Category: Euthanasia

Updated March 7, 2021

—–

Laminil hadn’t appeared as a treatment for laminitis when I originally wrote this post in 2012, and I painted a grim picture of life for a chronically laminitic horse.

The existence of Laminil changes my answer considerably. My last laminitic gelding, age 25 as of 2021, is behaving like he’s a youngster again, galloping around just for fun, thanks to Laminil IM injections, and I am blown away.

If I had a newly diagnosed laminitic horse, I would try Laminil before doing anything else.

Of course, every case of laminitis comes with short- and long-term decisions.

And, after the horse returns to soundness, the owner still needs to find what triggered the laminitis if the cause is not obvious. I won’t pretend it will be easy.

Over my years fighting laminitis, one vet battled to keep my horses alive. Another vet told me to put them all down, cut my losses and move on before my life was over.

I originally thought the first vet was right. Then, I believed the second vet was right. Now, I don’t know.

Traditionally, a horse’s chances of having a quality life after developing laminitis were small.

I didn’t realize that at the outset of my first case in 1998. I remember asking my vet how long until the horse recovered. I can still remember him pausing and searching for the right words. He didn’t want to say never. But, that’s what he was thinking.

Some laminitic horses have had stretches of a quality life. Did those stretches make up for the pain the horse had to go through in between?

All but one of my horses fell into this category. I spent a lot of money on things, such as boots, duct tape and supplements, to keep them going, and keeping a horse in boots is pretty much a 24/7 project. Has it been worth it? For me? For them?

I kept Angel alive for seven years because I had every hope that science would develop a treatment to restore her feet before she got so bad that she couldn’t hang on. When she hit the point of being miserable, that treatment had not materialized. So one could make the judgment that keeping Angel alive was a complete and total waste of money, and additionally I kept her hopes alive, only to have to go back and tell her nobody could help her and that final day had come.

She looked so much more peaceful in death than any day that she struggled through laminitis. I can’t say keeping her alive was the right thing to do.

Owners of horses with new cases of laminitis have much better options as far as treatments and hoof trimming guidelines. It’s work. But I don’t believe it’s hopeless anymore.