Can't afford vet bills

[needadviceplease25]

Hello

Hoping for advice off experienced horse owners. I'm desperate.

My family member owned a 14 year old cobb. He has CPL & extensive damage to his teeth & gums from the cpl.

Unfortunately she passed away very unexpectedly a few months ago, before anything could be sorted for the horse.
There wasn't much money left for the horse after the funeral was paid for.
We've discovered a outstanding vet bill and once that's paid there's only half a grand left.

The vet has said he has broken teeth, wobbly teeth basically top & bottom front & side teeth all need removing leaving only the backs. We're looking at 2-4 grand once this is all done, way way way out of the budget obviously. This doesn't include any vet bills for vaccaines or his Cpl.

Me and my husband cannot afford this. It's simply out of our budget. My husbands brother (whose passport the name is in) said we can get it all on a payment plan but we still can't afford it + livery costs/food/hay/creams etc!

Does anyone know exactly what we're looking at budget wise for the bills? One tooth is completely broken, foods getting in the teeth, extensive gum disease. He needs sedating everytime someone looks at his teeth.

Am I wrong in saying this is insane and we need to say enough is enough to husbands brother that we cannot afford this? One more vet bill and the money left will most likely be completely wiped out.
The brother won't consider putting to sleep, and says they will loan him out but we're still going to be left in massive debt with vet bills!
He also has Cpl so no doubt he's going to be need to be seen by the vet a lot in his lifetime. I honestly feel like crying. None of us ride, none of us want a horse it seems mad.

I can't edit but the insurance has refused to cover the bills too, despite never claiming on the insurance!

Why is any of this your responsibility?

Because my husband was the next of kin so had the money sent to him and he's looking after it.

Me and my husband pool our income together so if he's paying for the horse once the money runs dry then it directly effects me & our children.

Did you not do a post about this horse a few weeks ago and were advised about rescues etc to try and rehome him . The bottom line here is that this horse , like many horses is a money pit . If you don’t have the money or the inclination , which is reasonable as he’s not yours and you didn’t choose to be involved , he needs to be rehomed to a horse sanctuary ( if you can find one that will take him ) or have him humanely PTS . What cannot happen is this horse continuing to suffer because the person who cared about him and loved him died . Sorry for your loss .

Your bil ultimately has responsibility via the horse's passport... So hand it back. Bad teeth and all.

But why is looking after the horse you and your husbands responsibility? Obviously you have a responsibility short term to make sure that the horse isn't suffering which you are doing but you need to tell the brother that you won't be responsible for arranging ongoing care and if he wants to keep the horse he needs to pay for expenses. Otherwise it's being put down or surrendered to a rescue depending on which is appropriate

Thing is the brother is in denial. We've said rescue, we gave him a big list of rescues who'd take him but they won't listen to us.
If we just pay what's left out of the money and then refuse to have anything to do with it I'm worried the yard owner will turn up on OUR doorstep as the brother isn't local.

Send the brother a solicitors letter telling him that the remaining money will be deposited in his account and from x date the horse is completely his responsibility and then send a copy to the yard owner . How come he got the passport but you got the money ?

He got the passport as we didn't want it in our name and they said they'd sort it all. The money went towards clearing the family members home, funeral costs etc etc so it wasn't just for the horse.

If the horse isn't in your name then I'm not sure why either you or your husband are taking responsibility for it.

Put the horse to sleep, it’ll be the kindest thing for it in the long run as you’re very unlikely to find a rescue to take it and it has health issues. There is no shame in ending a horses life with dignity. I’ve been there and done it so speak from experience.

This.

Poor horse is going to continue to get worse. Rescues are already overflowing with horses they can't find homes for. Rather than passing the problem on, your BIL needs to do the decent thing and euth the horse.

Thanks all, you've given me food
For thought. Think I'm going to sit DH down and have a proper chat this evening we'll continue to pay until the money runs out but I think it needs to be spoken about as a family before it gets to that point that there's nothing left.
Be different if we were horse people and I wish I was for the sake of the horse he is a truly lovely horse who had a lovely life with a lovely owner but I think you've really got to love horses & that lifestyle to have a horse or that type of commitment to one.

You can't loan a horse out with so many issues. Unless you can find a reputable rescue place ( not all are), the kindest thing is putting to sleep. Otherwise the horse will just get passed from pillar to post, probably ultimately getting sent illegally for meat.

Firstly, you have not said how old the horse is. I think this is relevant also in a decision to be PTS. If we are talking of a horse in it's 20's with severe dental issues then the reality is to be PTS - mainly so the horse doesn't suffer. CPL can be very very painful and often lots of dentistry work is required and teeth taken out.

