Eye lacerations and sedation, oh my!

[allkian]

My gelding got hung up on something recently and lacerated his eyelid. Eek! Of course it was 5:14PM and the closest vet closed at 5:30PM. I called over and they said they could get him in, so I loaded him up and we got there at 5:31PM. Upon arrival, the vet refused to let me load my horse in the stocks (which, okay, it’s his practice so that’s fine) but he proceeded to take a broom and beat my Apollo over the hocks until he would go in. Mind you, my gelding normally loads in to anything just fine but I think his obstructed vision was causing some anxiety for him. Plus, we went from 0 to 60 real fast. So after several minutes of watching my gelding kicking and rearing (something I have never seen him do) I finally asked if I could load him myself and wouldn’t you know, he walked right in. But by now, his adrenaline is SUPER high.

It took 4 doses of sedative to get him still enough for sutures. And again, understandable that he needs to be fully sedated because it’s very close to his eye. But I was already pretty angry about the way the vet was beating on my horse. However, he is the ONLY local vet.

The vet wouldn’t tell me what sedative he was using and never did an exam. He just asked “He about 1300 pounds?” before he drew up his 3rd syringe. He also told me to get out of the way and let my boyfriend hold my gelding’s head up, because “this is a job for someone strong”. UGH!

Then the vet went on this wild goose chase for a ‘smell’ and told me he just knew that my gelding had an abscessed tooth. We found no such thing, but during the exam his hand slipped and my gelding suddenly had blood dripping out of his mouth.

The vet handed me some eye drops, mentioned they were $27, then handed me an antibiotic and asked if I had bute (which I do). He told me he’d given my boy a shot of antibiotics and banamine, so to start dosing him in the AM.

He then said his assistant would follow up with me on the bill tomorrow.

That was over a week ago. I’ve called asking for a bill and they just keep saying they’ll call me when it’s done. Meanwhile, its Christmas. Money is tight. And I’d just dropped a small fortune building a new pasture shelter. Timing, am I right?

I have been on pins and needles and really have no idea what they’re going to charge me. I am afraid to even go grocery shopping because I don’t know what to expect. I have some savings built up after I dropped another small fortune on another horse last year that ended up resulting in euthanasia after lots of treatment. I think horses just KNOW when you are starting to build up that account.

Cookies if you read this far. I’m SO anxious and I think if I call the vet again, they’re going to start charging me for calls. In seriousness, I’ve only called twice. But I am stressing over it CONSTANTLY.

Not to mention I already booked my follow-up to have stitches removed and asked for costs up-front and she said its $50 for follow-up visit + sedation and honestly - I’ve never had them not build the cost in to my original visit. If the sutures weren’t so close to the eye, I’d be tempted to remove them myself. I worked as a vet tech during college so I’m usually pretty confident in my abilities, but again - the EYE? A bit too close for comfort.

[trubandloki]

That sounds like a stressful day. Wow.

Having the vet remove the sutures will also give them a chance to check how things are healing so probably worth having them do the suture removal for that reason too.

Emergency vet visits are one of the times in life that having a credit card is a great thing.

Jingles for a good recovery and no additional emergency bills.

[Ghazzu]

Does the vet have a staff? If so, I’d contact the receptionist/tech/office person regarding getting a bill for services already rendered.
Sounds like the guy was in a bad mood because of the timing (emergency right at the end of the day), but that really doesn’t excuse the behavior.
(When I was griping to an older colleague about similar stuff relatively early on in my career, she told me I had 2 choices–either charge enough that I wasn’t grumpy about the timesuck, or refuse to see someone. That it wasn’t fair to anyone to see them and be bitchy.)

[goodhors]

Well you can take the stitches out yourself, save the charges. At home, acting quietly, you can probably remove stitches yourself. Twitch him if needed. Stitches should come out at 10 to 14 days. I remove stitches myself to save the charges. So I wait till the 14 days are up.

Sharp scissors, pull up the stitch ends, then cut one side behind the knot, wiggle the thread and pull gently on the knot to remove.

Mine stand OK for this, but they trust me and tolerant of strange things, even if bit painful.

He did not happen to use dissolving threads did he? That would be a big time saver! My horse cut his eyelid and I had to ask for non-dissolving thread, so I could keep his eye washed and stitches working for the needed length of time. He was good to have them removed, though I did have to stand on a steps tool to reach it!

