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  Discussion on Soaked Alfalfa Pellets Causing Colic?
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Member:
Longhorn

Posted on Sunday, Jun 27, 2004 - 11:12 pm:

My 11 year old Quarter Horse gelding experienced a mild colic yesterday that bute (at the veterinarian's suggestion) and a leg bath helped to subside. For the life of us, my husband and I can't figure out what might have caused it. We don't feed grain, we only lightly exercise them 3 to four hours a week, they have 40 gallons of water to drink a day with shade and stall protection, no access to fresh grass, none of the usual culprits for colic were present. We feed straight Bermuda hay with 2 to 3 pounds (dry weight) of soaked Alfalfa pellets a day. We put the Alfalfa pellets in a plastic bucket, cover them with about 3 to 4 inches of water and let them soak over night for the morning feed and through the day for the evening feed. We put a plastic lid on the buckets to keep bugs, dust and critters out of it. I wonder if in the 100º heat out here the Alfalfa doesn't ferment a little. (Although it gets down to 70º at night.) Is that possible with a 10 hour soak in a partially sealed container? If it is possible, would it cause colic?

Our other horse who gets the same feed doesn't seem affected except if we hooked up his butt to a methane pipe he could probably supply one of the Tucson Electric Power boilers with enough gas to burn for a month. Boy is he gassy! Fortunately (or...unfortunately for us), he expends it all instead of colicking and the gently raised tail is a sure give away to get away. Fortunately we prohibit smoking around the barn. Otherwise, it'd probably end up in the neighbor's yard as soon as somebody lit up. Whew!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 2004 - 7:15 am:

Hello Laura,
Since both horses did not colic it is hard to think there was something wrong with the feed. You do have a misconception, that horses on grass have more colic problems, it is just the opposite. There is a constant argument whether horses have more impactions on bermuda hay than other grass hays but otherwise there is nothing in your post to suggest why your horse coliced. For more on the causes and diagnosis of colic see, Equine Diseases » Colic and GI Diseases » Colic in Horses » An Overview of the Diagnosis and Treatment of Colic.
DrO
Member:
Parforq

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 2004 - 8:20 am:

I have an 11 year old Quarter horse gelding. He had problems with colic last summer - experiencing colic three times in a period of 5 days. He was on a farm with 45 other horses. Initially I was told that the hay was too rich in alfalfa, but I wondered why the other 45 horses did not colic. Anyway, it was finally recommended that I have him scoped for ulcers - a cause of colic - and he had ulcers. We treated him and he has been fine since. Certainly horses colic, and not every horse who colics has ulcers, but it is something to keep in mind.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 2004 - 11:14 am:

Laura, I'm curious about the leg baths. That's a new one for me in relatonship to colic. Thanks.
Member:
Deggert

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 2004 - 12:41 pm:

Laura, I soak pellets too for my 26 yr old mare with a few missing teeth. But I only soak them for about a half hour till they fluff up. I noticed if I left them overnight they smelled a little off. I fed bermuda for years and did not have a problem to my knowledge, although my old mare has had intermittent colics, the vets said it seemed her small colon was clogging up. Our surgery clinic here in so. Calif is San Luis Rey Equine Clinic and they will not feed it because they do so many small colon impations with bermuda. I quite feeding it 14 months ago and she has not had a colic since, could be coincidence but.. The pellets are mostly bermuda because I have to keep her weight down but she gets long stem orchard and a little alfalfa for roughage. Food for thought, Debbie
Member:
Longhorn

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 2004 - 10:40 pm:

Sara, What Doc Thompson said was, "I think we don't want to go to a full body bath yet, but what you may want to do is give his legs a nice, cool rinse off." (Or something to that effect.) I think Doc Thompson suggested the leg rinse to help cool Bennie down in the event he had a temperature. I guess severe colics are usually accompanied by some rise in temperature. We're currently up in the 100's here so it certainly didn't hurt making the poor guy a little more comfortable (his temp was only 100). The bute and rinse seemed to help with his pain although he didn't eat that afternoon or evening, not even carrot snacks. By morning, tho, he was his old voracious self and is currently doing just fine (as the muck bucket groans).

Roxanne, I'll keep the ulcer issue in mind. Bennie would probably be a good candidate for ulcers. He's a little high strung, "bratty" if you know what I mean. If he colics like this again, I'll have my regular vet check him out for ulcers.

Thanks to all for the input!
Member:
Apcohrs

Posted on Sunday, Jul 4, 2004 - 9:52 pm:

You might want to have a fecal count done, also. My regularly dewormed horse was having recurring mild colics. After finding nothing else wrong, we checked his manure - he was LOADED with small strongids. We did a panacur power pack and I shortened the deworming interval from 2 months to 6-7 weeks and he has had no furthur attacks.
Member:
Frances

Posted on Monday, Jul 5, 2004 - 4:34 am:

What were you deworming with Ann? That's a bit scary.
Member:
Apcohrs

Posted on Saturday, Jul 10, 2004 - 12:17 am:

The barn where my horse was boarded at provided the wormer - it was the standard rotation recomended by the owner's vet - rotation of ivermectin and strongid and ???fenobenzoil???. I know that's not quit the rotation recomended by Dr. O, but it is rather common, and I had no say in the matter.

The paddocks were crowded and there was a fair amount of turnover, which I dare say contributed to the problem. Now I am at a barn where I control the worming.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 10, 2004 - 6:29 am:

There in lies the problem Ann, two of the 3 dewormers do not suppress egg production long enough to break the small strongyle cycle. Stick with our suggestions and this will not be a problem.

Perhaps I have not stressed enough the weakness of benzimadzoles and strongid pastes, review the overview article as to why you should NOT be using these products regularly.
DrO
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