Strangulating Lipoma

Lost two horses in the last 30 days to suspected strangulating lipomas.

I have never dealt with them before. Both horses in their 20s and of breeds that are higher risk. Both also were darn good lesson horses (one mine, one I lease).

I am shocked by both how quickly they went from mostly fine, to being in a panic. Neither horse had an impaction, both were still pooping, and neither horse really got an elevated heart rate. Aside from not eating, horse #1 wanted to paw anything in front of him - jumps, walls, waterers. Not the ground though. Horse #2 wanted to bolt off into the hills. Horse #1 started showing symptom at 630 am, and was PTS by 1pm. horse number two started showing symptoms while being tacked up for a lesson - despite banamine and tranq, he was impossibly uncomfortable by the time he got to the vet clinic and he went from fine to PTS in under 90 minutes. He had been laying down before his lesson, but it was normal nap time, so I thought nothing of it. (his intestines were also trapped between his spleen and colon, which is all we originally thought it was, so we thought he was just going to get vet to get an IV medication).

Horse #1 had very minor colics over the years. Horse #2 hadn’t colicked in the 15 years I had him.

No real point to this post. Just processing my grief I guess.

I am in absolute shock at how quickly it happened and how much they were suffering in a very short time despite drugs.

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so sorry

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I am so very sorry.

Strangulation Lipomas suck!
Been there, done that, wish I did not have this T-shirt.

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I’m so sorry also btdt and yes, it happens fast, because once the strangulation becomes tight enough to cause an issue, it’s incredibly painful, it starts causing an impaction upstream, tissue can start dying, it’s just awful. I found my horse, the real JB, down around 4-5pm or so after we’d been gone a few hours . He’d been painful already, having rolled and thrashed a bit and putting cuts on his head. Vet came asap, lots of banamine, found no impaction in her reach, headed to NCSU where they hoped it was an entrapped spleen so loaded on painkillers and the meds to help with that, they lunged him a bit (protocol for that), no improvement, so he went on the operating table where they found many feet of dead intestine :frowning: At 21yo, with a low chance of a quality of life after a resection and a good chance of complications, I let him go. That morning he felt great and ran up the hill after breakfast with a big buck, which I always wonder about - did that cause the strangulation? If so, it was still only a matter of time

The other 2 horses I personally know - also older geldings - also went out very fast because of how quickly it progressed.

Unless you strongly suspect it, and can get them on a table quickly, there’s really no hope :frowning:

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Yes, this! I’ve been near/associated with at least 5 and they were all awful. Much like you describe. I am sorry. It always seems to take the good ones.

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I’m very, very sorry💔. It’s awful.

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I board retirees and have dealt with a few over the years. Yes, awful!!! But a blessing if you have found them in the early stages. Horses here have died of many things but I would say strangulating lipomas are probably the most common cause of death I’ve experienced.

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I’m sorry for your loss. I lost one to this. From the time I found her and called the vet to the time she was PTS it was about an hour and a half. She blew through all the meds and the vet could barely get an US done, which showed a mass. I’m really sorry you went through this too.

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I’m
So sorry .

I’ve experienced 2. One was a 32 yo TWH. His seemed to come about suddenly as well. The owner dragged it out all day then at 5 pm finally got him on the table and that was that. Looking back, there were some slight behavioral things we attributed to being old and grumpy that were probably signs of pain over the last couple of months before he died.

The second was a friends horse . Colic started early in the am. Vet farted around all day with it (same one I vented about with my colic in April).
I took them to the vet hospital we finally got there at 9 pm and ended up putting the horse down. This was a 20 yo Mustang mare. Friend said she had not noticed any behavioral or other changes prior to the colic episode.

I am so sorry. I, too, had one about 5 years ago, about a month after reading about it here - I’d never heard of it before and it sounded awful, and there I was in the yard with my pony who was suffering from it. It came on SO fast - we went for a lovely drive, and upon getting home he began pawing - I thought he was itchy and impatient for his bath. It was clear in the following moments that he was in acute distress. The vet arrived, shared the diagnosis, and as he was not a candidate for surgery we made the decision to alleviate his pain, and let him go.

Again, it’s a horrible thing to experience, and I am so, so sorry.

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Timely post for me. I just put my very beloved 40 year old down this morning from this. She was fine and then found rolling 2 hours later. Mucus membranes somewhat pale, ever so slightly elevated lactate. Rectal normal at first, HR normal. No reflux. Ultrasound normal. Blew through sedation in 30 min. Re rectaled an hour later and she seemed displaced., still no dialated small intestine on ultrasound. I wanted to try surgery and the second the surgeon opened her we had an answer. Strangulated ileum, not a giant lipoma but so tightly wound it was in a literal knot. Several feet of dead intestine. I opted to not put her through resection and anastomosis and put her down on the table. This is the third horse I have lost to this, and to be fair I have worried about strangulating lipoma in her for the past 15 years or so. Part of my soul left with her. I’m glad I took her in, because I was able to keep her sedated until the surgeon arived and she didn’t suffer too much despite being painful. Her pain was not what we see typically, it was more mild but I think it’s just because it was caught so early.

I’m very sorry for your loss.

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Coming here to commiserate. Hugs to the original poster, it’s so awful. I lost my 23 yr horse to SL and like others mentioned it was fast. It was heartbreaking to watch a horse I owned for 18 years and adored rolling on the ground moaning. Thank God for fabulous vets.

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