Spaying a Mare: have you ever done it

[blueprintminis]

Well, the news from the vet isn't good. I've never heard of pyometra before. I guess it is not common in mares. It is much more common in bitches whether or not they have ever been bred. Spaying is the only option other than euthanasia. Josette is my first mini. I first spied her as a weanling during the 1990 world series (the Cincinnati Reds were actually playing) and little did I know at that time that I would be able to make her my own the Spring of 1991. I paid big bucks for her and had high hopes for my first foal from her. I was ignorant (still am in many ways) and it never dawned on me that her numerous pregnancy/delivery problems were indicative that she was never meant to be bred. But, following her last prenancy in 2000 after the vet had to dismember an 8 month dead fetus that was hopelessly twisted and underliverable in order to get it out, the mare was permanently "retired" from her motherhood duties. She became a "lawn ornament" and a sometimes pasture-mate to a neighbor's lonely arabian gelding. But, earlier this summer I noticed she was having a discharge from her back end. It was whitish and thick like elmer's glue. She showed no signs of illness or discomfort. No temperature. Never off her feed. So, bathed her and cleaned up her backend and tail only to notice more in her tail within the week. Well, to make a long story short (too late, huh?) the discharge became worse so the vet was summoned. He initially was shocked at the amount of discharge. As I said above it was thick and whitish, but had no foul odor. The vet did an ultrasound and found her uterus to be filled with fluid. He made a valiant effort to insert a tube into the uterus via her cervix to flush her out and start antibiotic lavages but he was unable to find her cervix. He obtained a speculum and a penlight and took a look around inside there. I'm not sure what he saw, and he was pretty perplexed too. He said he absolutely could not find/see the mare's cervix. Oh, I forgot to mention that everytime he removed his hand from the mare it was followed by blood. Josette sure was being brave and didn't argue much during the rectal exam and rectal ultrasound. But, she was quite unhappy and showed signs of discomfort/distress when the vet was examining her vagina and looking for the cervix. The final diagnosis ends up being pyometra, pyo meaning pus and metra meaning uterus. Her cervix has completely scarred over, most likely a result of the trauma suffered when the fetus was dismember inside of her. With the cervix closed off, the normal cycling and cleansing of the uterus is disrupted/abnormal, thus the thick discharge. At the time of the exam, which was about 10 days ago, the mare had a pinpoint opening still where the cervix was 99% covered over and that is where the drainage was coming from. Now, the drainage has all but stopped. This is not good. This means that the uterus will be filling up and if something isn't done, it can/will eventually burst and kill the mare. I investigated whether the local vet school would take her and euthanize her and have the vet students necropsy her to learn about pyometra in equine. I've basically hit a brick wall there. I could send her to Rood and Riddle to have her spayed. Lord knows how much that would cost. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has ever had one of their mini mares spayed and what the outcome of that procedure was. This has been a really nice mare who I have enjoyed immensely. The last mare I sent to the hospital for surgery died under anesthesia and it about killed me. Part of me thinks the best answer is to take her out on the hilltop with her buddies around her and have her euthanized and buried next to the Grande ole Lady of the place, Pokey the pony who lived to be 41 years old. I've been feeding her her favorite starlight mints and giving her a little extra sweetfeed at every feeding hoping to bring a little extra joy into what appear to be her final days. I would like to hear from anyone who has had experience with spaying a mini. Thanks!

 

[Jill]

Oh gosh! I am sorry you and your mare are going through this problem!

I've never had a mare spayed, but had thought about it at one point with what I considered a pet quality mare I used to own.

With your mare, is it "just" spaying (removing ovaries?) that would help, or would she actually need a hysterectomy to remove ovaries and her uterus? The answer to that may help if others have some experience in that area.

I do know of a mare at my old trainers barn who was spayed (ovaries removed). She was a riding mare and had a cyst or something (not just a routine thing) that was cancer on one ovary and caused her to become "violent" so the sick ovary and the as of then healthy one were removed, but not her uterus. She was a fairly young mare had a fairly easy recovery.

Wishing the best for your sweet mare!

