When is enough, enough? Part II

We touched on this briefly in chat, but we never got a chance to finish it.

How do you make the decision to treat whatever is going on with your animals? So many things, not the smallest of which is the financial burden.

So.......these are some of the questions to ask when the vet hits you with the biggie:

What does this treatment involve? How do you administer it? What can you see going wrong? How much does this treatment cost? What will it cost to do follow up and how regularly will s/he need it?

What happens if we don't treat it? What do you see happening if we don't treat it? How bad can it get?

What are the side effects or this treatment? How will you deal with the side effects? What are the side effects of dealing with the side effects?

Is this potential treatment likely to actually WORK? What do YOU, dear Vet, expect to happen? Is this result likely? Is it worth the cost?






Basically, you need to do a cost/benefit analysis, BUT you include more than the money in the analysis. The comfort and mental health of the horse, the difficulty involved in the care, the potential down side of the treatment...(will it work, will it cause more problems?), the reality of actually having to CARE for this animal long term, your emotional state.

It's a lot, and there is never one answer. It's the answer at which YOU arrive when you balance all those things together that matters.

And that's what I meant when I said in chat last night that Barbero would have had his knee done...not that "stars" deserve or get better care, but in general, their support networks are much more broad and they have, for better or worse, more access to better care. When you are in a position of having to wake up every two hours to do.....something...feed it, change it, medicate it, for an unknown length of time....vs making the decision to have the vet deal with it and writing the cheque...(but you are still getting a good night's sleep and able to work to pay for the privilege)...you see what I mean? The downside of this, of course, is that when you are not actively involved in the care, you lose the opportunity to be able to really evaluate the horse's mental health...but that's a whole 'nother discussion.

There are times when I *don't* do what the vet is telling me *could* be done. Because it's their job to give me the options. It's my job to decide whether or not it's in the best interest of the horse. Does that make me bad? No, sadly, it makes me a realist. When I know I could make a 20 yo horse slightly more sound by doing X, but X is gonna involve locking her in her box for a few months, is the gain in soundness worth knowing she is going to be looney tunes and circling around in her stall because she wants out? Is it worth trying it, knowing the looney tunes circle dance is likely to completely negate the concept of "stall rest"? Is it worth laying her out on the table to the tune of 5K to maybe just maybe get her right? No.

I have a 20 yo broke to death mare in lease. If she broke down tomorrow she'd get turned out and other than making sure she's eating ok and got all her basics, I wouldn't try to fix it much past getting her comfortable. She's 20. Well, 21 now, technically...because for me to put any more time or money into her at 20 just doesn't make much sense, financially, and she's a hard headed cow and after two days in a stall she's a freak I hate to deal with. And that's *my* cost/benefit ratio on *that* horse.

Then you compare that to my take on Bobby, which is, as long as he remains comfortable and I can keep him mentally happy, I'd give him a kidney if that's what he needed. I'd walk in the door at New Bolton rubbing Betadine on my back. And he is, for all intents and purposes, actually less "useful" to me than hard headed Casey....but the cost/benefit ratio on this is heavily emotionally skewed.

So.....is this worth discussing?




This message was edited Feb 4, 2007 10:05 AM