The Phoenix - death of a friend

[mustangkoda]

just lost a miniature mare "Phoenix", 13 yrs old saturday. she had coliced thursday nite, vet came out. tubed her and did a recnal exam on her. no blockage that she could find. left me with some pain med for her every 12 hrs. only had to give her some fri morning and evening. saturday a m i thought she was doing ok. a little quiet for her but better than she was so i did not give her any meds. left for work knowing that if she needed meds. someone was there to give it to her. i got home at noon and she's sick again! mom said she was pushing the door wanting outside so she put her and her daughter outside. (stall has big run attached). she ate her breakfast and hay. (lite on the grain since she's just getting better). she was acting more like her old self.

when i got home she has her head to the ground and diffenently not feeling well. i lock her and daughter inside and rush in to call the vet. by the time i get back outside she's down so i take her out to walk her, she falls the the ground twice while i'm tring to walk her, taking me with her the second time. (was not expecting her to fall so fast). all four legs just gave out at once. my dad and nephew are out there with me after her second fall using blankets and rugs to hold her up, after several more falls she won't get up again so we drag her into stall and try to hold her still waiting for vet. we dont want her rolling and twisting anything. she dies while we are holding her, before the vet can even get there. (the vet is about an half hr to 45 min. drive from us).

we had an necropcy done on her. vet thought maybe she had a heart attack, since she went to fast. found no twist, no rupsures. large and small intestines, colin looks ok. what is going on? finally found one small spot just after the stomach that has a small block, she said it was gravel packed up, but it was not so bad that it caused her death, it still let every thing go though since you can see that every was moving. since she thought she had a heart attact she was going to check that next and she finds that her lungs are messed up. one section had a nickel size white/cream colored bump on it, it broke as she touched it nothing came out of it. the lung was also all dark red, not the color of a normal lung. she took a section for biop. and hopefully will get the result back at the end of the week. the vet said she basicly bled to death into her lungs. she dround in her own blood and there was nothing that i could have done for her. now we are tring to find out what caused this. vet said that she's heard of this from an alergic reaction to a bee sting. but this is the wrong time of year for bees.

has any one ever heard of anything like this? this has been so hard on me. i''v had her since she was 4 months old and known her since she was born. (i have her mother and daughter also). i want to make sure its nothing heritatary since i have her daughter. i can't go through this again and i'll be concerned about her daughter til i know.

sorry this is so long but i needed to get this down.

 

[holly heifer]

I am so sorry for your loss--- It is the most horrible experience when one of your equines expires in your arms.
I would think that the mini had a hemothorax( blood in the lungs) caused from an rupture in a weak spot, possible injury,or
congential defect. In this case, there was absolutely nothing
you could have done. As we have our horses for a long time,
or have many of them, we up the chances for having things
happen. I have had colics that have had surgery and did fine,
and I had one die on the table. I have had the "gray horse
melanoma, ruptured disk in neck, broken leg, laminitis, choke,
blindness, EPM, cushings, insulin intolerance, and COPD.( over a span of 35 years) . please post what the necrospy report
says. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[mustangkoda]

thanks i will.

vet thinks it is either lung cancer or an alergic reaction to something.

we got up this morning and our guard dog is dead. he was a 12yr old akita/shepard mix who grew up with this mare. he'dgo into her stall to visit her til it got to the point that he'd only let my mom in the barn. LOL :lol: we had to build a run for him where he could see the barn but we could get in.

my mom asked the vet if poison killed them because they died within a day and a half of each other and both were draging their nose to the ground before they died. the vet does not think so but will ask them to test for poison when they do biop.

this has been a hard weekend for my family here.

 

[holly heifer]

How awful for you to lose your dog , too!!!! Let us all know
what the report says. I am so sorry

 

[chippie]

I am so sorry. That is very sad. Please accept my condolences.

 

[mustangkoda]

thank you both. as soon as get the report, i'll post it.

 

[mustangkoda]

was hoping to have the results back today. no such luck . hopefully some time next week. i'm going nuts worring about Phoenix's daughter Callie, i want to be sure it's not anything thats heritatary(sp).

 

[mustangkoda]

finally got results back today. holly you were right. it was a defect. it was in her arteres(sp). she died of an aneurism. with her colicing it stressed the weak artery and caused it to break.
this is a mare that was born sick. she needed a blood transfusion when she was born, and had other problems as well. the owner, when she sold me the mother, gave her to me, on the understanding that the foal may not make it. this is why i named her "the Phoenix", it is reborn. she always did so good, i never realized that there was some birth defect(s). at least now i don't have to be concerned about her daughter anymore. i was afraid i might be herititary. nor do we need to be concerned about someone poisoning our animals.

i think going from a sick foal to living to be 13 yrs old with a daughter is doing pretty good and she was a joy for me to work with. i was teaching her to pull a cart, and once she and her daughter got good at it, i was going to team drive them. they looked so much alike. callie, phoenix's daughter, is very much more fiesty then her mother, not as much fun for me to drive then her mother, but i guess i'll have to work with her more and get her to settle down some. she just does not lisen(sp) as well as phoenix did.


thanks for your concern.

 

[holly heifer]

just by knowing that it was not something that you did has
made her passing a little easier for you. Give your love and attention to your other hooved friends. They need people
like us! :heart:

 

[mustangkoda]

thanks for your replies.

callie and her grandmother are sharing the pen now. i wish the black would get after her granddaughter just a little bit. even the pony lets this little one get away with everything. she thinks she's the boss of the other horses and she's the youngest and the smallest of the bunch and verrry bossy! :roll: she tries to use that bossiness on people, makes for quite an argument when she can't have her own way.

my nephew learn real quick how to get her to listen. i haven't tried it yet, but i may if she keeps up with her attitude. he flipped her to her side then sat on her so she could not get up for a couple of minutes, she listens to him now! (she likes to strike out at you if she does not get her own way, good thing shes only 32 inches tall,other wise i would have gotten rid of her a long time ago).

i'll have to spend more time with her now and get her to settle down more. phoenix was my driving mare and my nephew would use callie, now i'll work with callie more. i find myself calling her phoenix, she looks just like her mom, so strang to look outside and see only one red mini running around out there.