A Manitoba woman says one of her horses died a slow, agonizing death because veterinarians “listened with a deaf ear and looked with a blind eye” during the months the animal was ill.
The 17-year-old mare died despite numerous attempts to find a veterinarian who could diagnose its health problem, said Shari Clinch of Deleau in southwestern Manitoba.
The horse, named Shawnee, became ill in mid-December. Several veterinarians were consulted, Clinch said, but none seemed able to pinpoint the cause and some seemed indifferent to the animal’s plight.
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“I just don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” Clinch said, describing the mare as a close companion that she had raised from the time it was three months old.
“She was my world and she will never ever be replaced. I had her from a baby.”
In mid-December, the mare started to become lethargic and teary eyed. It couldn’t chew hay properly, had a clear discharge from its nose and was constantly sweating.
Five veterinarians examined the horse at separate times during the next couple of months, said Clinch. However, the treatments prescribed did not prevent Shawnee from dying on Feb. 20.
Other vets were contacted as the horse’s condition worsened, Clinch said, but they declined to come on the grounds that they were too busy with calving season and a horse was not a priority.
“When our mare needed help, they listened with a deaf ear and looked with a blind eye,” Clinch wrote in an e-mail outlining her concerns.
“This never should have happened like this. She did not deserve to be treated this way or to have to suffer this long.
“We spent countless sleepless nights trying to save her but we could not because we could not get the type of help that we needed for her.”
Clinch contacted Maureen Jay, the registrar of the Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association, to lodge a complaint. The association is the regulatory body for all vets in the province. Complaints against vets are directed to the registrar and a peer review can result if circumstances warrant.
“Her situation is very unfortunate,” Jay said. “We have heard of it and we take it every bit as serious as she does.”
However, when interviewed March 1, Jay said she did not have all the details of the matter, including which vets allegedly failed to make a diagnosis or failed to heed appeals for help from Clinch and her husband, Karel Skripal.
Without more information, Jay could only speculate about why a vet might decline to examine or treat an ailing horse. However, she said a shortage of large animal vets is not likely a factor.
“All of the prairie provinces could use more large animal veterinarians, without question. The reality is that we have a certain number in the province and they seem, quite honestly, from my world from seeing where things go wrong, to be adequate in terms of number and skill and ability.”
Allan Preston, Manitoba Agriculture assistant deputy minister, said there are several vets within a 100-kilometre radius of Deleau. He noted that vets typically respond quickly to calls concerning horses, recognizing that they often are companion animals to people.
“It sounds as though she did not have a lack of service,” said Preston. “What she did have was a lack of outcome that she could live with. If that’s the situation, she’s already made the right move to communicate her concerns to the professional organization.
“It’s unfortunate the horse died, but there may be some reasons there that we just don’t know about at this point.”
Clinch and Skripal were convinced that the mare had equine Cushing’s disease, which results from a tumour forming in a horse’s pituitary gland. However, Clinch said the vets instead prescribed treatment for pneumonia and strangles.
As its condition worsened, the mare’s tongue burst open on both sides and pus oozed from the gashes. Swelling had set in and it could barely stand due to weakness.
Clinch and Skripal were reluctant to have the horse euthanized. There were signs of a recovery, beginning on Feb. 11, but those were short-lived.
“The biggest problem we found was that no vet would really make the time to properly examine her,” Skripal said. “We suspected Cushing’s right off the bat. We told the vet that. The vet looked at her and said, ‘absolutely not. She doesn’t have Cushing’s at all.’ “
A post-mortem is being done at the University of Manitoba to learn the cause of death.