Unless of course the horse is say 7 with years ahead of him and can be loaned out or sold in the future.

Whilst it is hard and I am sure the horse is lovely the ongoing keep of a horse can run to £££'s. It is also unfair to any livery owner to keep a horse there knowing the money is going to run out. What is going to happen when it does? You will have to find a new home, or PTS at that point. She won't just be banging on your door she will have the right probably (in a contract) to deal with the horse due to non -payment of livery. I know in my livery contract they can sell my horse to claw back any fee's not paid.

With that many health issues, I'd put the horse to sleep tbh. Heartbreaking though it may be. He will get passed from pillar to post with loaner who won't want to pay out vets bills that regularly and its just not fair on him.

I would use the money left to have the horse PTS and maybe tell your brother the horse had colic.

I love my horses dearly but they are utter money pits. There's no cure for CPL so this is probably how it's going to end up soon anyway especially if there are dental issues.
BIL sounds like he has his head in the sand about dealing with any of this.

You need to put the horse to sleep. I say this with kindness but the reality is horses are money pits at the best of time, rescues are full, the chances of loaning are near zero. Ongoing costs will continue to rise, and disposal costs could be somewhere in the region of £600 to £800 depending on your vet. Make the decision sooner, rather than later. And tell your BIL if he won't make the decision, you will on welfare grounds.

I don’t think you’d find a rescue able to take him in as they are full with cruelty cases and for a few years now have been inundated with people asking them to take their horses in due to rising costs, and they have no room for this.

I don’t think he’d be easy to find a good loan home for either. How old is he?

I’d suggest pts as an option. It’s hard and I’ve done it with my own much loved horse but it was the right thing to do.

Is CPL pretty much a death sentence once it gets to destroying the teeth then?
I don't know anything about CPL, when they were alive they told us it was a recently new thing and vets hadn't done the long term research but it effects the teeth & legs?

He's 15 so he's not old, but not young. The loan would be so they just pay livery/food costs and we'd apparently pay the vet bills... but would anyone on here (please tell me honestly) loan a horse with health issues such as these?

That's not a bad shout tbh. Whilst it is not strictly true, the reason is that CPL or colic both amount to the same thing which is ultimately the best and kindest thing to do for the horse in this situation.

I have copied the following from a site regards CPL:

"There is currently no successful permanent treatment for CPL. Careful management and supportive therapy can improve the quality of life of affected horses. This involves antibiotics to treat secondary infections, antiparasitic treatments to avoid reinfections with Chorioptes, keeping the feathers clipped short, daily exercise, routine foot, ergot and chestnut trimming, daily hoof cleaning, and manual lymph drainage massage. Compression bandaging is very helpful, but it must be applied correctly and should only be performed by professionals. Horses should be kept in dry environments and pesticide applications may be required in barns to minimize mite infestations. These treatments are labor-intensive and must be maintained for the life of the animal to minimize discomfort, slow the progress of the disease, avoid recurrent infections, and ensure quality of life. In most cases, surgical removal of skin nodules is not recommended as it can potentially further damage lymphatic tissue."

Bearing all of the above no I would not loan a horse with CPL. I once had a hairy cob, and whilst she did not develop this she did get mites in her feathers. It was a constant battle of keeping the feathers clipped and putting on various medications etc to keep on top of it. I doubt any loaner would want the extra hassle of keeping on top of his medical issues. Can I just re-iterate that you be in no doubt how expensive horses can be. Vets bills can be £££, you might find you are calling the vet out more due to lameness etc. Once it starts to get to be a hassle and expensive a loaner will probably just hand him back to you and then you are still in the realms of deciding what to do. Any advice we are giving re PTS really is the kindest and dignified decisions you can make for the horse.

The kindest thing you can do for everyone is put the horse to sleep rather than have him passed around. It's not cruel and if you are a responsible owner you will end up doing this anyway at some point.

Oh goodness, see it was the yard owner who suggested putting him loan not sure why they suggested that if they knew nobody would want to loan a CPL horse. I knew it was hard having to wash the legs every day & clip feathers but goodness that does put it into perspective.

Regards the CPL - it is basically Lymphedema or Chronic Progressive Lymphedema. Yes it affects the legs like you would see it affects humans. You can do a bit of googling but at that age it is not going to get any better, it will just get worse and it basically effects the skin, causes swelling of the legs, which then causes infections etc etc, it will cause lameness so the horse won't be able to be ridden. It is a whole load of heartache that I suspect you really don't need.