Colic Surgery

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NorthDevonTraveller

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I have followed a recent link on colic causes with interest as I have just lost my lovely young horse. He was operated on successfully for a twisted/displaced gut (several inches of large intestine removed near the caecum) excellent recovery for a week, then developed peritonitis. During a second surgery it was found he had new inflamed areas of gut plus his caecum had displaced and the end twisted which is rare. I made the awful decision that I couldn't envisage him recovering fully without further complications and long term problems so he was pts.

Now I am sure anyone in this position has beaten themselves up over making the final call, but it set me wondering, does anyone know of a horse that has returned to a full useful/competitive life after two colic surgeries? Especially if they were close together? Did they have any long term issues?
 
There are a number of well known horses that have returned to top end competing. A current showjumper whose name eludes me at the moment.

I was not so lucky. Much the same situation as you. First surgery looked good, 3 days on and whilst I was visiting him, my horse stuck his head in my chest and sank to the floor. I like to tell myself he waited for me to see him before he gave up.

He had second surgery but I had to give permission to let him go on the table.

6 months old when I had him and just 13. No change in routine, wormed all his life. Colic is evil.
 
One of mine had an intussusception which was operated on, he then had further surgery two days later, the prognosis was very poor the following day and he was due to be pts, they took the greedy monkey out for a final pick of grass, he had not had any food by then for about 4 days, he ate the grass, gut started working and he came home.
He came back to full work, only RC level stuff, some working hunter classes, I did not hunt him again but that was not due to the op, he lived a happy useful life for about 13/ 14 more years before succumbing to a catastrophic colic, probably breakdown of scar tissue, he was then pts.
He was 10 at the time of the op, I would not put an older one through it but he was still young, insured and actually was referred as a possible grass sickness due to unusual presentation, so was already in the hospital when the decision to operate was made.
 
My mare had a twisted colon and then had to be re-operated on 6 weeks later for adhesions. The second surgery was obviously less complicated but I only opted for the second surgery as she had a foal at foot - don't think I would have otherwise, and agreed with vet the second time that if it had been more complicated they wouldn't continue with surgery. She was left with quite a large incisional hernia but did so well that she had further surgery about 9 months later to repair this. She was off work nearly 3 years in total (including time off being in foal) but came back into work 2 years ago & has returned to competing at Advanced Medium dressage.
I think it depends on the individual horse and cause of colic. I think I was particularly lucky, as apart from the adhesions didn't have any serious complications.
 
Hi, I would like to know how many horse return to full work, has there been any studies done on this? We lost our lovely boy a couple of years ago to colic we called the vet and then had to take him through to Oakham; they did a blood test and told us they would have to operate straight away. I asked what his chances were and was told that he might not survive the operation so with great sadness we had him PTS. I would not have a horse operated on if the vets told me the odds were against full recovery. Maybe in a few years the odds will be better but not at this time
 
My previous horse had colic surgery at the royal vet potters bar in 1987 and had 14ft of his large intestine removed, this was in October and he had 12 weeks box rest and then a long slow rehab.

In march 1988 he again had a bout of colic and was returned to potters bar. They decided it was probably due to adhesions from the surgery and was kept under close observation.

The original colic was on the day of the great storm. He lived to the grand old age of 31 and was put down in 2009. I did have to carefully manage his diet but he returned to full fitness and condition.

At the time of his operation there were probably a dozen or so other horses undergoing surgery, the majority of whom did not survive :(

I always considered us both extremely fortunate.
 
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My best ever SJ and HOL had his first colic surgery in 2006 aged 19. Had a pendunculated lipoma strangling his small intestine, 3 metres removed and a resection. Recovered well and returned to competition 6 months later.
Six years later in October 2012 aged 25 he colicked again, for the first time since 2006 and had a second surgery. The lipoma had returned - luckily this time he didn't need any intestine removing as it sprang back into life when they untangled it. He was ready to come home after just 4 days when he suddenly developed a massive hock joint infection. They think bacteria had migrated from guts to his hock. (Eventually managed to grow a culture which showed Aeromonas bacteria never found in a horse before, usually in fish!)
He had 2 further general anaesthetics, hock flushed, arthroscopy and about 6 standing flushes under sedation. The colic surgery was almost forgetten in the fight to save his life from the hock infection.
He came home in November and, touch wood, is okay, hock is about as normal a size as it's ever going to be. I would have started riding him again, but he pulled a tendon bucking and generally looning about in the field, so that'll have to wait a bit longer now!
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think Mondriaan had colic surgery 7 months before winning his first Hickstead Derby. Then won it twice more before retiring from top level after a second surgery, although I think his owner still does a bit with him.
 
Zero tolerance, poor you and poor horse ( and poor bank balance) hope everything's plain sailing from now on for you both as you you've certainly had your share of bad luck!
 
victoria1980x said:
Zero tolerance, poor you and poor horse ( and poor bank balance) hope everything's plain sailing from now on for you both as you you've certainly had your share of bad luck!
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Thanks- horse totally unfazed by any of it - even stood still for the standing joint flushes with the absolute minimum of sedation and after generals always lay in the recovery room for at least 2-3 hours before attempting to get up. Sadly can't say the same for bank balance as he was too old to be insured. I'm just glad we've still got him!
 
