Recently I’ve been watching a show on Netflix called ‘The Supervet’ and it’s basically about a guy who pioneers orthopedic surgery for dogs and cats. I want to be a veterinarian so this kind of stuff fascinates me. I’ve seen instances where a dog breaks a leg and a whole new ‘metal limb’ is engineered in place of the broken part essentially replacing bone with metal. The dog then heals very quickly. I was wondering what stops this from working in horses? Do they just weigh to much? The fact they have to stand after surgery? Laminitis?
my guess is it would electrocute the horse when it rubs its butt on the electric fence
4 Likes
I would assume it’s because there’s too many risks that outweigh the possible outcome. Horses put a lot more of their weight on their leg. Additionally their hooves are like mini hearts that pump blood back up so they would lose that ability. Horses rely on their legs much more, particularly if they are going to be ridden again. Not to mention, surgery for horses is already a risk in itself. I’d say there’s just too many risks that aren’t really enough to put the horse through such a long painful process or for the owner to pay for and treat such an extensive injury.
5 Likes
There are many reasons why surgeries like this are not practical options for horses.
Horses bear a tremendous amount of weight on their legs and are not physically well designed to endure long layups or periods where they cannot bear weight on a limb. It also is incredibly difficult to keep a horse from putting excessive weight on a limb. A dog can lay down 23-23.5 hours a day, a horse simply does not have that option. Horses normally sleep standing up and only lay down for short periods. Horses on three legs with limited mobility are prone to a variety or related problems like founder, ulcers, and colic.
Mentally, many horses are not able to cooperate with severe activity restrictions and extended layups. Relaxing in a house on a dog bed is relatively comfortable for a dog, but being locked in a stall for weeks-months is very hard on a horse.
Logistically, many people could recuperate a beloved pet at home in their house, but the cost of hospitalizing or doing a difficult layup on a horse is extremely expensive, well beyond what it would cost to save a dog.
There’s also a concern about long term outcome. Horses are heavy, powerful creatures and by nature they are prone to react and move quickly and with great force. Even if you could get a terrible fracture to heal, months of recovery and tens of thousands of dollars could be down the drain in an instant with one buck or joyful leap.
Lastly, horses are not pets. Much of their value is in their usability. A horse that has recovered from a nearly catastrophic injury and is permanently unsound is not an animal that many people would want to be responsible for. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but quite frankly, very few people would consider, on a practical level, spending $20,000 on surgery and layup to save an horse so it can live out its days permanently lame to the tune of ~$500 per month plus vet, farrier, etc.–all for an animal that the owner might possibly only visit once a week or once a month.
16 Likes
dogs can happily live on three legs.
I think they have done some work on donkeys (much smaller and smarter)
but I don’t believe it’s viable for a full size horse.
My feeling is that the super vet is a toxic narcissist who puts animals through unconscionable procedures to make himself look good. I’m very glad he doesn’t do this to horses.
20 Likes
OP I think you answered your own questions.
Bingo!
This.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
12 Likes
So technically prosthetic legs can be made for horses and used but its not fair to the horse. The horse will have more problems down the road due to them. Its really more humane to euthanize in these situations. The links below have some pictures and more info. Humans do these things more for our benefit than the horses.
http://craigslisthorses.tumblr.com/post/163850319374/3-legged-foal-anon-again-i-was-aware-that-the
http://craigslisthorses.tumblr.com/post/163777955614/a-foal-at-my-barn-got-his-leg-cut-off-at-the
2 Likes
There was a steer given a prosthetic foot. His name was Dudley. The Gentle Barn did their best to save him. He unfortunately died. I’m not sure what ultimately did him in.
http://scvnews.com/2015/02/27/gentle-barn-helps-cow-receive-prosthetic-foot/
Horses and cows rely too much on moving around.
dogs are happy to lay around most of the day
Yes! I watched all the episodes of this show and had an uneasy feeling the whole time. People were putting their animals through intense and painful procedures with a long and unassured recuperation for what? Because THEY couldn’t bear to live without the animal.
I remember one (I think the dog had cancer?) and it was terminal. The dog was not going to live more than a few months or a year or something no matter what they did. And they STILL did some crazy surgery on it because they “loved” the dog so much.
The vet is obviously very talented and intelligent, but I don’t like the way he uses it. People pay crazy money for these procedures (so he gets wealthy) and most of the time they aren’t in the vest interest of the animal at all.
I don’t want to drag out a contentious example, but the racehorse Barbaro is a good example of vets throwing everything they had at an injury because money was not an issue and the horse still ended up dying, after probably being in pain and being confined for a long time.
4 Likes
We will probably have to agree to disagree on this one.
Did you see any of the video of Barbaro during his recuperation? He didn’t appear to be in pain to me. He appeared to have a bright, happy expression. True, he couldn’t get out and run around but he was able to go out for walks and to graze grass.
IMO, between Dr Richardson and the Jacksons, Barbaro was maintained and treated until his pain became a true quality of life issue at which point, the mutual decision was reached to euthanize him.
Until the week before he was euthanized, I believe that Dr Richardson and the Jacksons believed that he would recover enough to come home and enjoy a protected life as a horse. I never, ever got the impression that Dr Richardson was taking advantage of bottomless pockets. I believe the Jacksons were fortunate enough to try to give Barbaro every chance they could because they could afford to.
2 Likes
