Citrus, FL
Animals
Kyra Smeller
This campaign has ended and is no longer accepting donations.
Saving Logan from cancer!
- Hello!! I'm Sheree` Lashley of Crystal River Florida. Back in February we purchased a beautiful black and white overo gelding from a friend. He seemed like the perfect horse for my green rider husband Brandon, and he truly is!
- A few months after buying him I started to notice drops on his hind legs which I passed off as possibly sweat dripping on his white legs during the day?? Come to find out he suffers from anhidrosis..... So not sweat? Strange huh? So the months start to pass by and he seems "fine".... He had odd quirks though, He hated his hind legs picked up.... would literally kick out at us and the farrier while trying to clean or do his feet. We use the Clinton Anderson method here which we started him on. He was great for most all of it BUT when we would go to yield his hind quarters.... He'd rear up and just about flip clean over!! Don't even think about getting near his sheath or hosing him between the legs... He'd kick your head off!! I thought it was strange but never thought that far into it all. Just thought he was a "brat" so to speak.... So, the drops on his legs start to become more and more noticeable as time goes on. We got a barn mostly built and him and our 3 year old gelding Riley stay in all day due to Logan not sweating. One morning it dawned on me to check this "sweat" supposedly dripping from his sheath area. Well at 6 am there shouldn't be sweat dripping from any place on a horse... that's the moment I figured out it wasn't sweat, it was urine!! On 7/18/18 I came home from a long day at work and start my usual chores, cleaning stalls, feeding, putting up hay for the next day in the barn. As I'm cleaning Logan's stall I notice a sizable blood clot... then another, and another!! I'm starting to freak out about now and start yelling for Brandon to come help me locate the injury... we can't find a single hair out of place.... any where. SO, I call the animal clinic where I work. I had already taken home a tube of Dorm gel to sedate him that weekend to look for what we suspected to be a bean. Dr. Farrar told me to give him the entire tube and check his penis for lacerations, a bean, stones, and worst off.... any tumors.... I was so scared for Logan! So about 20 minutes after giving him the gel we came back out side to see what we could find. Immediately we saw 3 very large tumors on his penis :( There was no mistaking them at all. There was a large hole at the tip of his penis and the very end of it was rock hard and had a horrible smell. The very end of his penis was swollen shut which is why he was leaking urine, he wasn't able to fully expel urine for God only knows how long. At this point the vet's can't do anything for him so I administered 12cc banamine IV and left him alone for the night. We all suspected cancer right away... He is a very private horse, never hangs his manhood out for the world to see so up until the blood in the stall, we had zero clue that these drips on his legs where the first red flags. So, of course we know most likely he's going to have to be put down... But, I wanted Dr. Dunn to give me the final say so. I was prepared to try to come up with money for a biopsy. Dr. Dunn came to the house the following day, we sedated Logan and Dr. Dunn did a very short exam, he knew right away, without a doubt in his mind it was cancer! :( I told myself I was ready for the news but, When he looked me in the eyes with his 30 years of experience and said " it's for sure cancer, without a doubt" I bawled my eyes out! I can't afford to do surgery! No way.... Dr. Dunn asked me between tears how old Logan was and said he was such a beautiful animal... I told him he was 8 years old, turning 9 this year.... Dr. Dunn went silent for a moment.... Then said, " I could do it, I could amputate his penis far enough up to free him from the cancer and give him a full life, He's too young to waste a life." of course that sounded great but I knew I couldn't afford that.... He told me he'd cut me a huge deal, He'd never done such a thing on a horse before! I had the horse, he had the skill and desire! So, he got to work on research right away. We talked and planed how to do it and when. We finally settled on a day and had planed for practically the entire clinic to come to our house and watch this amazing surgery! During this time Logan was in good spirits and never once acted like he was in pain, thank God! 7/28/18... The day before the big day! I brought the horses into the barn for the day and as Logan walked by I noticed he smelled awful and his legs had a good amount of blood drops all down them. I put in a call to Dr. Dunn who was also off that day (Saturday) and he said to just keep an eye on him and probably keep him inside that night to prepare for the surgery the next morning as planned. He told me his final decision on the surgery was to do it standing in the barn! He asked me to go buy shavings for the stall and a few other things we would need. The farrier came that morning, by now Logan was losing a large amount of blood from that area. God bless my amazing farrier because he did Logan's feet so low to the ground bent over to prevent Logan from having to pick up his hind legs too far and possibly hurt him! After the farrier finished with both boys I headed to the store and loaded up on shavings and such. I was gone about 2 hours... I came home and found Logan's entire stall with puddles of blood and he was covered in blood! I sent Dr. Dunn pictures and he called me right away, he asked if his gums where pale and if he was continually losing blood... I checked, yes and yes. His gums where completely white and he had a steady slow stream of blood coming from his sheath. He instructed me to contact the large animal technician Jamie and have her meet him at my place by 5. This has now turned into an emergency situation to save Logan's life. We made a few phone calls and only could rally up our best friend Chip to come help us out. We had no idea what to expect... any of us! Dr. Dunn arrived and