Dr. Ted Vlahos has been performing amputations on horses for 24 years. As one of just three veterinarians in the country that perform this surgery, he’s had horses travel from all over for his care.
But today, for the first time, a horse flew to see Dr. Vlahos at Yellowstone Equine Hospital in Cody, Wyoming. The horse, named Buck, landed Wednesday evening in Billings, after flying from Alabama via FedEx.
After getting his leg stuck in barbed wire fencing, he was treated at Auburn University for about six weeks before his owners decided to bring him out west to see Dr. Vlahos.
“The owners just love him and are not ready to euthanize him,” said Cathy Vlahos, Dr. Vlahos’s wife and the office manager at Yellowstone Equine Hospital. “They’d much rather do everything they can to save him.”
After the amputation and several weeks of healing, Dr. Vlahos will take a mold of the leg and ship it to the prosthesis maker. They’ll send back a test prosthesis, and if it’s a good fit, a permanent prosthesis will be made.
Once a horse returns home from Dr. Vlahos, the prosthesis requires daily care on the part of the owner. It must be removed every day for cleaning and be replaced every one to three years.
“The horse has to be a good candidate for surgery and the owner also has to be a good candidate,” Cathy said. “It takes commitment from the owner.”
Though horses with prostheses cannot be ridden, they can still mate — and live a long life.
“Why put them down if they’re healthy and you’re committed to take care of them?” Vlahos said. A horse named Cheyenne, who had an amputation performed 16 years ago by Dr. Vlahos, is still alive and living a good life.
“The owners love that horse,” Cathy said. “They’ve had a great 16 years with that horse.”
That said, prosthetics remain controversial.
“We’re in a ranch type of area,” Cathy said. “If a horse can’t do its job, some people would not invest in that.”
Dr. Vlahos said that surgery is not the right fit for every horse, but for those for which it is, it’s life-saving.
As for Buck, he’ll be acclimating to Cody for the next few days and will be evaluated by Dr. Vlahos, before undergoing surgery later this week.
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