So sorry about your only choice of a Vet. He sounds terrible to deal with!

[Sparrowette]

@Allkian, so sorry this happened. My mare got cast in her stall once and cut her eye. No stitches, but lots of eye drops.

Best to work with the office staff and get correct billing. With the Covid and all these days, he probably is short-staffed, and everyone is testy these days, too. Even if you can only get a ballpark guess from the office, then you will be ahead of the game.

I’m not sure about pulling the stitches on the eye yourself. If he jerks the wrong way, you’ll have a punctured eye, but you can judge your own horse.

Good Luck!

[allkian]

Thanks y’all for the replies! It makes me feel a little better. I think that vet got under my skin. He accused me of not looking after my horses. Said “Do you REALLY look at them or do you just throw hay and move on?” Like- sir, my horses are my babies. I put my hands on them daily, I can always tell if something is even a LITTLE off (which has saved me some colics from getting bad). Heck I even have a TikTok I post daily of my herd. I didn’t miss a huge flap of skin hanging from my gelding’s face.

I digress- I did call and they told me the bill would be at least $550 for the visit but I could pay when I brought him in for the removal on the 4th. Something tells me the removal will be upwards of $200, just knowing this vet. So, I will try and see if I can remove them. I have removed many over the years and have suture removal scissors. He actually stands very still for me to clean and apply ointment to his stitches daily, so I think it’s possible. If not, we’ll pack up and head to the vet. And yes, he did not use dissolving stitches. I have to clean and apply drops and an antibiotic cream daily to the wound. It actually is healing really nicely, so I have to say this vet is very good at his craft, even if he was very irritated by it. But I also know having worked for a vet and now working as a therapist, bad days for us should not translate to bad days for the patient.

Anyhow cookies again! I am the only horse person in my family so when I explained to them what happened they said “Oh that’s gonna cost at least $2000” and I got in a bit of a panic! $550 is do-able.

[trubandloki]

@allkian

I did call and they told me the bill would be at least $550 for the visit but I could pay when I brought him in for the removal on the 4th. Something tells me the removal will be upwards of $200, just knowing this vet.

If an emergency visit is only $550, why do you think a planned suture removal will be so much?

[2DogsFarm]

Look into CareCredit.
6 mos @ 0% interest, after that it goes up to 20% , but hopefully you s/b able to pay off $500+ in 6mos.

I am currently paying off a $500 cat bill

As a bonus, you can use it for your own medical or dental expenses too.

Agreed, your emergent vet sounds like an asshat

[allkian]

The majority of the emergency bill was the cost of sedation and they already told me they’d have to use the same amount for the follow up visit. Which makes me think the cost will be high.

[allkian]

They told me they don’t accept CareCredit. I have used it before and when I asked, they said they won’t accept it. Which confuses me because I thought it was as good as any other credit? Maybe they are confused.

[trubandloki]

@allkian

Which confuses me because I thought it was as good as any other credit? Maybe they are confused.

Think of it this way - not every place takes American Express (just an example). Cards charge fees (a percentage) and some businesses choose to not do business with certain cards.

[goodhors]

Our Vet Clinic charges $50 for the call, then adds on from there. So saving the cost of her return visit does add up. And if you have removed stitches before, horse is calm for treating wound, you should be fine removing stitches yourself.

Twitching is free if horse needs distracting and your boyfriend could hold horse and twitch for you. Make a twitch from light rope and a wrench handle loop if you don’t own a twitch. I have had the aluminum handle models slip off, don’t use them anymore. Bet you don’t need the twitch!!

We have a stitched filly at the moment, those need to come out this weekend. She got knocked into a gatepost, took off the protective cover of hinge bolts to slice herself on. Cut on neck and hip. Vet call was $460 for emergency farm visit, after hours, cleaning, sleepy meds, stitching and antibiotics. Filly’s wounds are looking good. She is confined in the barn with a different babysitter each day. We plan to remove stitches Sunday, ourselves. Turnout will depend on what the wounds look like then. Do not want them ripping open as she races about! She may stay confined for another week or two, get a thicker healing skin layer.

We now have a different protection method over the (now recessed into post) hinge bolt ends.
Should not cut anyone again. But we have gone 30+ years before this, with no wounds from that protected post, open 14ft gateway and the folded back to-the-fence, 14ft gate!! Nothing sticking out! Horses can do the darndest things to themselves!!