we got straight to work. Logan was heavily sedated but not enough to take him off his feet. Then Dr. Dunn gave him an epidural, so cool! He catheterized Logan and the amount of urine that came out was mind blowing! It was thick like syrup and stunk to high heavens! Logan even in his drugged state seemed to sigh in relief. Next he placed a large zip tie around Logan's penis above all the tumors... We wanted to do a castrating band but it wouldn't fit over the enlarged, hardened end of the penis. After cinching that down as hard as he could Dr. Dunn administered more Lidocaine and started the amputation process. It was quite a sight to behold.... He had to leave the tiniest bit attached so that the catheter wouldn't pull out and potentially ruin the whole surgery. He placed a few sutures in the end of the now stump to close up the large amount of open wound. After that was done we moved to the rear of Logan and Dr. Dunn made a large incision to reroute the urethra out the back of him, just below his anus. Thus turning him into "a mare" so to speak lol. That part was very difficult, Logan is a very muscular horse and at this point there was no room to even lend Dr. Dunn a hand without adding to the already difficult situation. Logan held strong the whole time but did have to be drugged again 4 times through out the 3 and a half hour surgery. With much difficulty, Dr. Dunn finally was able to attach the urethra where he wanted it and close up the incision site for his hand to get in there. Now to remove what was left hanging of the cancerous penis. He trimmed the tiny piece and gently removed the catheter. Here's where it gets hairy...... While attempting to tighten the zip tie (now that the catheter was out of the way) the zip tie slipped off of the stump!!! At this point all of us in the stall are stark white and breathless.... blood sprayed all over Dr. Dunn... He yelled for Jamie who was busy packing the truck back up. He placed OB tape very tightly around what he could grab of the stump... But something wasn't right. The sheath began to swell at an alarming rate. He cut the string of and out came another waterfall of blood.... after squeezing out as much of the blood clots as he could, he had Jamie help him find the actual stump and they where able to tie it off with the OB tape again and successfully this time. WHEW!! We could all breathe again from that point... Dr. Dunn left me some hefty antibiotics and strong pain meds. We're all exhausted at this point and filthy but, Logan stayed standing the whole time and was alive!! Yay! About 4 hours after the surgery during the night I checked on him, Yay! There was a large puddle of pee in his stall! It was quite bloody but Doc said that was normal and to be expected. The next morning he was bright, alert, and hungry!! He had poo piles and another pee spot in his stall, everything was working great! The next few weeks involved lots of cleaning, medicating, and praying. He wasn't allowed out of the stall at all, not even to hand walk him. All the while Riley, the three year old got an eye ulcer from rubbing his eye and 3 large summer sores!! This horse mom was beat... One afternoon Brandon caught Logan peeing! No one had since the surgery! Well.... It was coming from the part of his stump that was rotting off... great!! Dr. Dunn came out and sedated Logan a few days later. We couldn't tell anything so as long as the pee is coming out, then that's fine! Within 10 days after that the final end of the stump came off and it also seemed that he quit urinating from the rear incision... bummer. So Dr. Dunn comes out again. Sedated Logan and we check him out. The end of the stump looks great!! All the cleaning I've been doing has kept infection at bay along with the oral antibiotics. The incision FINALLY sealed up, whew! That took three whole weeks in it's self! Dr. Dunn was able to put his whole pointer finger into the hole where urine is supposed to be coming from and says he cant seem to feel anything? So, as long as it's coming out the bottom, we're ok with that! Doc also says he can go out for ONE HOUR tonight then back into the stall, YAY!! Well, while he's out in the round pen he goes pee. I catch him just in time to be finishing, argh. I go out and move his tail.... fresh urine dripping from his butt cheeks, down the incision and his tail is soaked!! Well, he's also dripping urine from the front of his sheath as well... great, peeing from BOTH places!! This horse is out to kill me mentally I swear to you!! I called Dr. Dunn and he said as long as it's coming out, it's ok! That was last sunday... Listen, I have literally found my first grey hair the other day since this crazy ride has started!! He's been allowed out of the barn over night since Wednesday. Today is 8/26/18, Sunday, and this morning while tending to Riley's wounds on the cross ties I let Logan graze..... He decided he needed to pee ( Mind you I still haven't seen him urinate since the surgery 4 weeks ago!!) right near me anddd it's coming out the rear where it's supposed to!! Yayy!! I called Dr. Dunn and told him the great news, we're both very excited. The road isn't over just yet though.... I'm doing this fundraiser because due to the medications, sedation, and sheer time put in, the vet bill is way over what all of us intended. However, Logan is alive and well. He's never coliced one time after the surgery which we actually figured he would do to the severity of the surgery and the pain we expected him to be in. He's eaten every meal since, always eats all his hay, and drinks water like a good boy. This once grumpy horse is now extremely loving, lets me do whatever I need to him with zero fuss, and willingly picks up his back feet!! What a difference this has made in him and I'm so glad Dr. Dunn of Countryside Animal Clinic was able to save his young life! All Donations will be going straight to his medical bills and his further medical bills as he's not all the way out of the woods just yet at this point. Thank you all for reading his story and thank you in advance for all the help!
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