 

[mmmorgans]

deleted

 

[blueprintminis]

I have never had this done either - but am curious about the procedure. I think that "spaying" mares that are pet quality would help reduce the abundance of poor quality minis in the world today.

I am so sorry about your mare - that is so sad :no:

Here is an interesting article on spaying a horse:

http://www.horsekeeping.com/horse_management/spayed_mare.htm

Hmmm. You guys are right. This procedure would actually be a hysterectomy as the uterus and cervix is what has to come out. I don't know if they would take her ovaries while they are in there or not. And, in reading the article that mmmorgans gave link to, it seems that removing the uterus/cervix may be a more complicated procedure than just taking ovaries. I don't like the sound of a 10-12 day hospital stay for the mare, which probably would be required because I do know she would have to be cut open from navel to udder. I don't know. It just sounds like a whole lot of procedure for the poor little mare to go thru. I didn't mention it in my earlier post, but after having a terrific year of showing as a yearling (never a supreme, but several grands and reserves) she broke a hind leg at the hock and spent 3 months at the Ohio State University veterinary hospital. It was quite a hard time for the both of us. I don't know that I would want her to spend another extended period of time in the hospital.

:no:

 

[Sue_C.]

My Vet has stated already that he would spay a mare should I ever want it done...so I think it to be a very viable option...with a "healthy" mare. The thing that would worry me most, is that there is already an infection that will very likely contaminate the surgical site. What do they say the chances of recovery are?

 

[Buckskin gal]

I have a friend that had a mare spayed and it went very very well. I would ask the vet how much success they have had with spaying and seek out one that has had good success. Good luck with your little gal. Mary

 

[Katiean]

Something I am wondering is, Why can't they remove the horses uterus vaginally like they do for women? I know for women it takes less time to recover when it is done that way? And I don't think it takes as long in surgery. I know I would have to try to have the surgery. When I was a teen I had a quater horse that had an accident and had a hole about the size of a dime in her groin. Her udder filled with blood. This was in the 70's. Our vet called UC Davis Vet School and told them we were bring in an emergency. They examined her and put her on Strong doses of antibiotics.(they didn't think she was going to live) 3rd day she stood up and ripped open. They picked up everything that spilled out and took her to surgery. Long story short She spent 4 1/2 weeks in the hospital. She came home a really big baby. half the time you could not tell if she actually had something bothering her or if she was faking it. I never regretted having the surgery done on her. And in your case I am sure 10-12 days in the hospital seems like a long time. but in the long run she will be healthier for it and you can have her around for years to come.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

I also had a complete hysterectomy this past June, removal of ovaries and uterus, cervix the works. It was done VAGINALLY, and mine is alot smaller than a mares....I would ask about this, sedation was light for me I was not unconsious but totally unaware and felt no pain and was home in 3-4 days with huge restrictions for 12 wks. Surely in this day of huge technology this can be mirrored in our equines....the surgical removal was also done via laser to cauterize, no cutting. I do hope she'll be ok but know what a huge expense it will be one way or another, such a shame.

 

[Jill]

Have they told you she would have to be in the hospital that long?

The reason I ask is it may not be as "bad" as you think (don't know, just guessing). When Khaki had her colic surgeries (2 in a row, one one day, one the next), she had at least 12" of staples in her belly on the underside, but she wasn't in the hospital really all that long (less than a week, I think). She recovered so quickly.

One thing I had to do was keep her confined for a long time (It may have been 3mos? I don't remember other than it was long). We have small 30 x 15 pen with an 8x8 stall, but the surgeon didn't want her to have that much room! So we used cattle panels so she just had the stall and like 8x15 of a "run".

It may if you decide to do this surgery, your mare won't need to be hospitalized as long as you thought or even better, maybe done the way Demi/Deb has mentioned.

 

[kaykay]

Just a thought since you are in Ohio there is a vet here that arlene foulk uses that has his own surgery center at his vet clinic. I hear hes very very good and much more reasonable then OSU. Maybe worth contacting them?

Kay

 

[runamuk]

My first horse was a saddlebred mare who was spayed due to post foaling compications with infection leading to founder. I owned her back in the mid 80's and she had been spayed most of her life so the surgery had to have been done in the late 70's.

