Smell

Hey Everyone,

My horse had surgery back in May (he had a epiploic foramen entrapment of a loop of small intestine with a two-foot resection and anastamosis) which in none doctor terms, 2 feet of his small intestine got stuck and died in the open space that horses have near their lungs/liver, and they had to go in and cut out the dead section and reconnect the living intestine together.
He has since gotten a lot of baths and has been off the medicine for about 2 months and to this day he gets this werid smell which reminds me of the hospital smell. I was wondering if anyone on here know's what I am talking about and does it go away? I realise that it takes time for everything to work out of their body but its been almost 3 months, He doesnt have the smell all the time, maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks it comes back.

Thanks
Sarah

I hope your horse is doing ok...that is something i would DEFINANTLY call the vet about and not rely on ppl on here...not sure if its normal but if it isnt then he needs to be seen asap...good luck

I've not had a horse have that sort of invasive surgery before. It is odd that he still has a medicinal smell to him. I'm not even sure if a vet could answer that one Give him a call, it wouldn't hurt to know and be sure to let us know what you find out. I'm interested to hear.

thanks everyone for the feed back!

Does it smell like an infection?
Definitely call your vet.

noo it def doesnt smell like a infection...its just a werid smell he gets sometimes...if its a infection...wouldnt the cut be sensitive? its totally healed and i can put tons of pressure and he doesnt flinch any more. he is also eating and drinking alot and everything is coming out normal. nothing is painful he is running/rolling and bucking like he use 2 before everything happened

its like a really strong disenfectant (sp?) smell or hospital smell right? my mare contracted staff infection when she was 2 and spent 8 months in the hospital and it took over a year before i couldn't occasionally smell the hospital on her at odd times. i think it has to do with the smells that store in the fact cells of the skin or something like that is what my vet said. also since your sense of smell is tied so strongly to your memories it could be that you brain is producing the smell (ya know telling your nose that it smells the hospital even though it might not) kind of in the same way people swear that they smell cookies or moth balls or whatever when they think of their grandmothers or whatnot. does that make any sense? anyways point is i know what your talking about and if it really bothers you then contact your vet just to be on the safe side.

thanks! i think you are right in everything you said lol. i thought it was something like that but i didnt no if i was going crazy or not and wanted to c if someone else had this situation =) thank you again

Not a problem it used to freak me out really badly as well. i was thinking that something was wrong with her or that i was going crazy as well, especially when it was hot and she would really sweat or something the smell would be so much stronger. i am glad to hear that your horse is healing so well. =)

I might tend to agree with the idea that some surgical chemicals, even anesthetics, can be stored within the body, and subsequently released.
My past experience tells me that at certain times, the body metabolically uses the reserves within the cells as energy, and thats when the "smell" can be released. If this is the case, you will be picking up that odor untill the substances are used up.
I have seen this in humans, but it is entirely possible in any mammal, I would guess . Still, to err on the safe side, has infection been ruled out? (shouldn't have that smell though..) Has your surgeon been been asked?
Either way, best to you, and let us know, I'm curious now..
-Lw