How usual is bleeding after castrating?

MrA

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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Bit of an odd one from me today and I'm just curious on your input and if I should of just left it. And going forward should I just leave it.

As I cycled to work this morning I noticed one of the tethered gypsy horses had quite a large amount of blood on its back legs. I went for a closer look thinking maybe it had been attacked by a dog and the blood was fresh, coming from behind the sheath area and there was alot of it all down the legs and on the floor.

So with limited knowledge I assume it has recently been gelded? It looks young not one I've seen before. Behind the sheath you can see a large blob of blood that is trying to clot but still looks fresh.

Anyway rightly or wrongly I couldn't leave it like that, thinking if nothing else all that blood will attract alot of flies. Also the horse looked rather uncomfortable and was shifting between back legs.

So not knowing what else to do I rang the RSPCA. I explained that I was hoping they could make contact with the owner as I know they have been out to this group of horses on numerous occasions. They said no they couldn't do this. But they took the details and booked it as a non urgent case. They then asked if there was any chance I could go back and check on the horse throughout the day. I was working so couldn't but when I went past at 4pm tonight the horse looked the same, someone had been along and cleaned some of the blood from its legs but there was still fresh blood on them and the sheath area, it was also kicking up with its back legs alot because of the flies.

The rspca said they would contact me if they did come out so I can only assume they didn't make it and it was either the owner or a passer by who had cleaned the blood off.

Any advice for me if the horse is still that way tomorrow, do I just leave it, is it usual for them to bleed after being gelded?
 
This was it tonight, less than this morning but still what I would consider alot of fresh blood. Please do tell me if this is normal and I'm just interfering, as I said its not something I know alot about. Screenshot_2018-06-02-19-31-27_1.jpg
 
Some do bleed a bit for a while after, it's one of the reasons many vets prefer not to geld in hot weather unless the horse can be kept in. The amount on his legs isn't excessive, and if they've been cleaned up then at least you know someone is keeping an eye on him.
 
carthorse said:
Some do bleed a bit for a while after, it's one of the reasons many vets prefer not to geld in hot weather unless the horse can be kept in. The amount on his legs isn't excessive, and if they've been cleaned up then at least you know someone is keeping an eye on him.
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Okay thank-you, needed someone to put my mind at ease :)
 
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I remember the vet telling me with I had Albi done that if he bleeds, to time the drips. If the drips were faster than one drip per second I needed to ring in.
 
domane said:
I remember the vet telling me with I had Albi done that if he bleeds, to time the drips. If the drips were faster than one drip per second I needed to ring in.
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Thanks this is a really good tip, even just to remember for the future. Good to know about these things
 
We have open castrations done on the calves, but I would not be doing it at this time due to flies. We do ours in March/April. Some do bleed a bit. I would be worried if it's still dripping. Also with it open and bloody the blow flies will very quickly be attracted and get in laying the eggs and maggots hatching. If someone s cleaned the blood off that's a relief, but if you see it badly kicking or trying to bite at it I'd be wary of maggots inside.
 
The reason horses castration are left open is they need to drain for several days, suturing the wound would increase complications. It often looks like a lot of blood especially on white fur in the 24-48 hours following the surgery.
 
chunky monkey said:
We have open castrations done on the calves, but I would not be doing it at this time due to flies. We do ours in March/April. Some do bleed a bit. I would be worried if it's still dripping. Also with it open and bloody the blow flies will very quickly be attracted and get in laying the eggs and maggots hatching. If someone s cleaned the blood off that's a relief, but if you see it badly kicking or trying to bite at it I'd be wary of maggots inside.
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It was still dripping this morning although the blood has slowed down alot. There was so many flies around the area, I could not see any signs of maggots or anything. I'll see how he looks tomorrow but I can't do much anyway
 
Jessey said:
The reason horses castration are left open is they need to drain for several days, suturing the wound would increase complications. It often looks like a lot of blood especially on white fur in the 24-48 hours following the surgery.
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Ah okay, I'd be interested to know why they need to drain. It's clearly a topic I don't know much about so time to do some reading up. I've learnt all about sheep castration recently and in my opinion that's not very humane, wondering if horse is a similar sort of deal? In that we expect to cause them discomfort but because it doesn't last too long it's deemed okay? I don't really know enough about it to comment, just curious
 
Trewsers said:
You are such a good soul @Ale for taking notice, I have no advice but just wanted to say I think it's so good of you to care.
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I feel like I'm interfering! But I do hope if anyone ever came across Ale out of sorts they would investigate a bit. I mean my first thought was that this horse had been attacked by something. Now I know he is fine I will back off and just keep an eye on him from afar as I cycle past.
 
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Ale said:
Ah okay, I'd be interested to know why they need to drain. It's clearly a topic I don't know much about so time to do some reading up. I've learnt all about sheep castration recently and in my opinion that's not very humane, wondering if horse is a similar sort of deal? In that we expect to cause them discomfort but because it doesn't last too long it's deemed okay? I don't really know enough about it to comment, just curious
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Are you referring to banding sheep? Horses aren't banded, they open the scrotum and remove the testes with an emasculator, which also clamps the blood vessels, sprem cord etc closed as it cuts. From memory they leave it open as the scrotum is bigger and it needs to heal from inside or it leaves a big pocket which can collect nasties and fester and if the scrotum were removed and sutured it will most likely rip because horses tend not to stay still enough.
I don't think it's any more painful than any other surgery site and leaving it open shouldn't make it more so, I think you give pain meds immediately after but there's certain things they can't have as they can reduce clotting, which obviously you want.
 
Jessey said:
Are you referring to banding sheep? Horses aren't banded, they open the scrotum and remove the testes with an emasculator, which also clamps the blood vessels, sprem cord etc closed as it cuts. From memory they leave it open as the scrotum is bigger and it needs to heal from inside or it leaves a big pocket which can collect nasties and fester and if the scrotum were removed and sutured it will most likely rip because horses tend not to stay still enough.
I don't think it's any more painful than any other surgery site and leaving it open shouldn't make it more so, I think you give pain meds immediately after but there's certain things they can't have as they can reduce clotting, which obviously you want.
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We've been learning both methods on the sheep and apparently rarely are they given any pain relief before or after. When we banded the lambs they were clearly very distressed and I can only imagine that the other method must also be very painful.

Thanks for explaining why they leave it open, hadn't thought about the stitches but given the location they would just rip them straight out like you said.
 
I've only banded calves not lambs, they were upset with the restraint to do it but walked away like nothing happened after a few funny steps so don't think they found it too bad. Also helped doing them by emasculators and again they seemed more distressed by the handling than the surgery.
 
I don't band my ram lambs at all these days. We've had problems with them not dropping the second testes, then you get them retained if you band them wrong. When the scrotum drops off the wound hole seals over and the testes has no where to go. A friend of mine did some of his lambs and hadn't realised he hadn't banded properly until lamb started to get very poorly.
You are supposed to band lambs within the first week of life to minimise the pain. But if they haven't dropped properly you can't. The bigger the sack the more painful it is. It's like banding tails. The thicker the tails the more it seems to hurt. But I find if you can do them and then put them straight out in the field, they seem to run the pain off quicker.
 
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My cob bled bad, i was worried sick and got vet back out but he said its normal and wasnt as bad as i thought just looked it because hes white!

he was however done in winter, so there was no foies bugging him! Surely thatl cause infection or as someone else said maggots?
 
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