She was the best horse I ever owned........I wish they could come up with an easier procedure for spaying mares. Hysterectomy in dogs/cats and humans is so common one would think it could be made more available for mares.

 

[White Socks Miniature]

I would spay her. I know your afraid as your last one died under anesthetic, but at least this way your giving her a chance. If it were my mare I would do it in less than a heartbeat.

Positive thoughts are with you!

Cheers

Masako

 

[Kitty]

This is a very difficult decision for anyone to make. You love the horse but you worry about pain and complications.

I did have a mini mare spayed a couple of years ago. It is a difficult surgery for any horse as they don't handle surgery well. My mare only had her ovaries removed but had a midline incision so removing the uterus could have been a option if needed but wasn't. I believe the surgery time was under a hour.

It is a very expensive procedure and my vet was very agreeable with why it needed to be done and only charged me for the medications which were $500.00 and she only remained there a couple of days and I stall confirmed her for another couple of weeks and then out with a small bunch of mares and no problems.

He had mentioned to me it was a surgery that cost around $2000.00 or more based on any complications.

And most places are hesitant to work on a miniature.

Good luck to you. Again a difficult decision and I'm sure your mare will understand in whatever decision you make.

 

[jleonard]

Don't know that this is any help, but I'll put it on here anyway.

A local vet clinic does a cat round up in which they capture ferel cats and neuter/ spay and vacinate them then release them the next day to the capture site in an attemp to reduce the number of unwanted cats. I have volunteered several times and the first spay I watched, the cat had pyometra, which the vets said was very rare in cats as well. They removed the uterus and planned to release the cat as scheduled, the only difference was they may have given her an antibiotic shot. They did not seem worried about infection any more than with the other cats, and did not give her any special treatment. Despite the fact that these are wild, homeless cats, they still have their best interests in mind.

I realize that spaying/ hysterectomy in a cat is common, but the fact that they expected her to have a positive outcome, even in the wild w/o special care I think says something. I'm sure that with an experienced vet and special care the procedure could be a sucess on your mare. I say go for it, if your only other opption is to put her down, then you really have nothing to lose, right?

Best of luck to you in whatever you decide to do.

 

[R3]

I had a little mare that had a complete hysterectomy because of pyometra.

She had a very difficult delivery with some vaginal damage. Even though she had been under a vets care, during the delivery and for weeks afterward, including time in the vet hospital, she didn't seem quite 'right'. It was weeks after the delivery, and I took her back to the equine clinic, again. They seemed to think it might be adhesions causing her problems and wanted to do an exploratory exam to see what was going on. When they went in, the found the pyometra. The drained off 3 gallons of pus (from a mare that was less than 28" tall), and did a complete hysterectomy. She was recovering well from the surgery, but we lost her a few days later, while she was still in the vet hospital.

I had a necropsy done to determine what had killed her, as she seemed to be doing better after the surgery. Apparently, her kidneys had been destroyed by all the medications that she had been on for the long period of time since she lost her foal. The vet said the surgical area was healing well, and didn't play any part in us losing her, other than she was again on strong medications to fight off any infections, so they also had stressed the kidneys.

Before she 'crashed' due to the kidney failure, she was recovering very well. She was allowed to wander around the hospital barn, and I would go up there every couple of days and lead her around the premises to let her eat grass. So, if it hadn't of been for the problem with the kidneys, I believe she would have made a full recover. She didn't seem to be in any great amount of pain or discomfort from the surgury itself.

The cost of the surgery may be a factor in your decision though, and I fully understand that. I had agreed to the exploratory surgery as it was not 'too' expensive, and it was my understanding that the vet would contact me when he got inside and we knew what we were dealing with. I don't know if I would have given him the go-ahead to do the hysterectomy if he had of asked me before doing it, as I am sure it would have been very expensive. As it ended up, he didn't charge any more for the hysterectomy than I had already agreed to spend for the 'exploratory', but I am sure that is only because she had not survived. I may have had to make a difficult decision to 'let her go', if I had of known ahead of time what the full cost of the hysterectomy would have been.

Based on my experience, I would say that if you can afford the surgery, that I would give it a try. Physically, it didn't seem to be overly uncomfortable for my mare.