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  Discussion on Colic
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Member:
Miamoo

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 5, 2006 - 6:11 pm:

Dr. O have you ever had anything like this?

My 10 month old filly was experiencing colic like symptoms for the last couple of days. She was given banamine and was passing some manure but was just not right. She ended up at the vet clinic yesterday. Vet suspected impaction that was still allowing some wet manure through but she was getting increasingly uncomfortable and ended up in surgery last night. Vet suspected that she would find something that the filly had eaten that was blocking her up. Once she got in all she found was a large amount of wet manure that should have moved through with no problem. She said that for some reason the intestine was not moving things along. She manually removed the manure and stitched things up. She has no idea why this happened. All she can think of is that the nerve that stimulates the intestine to pass the bowels was somehow damaged but there is no sign of trauma on the filly. Today she is up and eating a little. She has passed some manure - wet cow flap type. My vet has no idea if she will be o.k. or if she will fill up again and not be able to push things through. The only thing that she can think of that might have helped the nerve is the filly got I.V. DMSO with the surgery. Do you have any thoughts? Does this make sense?

Ella :-(
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Apr 6, 2006 - 6:04 am:

Hello Ella,
Sorry to hear about your recent problems and hope all turns out well. If you are asking, "are there horses with colic symptoms but no apparent cause even following surgery", yes this happens all the time. The scenerio your veterinarian conjectures is a possibility but there is no well established disease entity where there is an acquired functional impaction do to specific neuropathy of the nerves to the bowel.
DrO
Member:
Miamoo

Posted on Thursday, Apr 6, 2006 - 7:30 am:

If this kind of thing happens a lot, after surgery do things tend to be o.k. or does the colic tend to continue?

What is weird is that the manure was not moving but it was not impacted. Does that happen to others too?

Ella
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 8:29 am:

It goes both ways Ella, I do not think you can predict the future because of the surgery. Take heart though, I see horses that go through this and then have no further problems.

I am not sure how you differentiate an impaction from manure not moving and as a result I am uncertain of the significance. However in further researching your problem I have come across what might be a primary functional bowel stasis. The disease is grass sickness. This disease is not well reported in the US and to learn more about this see, Equine Diseases » Nervous System » Dementia: Depression, Excitement, Coma » Grass Sickness, Equine Dysautonomia, and Mal Seco.
DrO
Member:
Miamoo

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 9:17 am:

I guess I was differentiating because I always thought an impaction was something stopping the manure from moving such as dried out fecal material or a foreign body. She had nothing stopping it, it just was going nowhere. I guess I will just keep my fingers crossed and pray!

I don't think that the grass sickness is her problem - too many pieces not there. Thank you for looking though!

Ella :-)
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Apr 8, 2006 - 9:20 am:

Maybe not your disease but did you notice there was a specific pharmacological treatment to bowel stasis in the article? Something to talk with your vet about if this happens again.
DrO
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