Finally got the (before) pictures uploaded. Here is the fracture and the way his lower jaw was pushed off to the side. My poor baby Bear-man. So relieved that he is on the mend.
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp25/PeteyPuppy/BearBrokenJawup_zpsfbc8b1f7.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp25/PeteyPuppy/BearBrokenJawfront_zpsd48215e4.jpg
Humongous Hoosier Jingles for Bear’s continued recovery!
The old guys sure know how to wring a heart.
I know what you mean about the aftereffects of sedation.
My 27yo TB would come out of the stocks after having his teeth done looking like Lee Marvin’s horse from Cat Ballou:
Jingles for continued recovery for Bear!
“Bear Hugs” and BR-ingles for Bear and his family ~ AO ~
[B]
“Bear Hugs” and BR-ingles for Bear and his family ~ AO ~
** here’s to a quiet weekend of rest and recovery for ALL ![/B]
Oh boy, mine just had his jaw broken last summer. It put my trainer and I through a lot of stress, but he didn’t care and recovered just fine, even with 2 surgeries. And at age 17, so not exactly young.
Im glad Bear came through surgery well! Mine broke his lower jaw straight across, just below where the bit sits, and also right up the middle. He had tons of wire and plaster in there but was eating normally within a day of surgery and never looked back. I still worry about his hurting it somehow again, as he is a klutz, but otherwise all is well! Hopefully Bear’s recovery goes just as well!
Good job, Bear Bear!
Glad he has come through it. good for Bear.
I’ve known two such cases = jaws wired and it looked horrible, but they recovered very well, too.
Might as well mention a PSA here. Both cases were from a horse leaning over his half door, fiddling around, and hooking onto those horseshoe latches one often sees on stable doors - usually done by a local welder… The horseshoe slips over the bottom teeth, horse rears up in panic. Cannot imagine trying to extricate a horse from that.
The answer is to have the middle part of the horseshoe welded with no possibility of it getting over the bottom teeth.
Both ended up ok.
Oh no, daBear!
Fingers crossed that this is the start of an uncomplicated recovery. That horse has earned one if anyone has.
Thanks for news of good outcomes.
Bear was in a 5 acre field with post and rail fencing and another 25 year old horse. I walked the perimeter and… nothing. I have no idea what could have happened.
Sunday update: Bear is turning back into his old self. He hates being in a stall, so he is trying to slip out when people open the door. And he is dragging the vet techs around when they take him for walkies.
BUT, the surgery site has not responded to the broad spectrum antibiotic that he has been on, and he now has a growing infection in his jaw. 
They have taken a culture to see what is growing, but that takes 72 hours, so they will not have a definite answer until Tues.
I have told the surgeon and intern that I brought another horse to State with an infected catheter site that had not responded to regular antibiotics and, 2 weeks later, after 3 discharges and readmissions, the horse died from a massive systemic infection which had taken over his body and all his organs. ---- So, no way was I going to bring Bear home until the infection was under control and he was on the path back to wellness. I have learned first hand how quickly infections can get out of control – and even my local vets could not help Sherman. Had he stayed at State until the doctors were sure that Sherman was on the right meds, he might be alive.
Of course I cannot say for sure, but at least the doctors were in a position to react immediately if they saw a horse going downhill. Whereas I called my local vet and by the time he came out, tried a new med, saw it did not help and so referred me back to State, it was 3 days later.
Sometimes I think that they are TOO aware of keeping costs down. Yes, that is a good attitude to have, but discharging a sick horse is not always the right thing to do. I have never pushed a vet to take the cheap route if it was not the best route.
That sounds worrisome! Thank goodness Bear has you as his advocate. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a swift resolution of the infection. Poor guy!
Many jingles for Bear! And I’m so sorry to hear about your experience with Sherman. Sending positive thoughts that Bear starts responding to the antibiotics!
Many, Many jingles.
More Jingles & AO for Bear ~ ((hugs)) for his family ~
[B]
More Jingles & AO for Bear ~
((hugs)) for his family ~ [/B]
Jingles for Bear!
I have dealt with one with a broken jaw but it was a fe weeks after he did it and had surgery- wire in his mouth somewhere. I say somewhere since when he got back to the farm ( race horse in training who came back for holiday) we weren’t told he had this issue. Only reason we found out was that when I went out to the field to feed him in the morning, he had wire poking out of his mouth! Had been eating totally fine to that point and continued to after our vet cut wire out.
P.
Continued jingles!
Texas-sized jingles for Bear! You are very wise to keep him there until you get answers and there is improvement. All paws crossed here!
Update: Bear has stopped eating. – Surgeon called me and was very receptive to new ideas. I suggested that changing from Bute to Banamine might help. They are also going back to the post op level of the narcotic, Butorphanol, (which they had been weaning him away from).
She (surgeon) is trying to figure out why his pain level would be increasing again. She has checked for cecal (sp) impaction, added more coating to wire in jaw since he has some ulcerations from wire rubbing against his cheek, and filed down a point in the tooth involved in the fracture since it is not 100% in line with his other teeth anymore.
She is taking additional x-rays in case the fixation could be bothering him And, of course, he is on Gastroguard and has been since day 1.
Any suggestions? Since he is 25, I am wondering how his organs are doing with all this stress on them…
You are great to be doing this for the old boy. His mouth is probably sore. Is he on an IV line? If not, he needs to be on one to get fluids into his system so he won’t colic. Will he drink warm grain tea? You dissolve a few handfuls of grain pellets in a gallon of water and see if he’ll drink. Add molasses or gatorade or anything that he likes to the water too. And alfalfa tea, alfalfa hay which is soaked in warm water, may help to get him drinking also. Any kind of fiber product that dissolves in water will also help keep him from colicking. If his mouth is very sore, he won’t want to chew much, so dissolving everything he likes will help him hydrate and will put some fiber in him as well. Alfalfa tea has a slight laxative effect and is used after colic surgery by a lot of vets.
You can buy a small jug of blackstrap molasses at Publix… If you cover the bottom of a water bucket with some of it, and then add water, some horses will drink gallons of it at a time. So if he likes molasses, get someone to go to Publix and buy out the jugs of it for you.
Fingers crossed that he’ll drink everything.
Crap.
Could one one of the wires be irritating him somehow? Does he have a muscle or anything on that could be pressing on them? When u saw the radiographs the day we took out Star’s wires I noticed tgan one was twisted off judo about where the bitless bridle crossed under the jaw. Ouch.
Is is he drinking OK? If not, is he on IV fluids?
Many jingles from southern (me) and central (Star) California.
I am sorry to hear that he has stopped eating jingles for you both.
I have also found some vets to be overly concerned with keeping costs down (even after being told cost should not be their concern). You are 100% right about not bringing him home until infection is under control and he is well on his way to recovery. He is lucky to have you.
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