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  Discussion on Colic Aftercare
Author Message
Member:
Lsweeney

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 15, 2006 - 12:34 pm:

My 18 year old Arab coliced last night. She was in extreme pain, and was throwing her body against the corral. We gave her banamine, walked her a little bit, and within an hour she had settled down and was quiet. She passed manure early on and passed gas. Through the night she passed another 4 piles of manure.

She has a founder history, and has been on grass hay for years. So she has not been fed alfalfa which I believe helps build stones. She has several of your colic issues:

Over 10
An Arab
Weather changed in last 3 days
Eats bulkier food and more roughage.
My husband dumped a bunch of sand around the barn and feeders to control mud, but my concern is that she may have picked up some sand.

She is eating and appears to be back to normal, and has been for 36 hours now.

Her mother died after several colic episodes at the age of 20. She had passed some small stones, and then after that she went back and forth to UC Davis with additional colic incidences. They couldn't find anything wrong with her. The last time I picked her up, she had edema along her stomach. They thought it was from being stalled.

A few days later, she ate some equine senior in the morning, and in the afternoon she was dead. We believe that she ruptured. My guess is that she had a tear that was created when she passed the first stones.

Soooo..... My question is, how do we really know that my Arab is out of the woods at this point. What can I do differently to help her if she now has a tendency to colic?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Nov 16, 2006 - 6:07 am:

Hello Laurie,
Concerning when are you out of the woods, this specific question is addressed in the article on First Aid in colic, see the My Horse is Normal Now subtopic.

As to what you can do to prevent further episodes, it depends on the cause and without a diagnosis specific therapy is just guessing. If you think it is the sand, you should get it up or cover it to prevent exposure to the horse. A thorough discussion of management factors that can increase / decrease the chance your horse will colic is given. Note that high forage diets are not a factor that increases the incidence of colic though there may be an association with increased impaction with very stemmy hays and limited water.
DrO
Member:
Lsweeney

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 22, 2006 - 2:49 pm:

My horse is still symptom free. My vet suggested that she could have had ovarian cramps given the description of her behavior, smashing her rear end into posts, etc.

I know nothing on this topic, and I'm curious if you have any information on such a thing.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 22, 2006 - 6:00 pm:

I don't know Laurie, sometimes we hate to say "we just don't know" and then grasp at straws. Did he palpate a large follicle during the colic exam? Though a frequently attributed cause, this is not a well defined problem and it is a bit late in the season for most mares.
DrO
Member:
Lsweeney

Posted on Saturday, Nov 25, 2006 - 2:44 pm:

No, he did not see the mare. This was my husband talking to him in the market. I just thought it was interesting because I have been around a long time, and had never heard of this as a possible explanation for colic-like symptoms. Also, there is not really any information on this on the net. However, being female myself, certainly seems to be plausible. ;-)
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