Alita's Story

Day Six

June 8th

The New Drug

    First thing in the morning I called the vet and told them what the University had told me. They agreed that Batrol was a better drug however most people weren’t comfortable giving 20cc’s IV once daily for 10 days. Also it was much more expensive than the SMZ. If it will give Alita a better chance I will do it. I have to!

  I picked up the drugs at the vet that afternoon and got another quick lesson on IV administration. It is all actually not that bad when you know the facts like the Carotid artery is about 1&1/2 inches into the neck under the skin. This is the vein you NEVER, NEVER want to hit as it leads directly to the brain and would cause a horse to die within seconds of an overdose.

  Then if you cut off a horses blood supply in the lower neck with your finger you can see the vein back up with blood. It will rise under the skin. Then as you stroke it lightly it looks like water rolling in a thin plastic hose. You can see it make "waves" under the skin.

  Then when using a 1 inch long needle it is pretty rare that you would hit the wrong vein as it can only go in the neck one inch and the artery is about 1&1/2 inches. You would almost have to stick the needle straight in the horses neck to hit it. If you go in at an angle you are pretty safe.

  Finally the blood going from the brain to the body is a dark almost brick red. It’s kind of a maroon type red. The blood going from the heart to the brain is full of oxygen so it is bright red. Therefore if you draw back on your needle you will see the color blood in the syringe and should be able to tell which is which. Once I knew all of this I was confident I could do this for Alita.

  That night I gave my first 20cc IV shot to Alita while my husband held her. I thought thru all that was told to me and talked my way thru it and all was fine. I was still nervous but I got the job done and I felt much better about it. I pet her and told her good night and we left for the evening.