we would put a sheet down) stalls are plenty big enough or just put sheet right over clean shavings? Also what are your thoughts on shavings vs straw......for a few days after? Is one cleaner or less dusty than the other...will just add that the shavings I use are large flake.

I would like to have everything all ready and be prepared when my vet gets here so it all goes smooth...any other suggestions or thoughts are always appreciated. Cam will have his old small pasture back so he can exercise and not play rough with some of the other boys and he is now going on long walks with me without throwing hissy fits not being able to see his buddies...which will be nice.

Thanks

heidi

 

[disneyhorse]

Gelding out on grass (or dirt or somewhere comfy to lie down but not deep bedding) is probably preferred.

No sheets needed (and you won't want to have to clean them anyway).

Afterwards, any sort of bedding, dirt, or whatever is just fine. Use the shavings or whatever you have.

Nothing needed afterwards except a little exercise and maybe a cool water rinse once a day if it drains any fluid to keep the area clean (and encourage to drain if needed).

You may find your guy a little sore for a day or two but overall it's pretty simple aftercare.

 

[Sue_C.]

Weather permitting, I and my vet, prefer outside. I don't use a sheet, but do bed a large area deeply with straw, and encourage the horse lie on that rather than the dirt or grass. I do always have a few old chair pads on hand; one to place under the horse's head, to protect his eyes from the straw, as many times the eyes will remain partly open, and one for both the vet and myself to kneel on.

I also bed with large flake shavings on the bottom, and straw on top, the same as I do for foaling...as it is just as important to not get shavings into the wound, as it is a foal's eyes or navel.

My vet gives a routine shot of penicillin, and if all goes well, that is all you will need. My vet recommends 24hours stall rest to allow for clotting, then lunging or turnout, depending on the horse. I have had a couple that got infections, but a few days of penicillin and sponging with a betadine solution did the trick. it made a mess, but the horse was better off for it.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Out on grass is best. It is a fast surgery, really no blood to speak of. Heals fast. My vet works at new bolton center and she says the minis heal much faster than the biggies. Exercise is good, I did hand walking after a day of rest, but not too much. Some hosing can be good, but after a few days, she said it was making it harder for my guy to heal because I was squirting off the clot, so I quit hosing and it looked better quicker... my next guy, I skipped the hosing and he healed the fastest, but he also had no swelling to speak of. Depends on how old your boy is and how large the testicles are, for example, an older stallion will have a bit more swelling, the cord is thicker... For my younger boy, it was so easy because he was younger when he was gelded. For my next guy I didn't hose at all, you couldn't tell after 24 hours that he was even gelded, he felt great, moved great and healed real fast. Clean straw is better than shavings. I use pine chips for bedding and that doesn't stick like the fine shavings, so it was ok. I put down pine pellets underneath and pine chip shavings on top (the bigger flakes don't stick). My guys use a run in shed. I didn't separate my boy from my other boys except for the first day. If you plan turn out with mares, you have to wait for a couple of weeks. Low risk, but you want to make sure there is no swimmers left whatsoever. Take care, not so big a deal. Love my geldings. PS, I think my vet gives a routine shot of a long acting antibiotic as precaution, but nothing after that.

 

[Matt73]

I just had my boys done three weeks ago. There was a lot of blood during the surgery, but it stopped at the end... We did both of them in their stall as it was windy and nasty outside. My stalls are always pretty immaculate, so I had the usual shavings with lots of clean wheat straw on top. They stayed in their stall that day/night and then were turned out as usual after that. The only after care was cleaning off the inside of the hind legs every day and checking the incision for infection etc., of course. There was, surprisingly, little discharge after the surgery. Levi, as of today, is about 98% healed, while Kainan had a small infection develop and it's taking a bit longer to heal (had him on antibiotics for 5 days and am cleaning the area with betadine).

 

[Mona]

My vets also have preferred doing them outside on the grass, although one year I did have 3 done in the barn, since two were very young colts, only 5 and 7 weeks of age, so were with their dams still. The 3rd was a mature stallions, and since he being done at the same time, and everything was already in the barn, he was just done in the stall too. Yes, is good to have a torl to put under and over the horse's head to stop any debris from getting into the open eyes.

There was no special care required. I never did hose any gelding insisions down. My vet recommended against it, so I went with his suggestions, and never encountered a problem. Let them out to walk around...the more they move (not running etc., but just grazing, walking etc.) the better the incision will drain etc. Some bleeding is normal, but steady streams of blood are not normal. It will amaze you at how quickly they adjust.

 

[Carolyn R]

My vet had always done a standing procedure. We have always used the stall, cleaned and bedded with large flake bedding or straw, very fine bedding sometimes gets packed into the incision area. Ban amine was advised for the first 24-36 hours based on pain and localized swelling. Rinsed with cool/cold water 2Xs a day for the first week, I always gave them access to a small turnout, larger area after a few days, this all depended on the horse. If they were mellow, they had large turnout right away, if they were insane screwballs running and bucking they got a smaller area for a few days.

The main thing is to keep an eye out, making sure any swelling subside after a couple of days, if not they may need an antibiotic.

 

[LittleRibbie]

Thank you all so much. Sounds like outside might be the way to go...never thought about a cushion or pillow for my vet to kneel on...very thoughtful! And Im sure it will come in handy. Dummy me was just thinking of a throw away sheet/blanket for a place to rest vets tools and the like and for Cam to lay on....I hadnt even thought too much about keeping the dirt out of his poor eyes... good call!! again thank you for your suggestions.

Matt, Im glad to hear Levi and Kanian are doing well

 

[Marty]

On the grass here too and big flake shavings. I put them outside in their own field alone, completely alone for the first few days and kept them outside a lot, usually all day long untill the flies or heat got too bad. I hose the incision with the water hose about three times a day for the first few days also to help with swelling. No ointment but a little banamine wouldn't hurt.

And I guess I'll admit for the whole world to know that I kept someone's meatballs in a zip lock bag and froze them for the longest time. Yes, I honestly did.

 

[LittleRibbie]

Im afraid to ask you why??????

 

[shorthorsemom]

My vet often sets up the tools on my two step mounting block. We have also set up on a kids express wagon on occasion to keep supplies off the ground, you can wheel the wagon where you want it and no chance anything will get stepped on. My vet puts ointment in their eyes and a paper drape loosely over the eyes to keep out particles. A wagon is a great portable horse stuff use item, if you have one of those wooden amish made wagons, you can sit on it when dealing with your short horses. I use it to transport my driving harness to the tack area too. Lots of uses for a wagon. I have two or three dedicated for horse use.