[kipster]

My horse, Kip, is having surgery today to remove a bladder stone. Good thoughts for an uneventful surgery and recovery are greatly appreciated!

[ASB Stars]

Many jingles coming your way- I hope you have a great outcome, and an uneventful recovery!

[Addison]

Many jingles from PA. Let us know how he does.

[Quinn]

Sending jingles for a completely uneventful surgery and 100% speedy recovery.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ballyduff

[eventgroupie2]

Many jingles from Willie and me in VA!!!! Keep positive thoughts and all will be well!!!

[monstrpony]

Jingles! Let us know how he does--

[Buffyblue]

Lots of jingles for Kip!

[eventgroupie2]

Any updates? Still jingling from VA.

[Zu Zu]

Jingling for Kip ~ for full recovery !

[kipster]

Thanks for the good thoughts -
Kip's surgery went well, he was recovering well yesterday afternoon. Hopefully I'll be able to bring him home later this afternooon!

[Iron Horse Farm]

So glad to hear that your horse is dong well. Would be interested to hear how you figured out that this was his diagnosis and if they had an idea of the cause? Also, will he have to avoid alfalfa due to the calcium now?

[kipster]

So here is the (short) story of Kip's bladder issues...
4 1/2 years ago I moved my horses home We noticed Kip would urinate small amounts frequently. A few weeks prior to this he also urinated blood after exercise. My vet did a rectal exam and could palpate a stone. He was pretty sure it was a stone and not a tumor because it was 'movable' inside the bladder and did not feel attached to the bladder wall.

So, I took him to the referral hospital and they did an ultrasound of his bladder to confirm stone, ultrasound his kidneys to make sure there were not any kidney stones (there wasn't), then scoped him to see the inside of the bladder (one 8 cm stone), then a urethrostomy to remove the stone.

I don't have an answer to why he forms stones. He does not eat alfalfa - never has in the 11 years I have owned him. Instructions were to increase water consumption - we did this.

Fast forward to August 09. I start noticing the symptoms again. This time they recommended general anesthesia and surgery to remove the stone. Which is what they did yesterday. There is a product, SoyChlor, that was recommended I try to help acidify his urine. I have not used this product in the past, so I'll have to wait and see if it is effective on him!
Thanks for reading the long post!

[Addison]

Good news. The scariest part of most equine surgeries is when they wake up...sometimes they can get a bit rowdy. Sounds like your guy was good!

[BasqueMom]

Jingles for his recovery and new diet!

[Minerva Louise]

Jingles for an easy, fast recovery!

BO here has a horse that had a bladder stone. Took THREE surgeries in close succession to get it out. Horse now gets a vinegar mixture with his feed. He's been fine for years now. Your horse is very lucky that they got it all out in one go!

[Long Spot]

Hoping things continue smoothly for Kip!

I'm interested, because I've not encountered this sort of surgery before or heard anything about it...

How do they do the surgery? Is it a big incision or can they do orthoscopic? Is there an option, to go in through the urethra as they sometimes can with people? Can they use ultrasound/shockwave to break the stone up?

How long and involved is the recovery for poor Kip?

[marta]

giant jingles to my mare's name sake kip (her name is kipper but i call her kip for short ).

[Mr.GMan]

jingles for kip!

[jenm]

Jingling for Kip! How is he doing?

[Rivermeer]

Jingles for Kip!

Heather