I have not read all of the posts but OP i think you cannot ask your self this Question it will make you feel guilty and will not help you recover form this difficult decision. I have been thorough colic surgery after owning my last horse for 6 months post surgery he coliced 4 times after coming home still had constant high heart rate and was bloated all the time not to mention other complications related to Ulcers. anyway i too have spent hours and months asking this question "did i do the right thing" "would he have been ok" "should i have kept going longer" and "what if" to be honest i drove myself mad with this. Thinking about it now still brings me to tears but in my heart i know it was the right time for him he did not want to carry on but i still feel guilty.

Anyway you did your best for your little horse always know that....
 
NDT you are bound to question your decision, but I am certain it was the right thing to do. From my experience, the recovery period is miserable for both the horse and owner and the survival rates of surgical colic cases are not encouraging. You have my sympathy.
 
I lost my pony to colic.:(

One of my livery horses got spasmodic colic 2 weeks ago on saturday, then Saturday just gone got colic again then again on monday now again tonight
just spent an hour and half walking round with her / owner etc . She has had 5 bouts in the last 2 weeks.

I said to owner stuff what vet said about waiting another week for blood results, what if she has colic in middle of night or every day and maybe dies in night!!

Tell them you are going to clinic NOW while we walk her and get wormer ( 1 of the 2 things it might be tape worm) so we have done it , will check her soo. owner coming back later.


Colic is serious and to say wait a week and just walk her if she colics again :rolleyes:.


Hope you horse improves after the surgery healing vibes sent :)
 
NorthDevonTraveller said:
I have followed a recent link on colic causes with interest as I have just lost my lovely young horse. He was operated on successfully for a twisted/displaced gut (several inches of large intestine removed near the caecum) excellent recovery for a week, then developed peritonitis. During a second surgery it was found he had new inflamed areas of gut plus his caecum had displaced and the end twisted which is rare. I made the awful decision that I couldn't envisage him recovering fully without further complications and long term problems so he was pts.

Now I am sure anyone in this position has beaten themselves up over making the final call, but it set me wondering, does anyone know of a horse that has returned to a full useful/competitive life after two colic surgeries? Especially if they were close together? Did they have any long term issues?
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,Oh yes and in answer to your question. A livery in the past her pony on load well horse had two colic surgeries and came back to full working .
 
Thanks to everyone who has responded. Like the original cause of the colic, full recovery is obviously an unknown, although I am pleased to hear some really can recover fully. However, it does sound like there is a pretty high chance of it all kicking off again sooner or later and spending the rest of your life looking over the door worrying. As I am presently semi-snowed in, with a parent in hospital, no one else at home and a full time job, it would have been very difficult to offer the care and supervision required, although to be fair I did have lots of friends offer time to help.

I was also interested about colic where the caecum is involved - does anyone have experience of this? Carrying out a search on the forums doesn't seem to find anything and I assume (may be wrongly) that removing parts of this organ may be more risky?
 
Forgot to say I also echo the comments about getting them referred early. If there is a delay in referral there are far too many toxins in the system to make surgery worthwhile. Mine was referred after 4 hours, but not operated on until 12 hours, but at least they could carry out tests/scans and monitor him, then act as soon as they needed to. If the injections are not working jump up and down and get them referred!
 
I am really sorry about your horse. My pony had his caecum removed in May, he had complications after GA for tenoscopy. I decided to have him operated on as soon as I knew there was a problem to give him the best chance of recovery. He did need lots of aftercare but he has done well and is enjoying life now.
 
NorthDevonTraveller said:
Forgot to say I also echo the comments about getting them referred early. If there is a delay in referral there are far too many toxins in the system to make surgery worthwhile. Mine was referred after 4 hours, but not operated on until 12 hours, but at least they could carry out tests/scans and monitor him, then act as soon as they needed to. If the injections are not working jump up and down and get them referred!
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^^^ time is crucial.

I lost a pony on Tuesday who was far too old to go to surgery. When the vet examined her she said if it was a young horse it would be a classic surgery case if we could get there quickly enough.

The pony was found at 5.50pm, hot, uncomfortable but not thrashing, elevated breathing. Vet with her by 6.20pm, huge dose of drugs that did not touch her pain. By 7pm her heart rate was off the scale and she was in a terribly distresed state. After another examination the drugs were still not having any effect and she collapsed. She went over rainbow bridge peacefully and I am very grateful to the fabulous vet who attended and dealt with the situation with much compassion and care.

Given the age of the pony (very late 20's) she may have had tumours and surgery would have been fruitless. What struck me most was the speed the situation went at. She had been fine in the morning. When she was found, all she was presenting was a sweaty neck and the odd pawing at the ground. I thought she had an impaction and buscopan etc would sort her out, yet in just 90 minutes there was no question of keeping her alive.

RIP old lady, thank god I found you before you suffered. Your big boyfriend is missing you today.
 
I think it was removed rather than bypassed, I can't find the vets report at the minute but I remember the vet saying it was like having your appendix out.
 
my gelding suddenly presented with major colic symptoms last year. Within 2 hours of finding him he was on the operating table at the local vets.

He had a very unusual issue. Scar tissue from his castration (4 years earlier) had caused an adhesion of his small colon. Vet said it looked as though it had been like that for a long time but only just caused an issue.
The vets seperated up the colon and removed a bit of the extraneous tissue and replaced it all back where it should be. Luckily no gut had to be removed.

His recovery was nothing short of perfect. Healed by the book, no infections, no hernia, you wouldnt know he had had the surgery unless someone told you.

vet has said he will colic again but that it could no one would know when, it could be 5 months or 15 years.

Click on the link in my signature to read the blog I wrote during the entire episode.

We are nearly a year on now and Chico is back to full health and normal riding.
 
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