Isis came home last night. Got on the trailer like a champ and hauled quietly back. She settled in immediately, happily munching hay and looking around. Her body seemed to relax again to realize where she is. I called the vet school twice to verify the amount of hay she’s allowed to have and whether she can have a mineral block. I’m going back out to see Isis after work today.
Recovery will take a total of 90 days before she is back to doing anything under saddle. Normally with a colic surgery, the horse is kept in stall rest for 30 days from the day of surgery. With Isis, we’re going to try and keep her on stall rest for 30 days from the time she came home — which makes a total of about 6 weeks. While she’s on stall rest, she’s allowed to be taken out and grazed on a lead rope. After the 30 days, she is allowed turnout in a small paddock so she can’t run around too much. After that, back to regular pasture turnout.
That’s the general care. Her incision site looks great. We have to monitor it for any signs of infection. She did get a minor infection where the catheter was in. We’re keeping it clean, helping it drain, and putting DMSO on it twice per day until Monday 9/11. She was also given three doses (1x day) of Gastroguard, an item that helps prevent ulcers.
One thing about Isis’ blood work results surprised me: antibodies for tapeworms, which indicates that at some point she had tape worms (not that she has them now). The results of the fecal test are not back yet so we don’t know if she actually had them now (unlikely because of the regular worming schedule she’s on).
