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  Discussion on Colic last night
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Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 9:57 am:

Dr. O, Fancy colicked last night.

My Veterinarian tranquilized, tubed, put in oil and water and did a rectal check and gave her a shot of Banamine.

Nothing of a serious nature was found through the tubing or palpation.

She had excessive gut sounds, manure patterns and types were somewhat irregular for her and at times there was some passage of gas.

Her heart rate and respiration were elevated and she was biting her right flank, right rear leg, violently stomping/kicking her back legs and excessively swishing her tail.

She seems to have worked through the colic quite well as all appears much more normal.

I am supposed to give a 1200 pound dose of Banamine this morning and tonight in part because my Veterinarian was somewhat concerned about the possibility of laminitis developing perhaps because he has seen some of this with recent colic cases related to the heavy rains and lush grass growth.

This morning her rectal and vulva tissue is somewhat swollen, though not severely.

Could this swelling relate to the rectal palpation and clean-out?
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 11:37 am:

Just thinking, when Fancy was violently tail-swishing, etc., I sprayed a lot of fairly strong fly spray up under her tail and it was hard to be careful about where it went due to all of the action, but perhaps the spray caused the swelling?

Also, on Friday I got some coastal hay from the same supplier having nearly run out.

I had expected it to be the same hay but it looked different (coarser) than the prior batch.

They don't eat much with all of the grass that is available but I do keep some in the stalls when the weather is expected to be quite bad or extremely rainy and the horses had eaten some of it.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 11:43 am:

Hi Vicki, glad Fancy came out of it well. Once I had a mare colic and observed the same thing as you, it took a few days then went back to normal.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 2:08 pm:

Thanks, Diane. This is really helpful to know.

The swelling seemed less after I hosed her off this morning but with the heat of the day it has worsened somewhat.

My Vet said he didn't know what to think about this and perhaps it could happen if a palpation was excessively rough, but that was not the case.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 7:10 pm:

Hello Vicki,
I would not expect swelling of the rectum and vulva as a consequence of a rectal exam and it does sound like you have discovered the problem. The interesting question was the fly spray applied before or after the colic? I have seen skin reactions to fly sprays that were very similar in appearance with colic.
DrO
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 7:14 pm:

Another long night?

When the Banamine was nearly worn off Fancy was passing gas and it appears some manure-colored oil early this evening. She received the oil at about 10:00 - 10:30 last night.

She has a few blisters on her tongue, capillary refill about 2 - 3 seconds.

Vulva and rectal area more swollen as Banamine has worn off too.

My boys seem like their guts (looking at their manure) are not quite normal right now either so something is going on with the digestibility of the grass, new hay, or something.

Observed that someone has eaten the tops off of some Thorn Apple plants out in the pasture, which is something not normally eaten (there is PLENTY OF GRASS!), and those have a spininess to them.

Lance and Perry are a little gassy.

No one is acting truly colicky right now though, so hope that it stays that way!

Fancy, however, is obviously more comfortable since the new dose of Banamine began working.

She was a little cranky about getting the Banamine and having her hind end hosed.

I rubbed lots of fresh aloe on the outer rectal/vulva area.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 7:35 pm:

Thanks, Dr. O.

I must have been posting when you were.

The fly spray was applied to rule out pesky flies as being the cause of the tail-pumping, which continued violently after being sprayed, but I have also wondered whether Fancy was perhaps bitten by one of the giant black flies that seem active in the early evening.

And most certainly the spray could have worsened things.

Just to make things interesting, fireworks were going off last night not far from my farm too, and Fancy did not like that very much.

Looking at the manure piles passed since she received the oiling, it appeared as though perhaps she was working on some degree of impaction. It amazes me that they would be so formed and almost rubbery when there is so much wet grass out there.

Two of the others are a little on the loose side right now with just Perry also having harder, more formed manure, but that is fairly normal for him.

Is this a normal amount of time (20 - 21 hours) for her to be passing the oil received last night at between 10:00 and 10:30 P.M.?

It is possible she had kind of a gassy bellyache but was made much more uncomfortable overall by the fly spray irritation as well as some fly bites and/or rain irritation lumps that she has on her back, but these have been waxing and waning for a couple of months.

There seems to be plenty going on that is irritating and uncomfortable for her right now.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 7:46 am:

I hope you had a quiet night Vicki! I called my vet when my mare was swollen behind also. He really didn't have an ans. for it. It is the only time something like that had happened and it was rather strange, but didn't seem to affect her for the worse...JME
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 8:27 am:

Vicki normally you see evidence of oil sometime the next day and can be quite variable. I do not see why you can't have both a gas colic and irritated perineum at the same time or sequential to each other.
DrO
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 12:08 pm:

Thanks Diane and Dr. O.

These past days extra checks were made throughout the day and evening plus at midnight, 3:00 A.M and 6:00 A.M. It is pretty interesting to see what they are doing at all hours when out at liberty.

With the medications out of her system this morning, while still passing some gas, Fancy does not seem uncomfortable doing so.

She has that bright look back in her eye that tells me she is feeling much better.

The vulva/rectal area is still swollen but not quite as much and she is holding her tail more normally this morning, so I hope that it doesn't get any worse during the course of today.

Later I will gently rinse the area again and re-apply some fresh aloe plant, which seemed like it was somewhat soothing.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 8:37 pm:

Vulva/rectal area still swollen but no worse.

Fancy is bright and feeling well overall, so tonight I am going to bed early and staying there until morning!
Member:
canter

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 7:27 am:

Very glad Fancy is doing better, Vicki. Hope you got a good night's worth of sleep.
Member:
leslie1

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 10:22 am:

I glad shes feeling better ...get some good ZZZZzz's

L
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 11:38 am:

Thanks, I had an uninterrupted night and Fancy is showing no signs of colic or discomfort although the vulva/rectal area is still somewhat swollen. At least it doesn't seem to be bothering her but I hope that it will soon be back to normal.
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