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HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Colic in Horses » Post Op Care of Abdomial Surgery »
  Discussion on Post op recovery of large breed
Author Message
New Member:
cmathe

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 5:41 pm:

I have a 5 year old American Sport horse who is 3 months post surgery from a colon torsion colic. He is approximately 1800 pounds and stands 18.1 hands high. My daughter competes with him in the jumpers. His issue began with the stable owner negligently under hydrating beat pulp which fermented in his stomach and caused gas which led to the torsion. I wondered if anyone had suggestions about post op supplements to speed recovery. His digestive system is doing very well. He is on Purina Strategy which is hydrated into a mash. Due to his size the surgeon recommends adding water as it is hard to keep a large horse sufficiently hydrated. Let me know if anyone has supplement advice!}
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - 7:16 pm:

Welcome CM,
Goodness I am having trouble knowing where to start on your post. Let's begin with what I think is a mis-notion. Since you can feed beet pulp dry safely I would be slow to blame under hydration of the beet pulp as the cause. Sugars and starch are the rapidly fermentable carbohydrates but beet pulp is very low (they are extracted) on these rapidly fermentable carbohydrates. Instead it is made up mainly of structural carbs. I have had hundreds of horses on dry beet pulp feed over the years and the research is clear on the safety of this practice. For more see Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Beet Pulp. It is important to note that horses can get bowel torsions on any type of diet. I do think the rapid addition of any feedstuff can cause colic problems.

As to your direct question, can you tell us what type surgery was done? If nothing was removed and your horse is not having any current digestive problems simple good nutrition with excellent feed ingredients and goodly amounts of roughage is all that should be required. For more on this see, Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Equine Nutrition an Overview of Feeding Horses.
DrO
New Member:
cmathe

Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - 8:11 pm:

Dr O

Scimitar had colic surgery with a mid line incision due to a 270 degree colon torsion. The surgeon extracted 30 lbs of fermented beet pulp prior to surgery and another 20 after while trying to scope his stomach to see if there was any residual damage. 3 months post op he is doing quite well with no issues.

After posting my question I read the discussions on supplements and gained very valuable information and had my question answered. I am also a true believer that less is more when it comes to supplements! I will continue to follow these discussions! After 6 weeks (staff infection) back and forth to the equine hospital every other day 3 hours one way I will say with conviction that yes, I would clip the end off of a vitamin E capsule and put it in the feed if it was beneficial!

Best regards! cmathe

ps The discussion on MSM if fascinating!
Member:
dres

Posted on Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - 8:54 pm:

CM , why would you clip a vit. E capsule? My horses get them hole in their pellets..

On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
Member:
frances

Posted on Friday, Feb 20, 2009 - 7:10 am:

My horse also has her Vit E capsule snipped up - into pieces actually - before being added to her dinner. Otherwise she gets a thoughtful look on her face and carefully lets the capsule, and only the capsule, fall from her mouth, to be lost forever in the shavings.
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