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  Discussion on Building up weight after colic surgery
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Member:
Nonie

Posted on Thursday, Apr 29, 2004 - 9:14 pm:

My mare had colic surgery for a trapped small intestine two summers ago. She had the surgery twice and has healed miraculously, with no complications. It took a long while to get her back in condition, but by last summer (one year post-op) she was in pretty good shape.

Unfortunately, she lost a lot of weight this past winter. It was a hard winter and I didn't blanket her--she grew a lovely coat, but I think it took its toll. Also, early in the new year, the barn where she's boarded got a batch of hay none of the horses liked. Many of them DrOpped a lot of weight as well.

The others are now filling out but my mare is lagging. She appears to have lost a lot of muscle mass in her hindquarters and flanks, and her ribs show. I have her on Purina One (a complete meal) as directed by the vet, but she can only have 1 1/2 lbs. twice a day, as we think the concentrates contributed to her plugging up and requiring the second surgery. She gets free choice hay and for the last month I have added a daily quart of beet pulp and 1/2 cup of rice bran. I also hand graze her as much as possible, generally up to an hour four times a week. Later she will be turned out on pasture, but right now the field is off limits to let the roots take hold.

Apparently because she lost so much of her small intestine (a total of 27 feet were removed in the two surgeries), she has difficulty absorbing concentrates and does better on forage (absorbed by the large intestine,according to my vet). I have purchased some Gleam and Gain, a flax based, high fat product, which includes rice bran, and I will add that to the beet pulp now.

Dr. O, and anyone else, any comments or suggestions?

Zoe
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Apr 30, 2004 - 7:49 am:

Zoe what is the protein concentration of the Purina One and describe your hay carefully.
DrO
Member:
Nonie

Posted on Friday, Apr 30, 2004 - 9:22 am:

Dr. O, I had a brain blip, I'm sorry. The Feed is Purina Horse Chow 100, not less than 10% protein. The hay is timothy/grass, local to NJ, and normally we get good quality 2nd or 3rd cutting, but last year we had terrible floods and the hay quality suffered. This particular batch that they refused to eat was coarse and kind of dark in spots--really not good quality. The current batch is much better and they are all gobbling it down; we can also hand graze them on the new grass now and they love that.

Sorry for the previous fuzziness.

Zoe
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, May 1, 2004 - 8:06 am:

While I understand your point about forage vs concentrate you have left protein out of the equation. Missing all that small bowel and the fact that proteins are usually digested and absorbed in the small bowel suggests that high quality protein should be offered in abundance. The diet you describe above would be borderline even for a normal horse. I would suggest you start feeding alfalfa (18% plus protein), very slowly at first and building up to what ever it takes to keep the horse in good condition. To simpify matters it could also replace the beet pulp and bran. Any recommendations need to be discussed with the surgeon and your regular vet.
DrO
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