Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Pin the injection on the ....KNEE


According to Dr. Matt I should have a *new* pony in a week or so :-) I think I will too, just don't know how long the newish pony will last... so last night we repeated all flextion tests again he even tried to torque his shoulder to see if we could get a *positive* which really is a *negative* in my book :-p response (I've never understood the logic behind giving results like that!) But the only positive flextion we could get was in his knee...His fetlock joint/ ankle flexed good actually, he rated him much better this time. He hoof test'd his front feets and found a tad bit of heel pain, but when we blocked him (numbed the area) he was still lame. Injecting the knee joint with HA takes 2 pricks. Too bad it wasn't like a buy one get one deal :-p When the top of the knee was prick'd there was bloody discharge :-o which is a sign of inflammation for sure, the other prick was mostly a clear fluid as it should be.
I asked Dr. Matt on his opinion for joint supps and he gave me a big O' zero hand symbol. Like most vets he doesn't think the oral supps do much. He did say that if he had to use one he'd probably do the Cosequin, I think there is even one out there now with HA. But I've been told by more than one vet that I should just save the money and do injections or Adequan. I also asked about Adequan adding longevity to the joint injections and he said let's wait and see how he responds. Gosh the loading doses of Adequan are about the same or more than a joint injection! :-o
So Sterman Lester had to stay in for the night. We had Frosty (Dr. Matt's Wife's horse who pasture boards there) to babysit him in the barn so that worked out well for Less and I! He was doped up and happy when I left :-)
He will be able to go back out to pasture tonight and hopefully by Saturday I can get on him. I need to call in some shoes for him too! $$$$ :-/

OK, I just have to LOL, my bosses just came over here and asked me something about Lester and I told them I spent another $400+ ( I had blood drawn again to test his T3 and T4 levels also) on him yesterday and one goes "How much do you think you've spent on him all together" - $20-30k? LOL, I had to tell them shoes alone cost me $200 a month :-p Like I say, Less is lucky he's so cute!

9 comments:

Dressage Nomad said...

Ooooh, I hope this helps! I shudder to look back at how much I've spent on injections for Jessie over the last year. Hocks and stifles in November, right hock and stifle again in January. Not to mention x-rays, ultrasounds, and nerve blocks! My vet doesn't believe in joint supplements either, but his wife still feeds them to her dressage horses.

Kristie said...

Hey, saw your comment on jesterjigger's site. I'm trying to connect with horse people on this blog... It's fun to find someone new!!

Good luck on the joint issues... I'm so lucky that I haven't had to deal with that as of yet!

Never Say Never Greyhounds said...

I'm hearing more and more that joint supplements aren't worth a damn with dogs either. I hope Less is feeling better soon.

Jen

cdncowgirl said...

Jen - my vet likes the joint supplement I feed my dogs. Its called "Smooth Choice Canine" and its by Smooth Run. Their website is (if you're interested) is:

http://www.smoothrunequine.com/index.html

cdncowgirl said...

Denise: Yay for Lester! :) I really really hope that this works and you can continue riding him. (even though I know you'll still love him if you can't ride)

Laura said...

Hope all of the vetting helps ol' Less so that he is comfortable and that you can ride a bit!

Too bad it costs so much, but we do alot for these equines that we love so much!

sidetracked said...

I hope that it all works out for your guy. Horses=$ in my book. There was a reason that horses and riding were for the blue blooded. Now when I whip out my check book to pay for everything that my horse needs I'm blue blooded too, only because all of it has rushed to the bottoms of my feet as I'm trying to figure in my head how I'm going to eat for the next month. But their totally worth it and any true horse person could tell you the same thing. Good Luck

Anonymous said...

Hey there - hope he is doing better! My vet gives me glucosimine (sp?) to inject Seal with - it's 1x/month (5ccs) and is about $20/injection. It has done WONDERS for him! He is like a new pony.

Unknown said...

I'm crossing my fingers for you - let us know after the holidays if it worked!!