When to Get a Second Opinion: Veterinary Care

Jackie came to us about two years ago. She was a wee thing, calm as can be—for a pony. She had spunk, but she was careful when it counted. And so naturally, we adored her.

 

She was the kind of pony that could have all four feet in buckets while being dewormed. Of course, she wasn’t perfect. She had some work to do with the bridle—she was tossing her head a lot, showing signs of irritability and discomfort. I didn’t think of it at the time—I figured she needed more training, or that she had been rushed to the bridle. And yet. There was my first sign. The first whisper that something was up. I pushed it aside.

 

Fast forward to the winter. Jackie was down in the dumps. At first, we thought it was colic. Our veterinarian agreed. We walked her through the snow, every couple of hours, trying to get her moving. A bowel movement was had, but nothing improved. A few weeks later, the bottom of her jaw blew out the morning she was scheduled to have her teeth checked, something we had been meaning to do, but had been put off. It left a gaping, gushing pus-filled hole that you could smell clear across the yard. Our vet said that this was a good thing—but that the tooth that had caused the abscess wasn’t ready to be removed-that we should wait until the spring. We were given some antibiotics. End of story. Whisper, whisper.

 

But I’m a worrier. I feel like I fall somewhere in between extreme paranoia and minorly annoying. It was tugging at me. Spring rolled in and I called for a follow-up. Tooth wasn’t ready. Wouldn’t be for a while. I needed to relax. The hole closed up, I worried less. Life went on.

 

Well, that autumn we went to Vancouver. We didn’t want to sell everything (i.e. ANYTHING) because we weren’t sure if we were moving forever and displacing all the animals seemed premature. We left the farm in the capable hands of our employee at the time—nothing went awry in our absence per-say, but she noted the reopening of Jackie’s wound. Tooth still wasn’t ready.

 

Short story, we came back (I mean, how could we not?). Jackie was a hot mess and our vet couldn’t make it out. Everyone everywhere is short-staffed and doing their best.

 

Jackie looked rough. Like sails to the wind rough. My heart broke for her—and here’s something interesting about me and our animals—I won’t stretch it out. I won’t let a creature descend into oblivion before making the call. I was about to call it with Jackie. She was in terrible pain, uncomfortable. Scarred, now, because of the giant hole.

 

So I reached out to another vet. I felt guilty—it’s like cheating, right? I felt downright terrible. But sometimes we have to lean into our discomfort—shoulders in—when we know, we really know that something isn’t right.

 

Low and behold, our beloved Jackie had come to us with a break that had healed wrong. Her jaw had been broken at some point, healing over to leave her body rejecting her teeth, which had died. Imagine. Two years of discomfort. Pain. TWO YEARS. And all it took was an x-ray.

 

The surgery was expensive, but I owed it to her. She had been so brave—who was I to say she hadn’t been? She’s on the mend now, although she’s not out of the woods yet. But we almost missed it—because despite well intentions and best efforts, things can get missed-even when your veterinarian is excellent. Things go funny sometimes. Things get missed. But I think that as long as we listen to that little voice inside, it’s all going to be okay.

 

Here are some important things to remember:

 

Listen to your gut. You know the animal better than anyone. You have to be their voice.

 

Push back when encountering delays. Annoying people are hard to ignore. Be respectful, ALWAYS, but be an advocate for your animal.

 

Get a second opinion. The more minds, the better. Good luck out there!