colic !! what would you do??

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racebuddy

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my tb who is a veteren has had re accurring bouts of colic, been tested for ulcerls all clear, no stress or as least as poss just fed on adlib haylage, alafa oila and readymash extra , plus turnout also, had seroius bout of colic 6 weeks and was nearly pts, went showing last weekend all ok was 2nd coped well and no problems in wk, last night had colic again !! luckiliy settled within an hour and so far so good today no more signs of colic, i feel that its a waiting game with him as dodnt want to come down one am and find him ina bad way as colicked in night nor do i feel ready to have him pts yet but i just want to do what is right for him, he is getting difficult to maintain condition now which he has always kept on, we discussed with vet that if he colicked again last time we would pts , i do not want to put him through sx at 17, i feel like i am stuck in the middle, any ideas much appreciated xx
 
If he's losing condition, sounds like there could be an underlying problem. Has he had blood tests and all that jazz?

Can understand you not wanting to put him through surgery (I'd think long and hard about it with a horse of any age, TBH), but he's not THAT old at 17 and if he were mine I would feel like maybe there's something else going on which might warrant further investigation...
 
worm count...

I was horrified when my vets suggested that my horses recurrent colic could be due to worms last yr, as he was regularly wormed etc. His worm count came back negative, however vets said due to wet, humid summer they were seeing many increased cases of worm related colic, even in well kept horses...

So please don't take offence, but maybe worth a try :o
 
Having nursed many veterans into mid 30's I know how you feel.

How are his teeth? is he wormed up to date (i slightly underworm and intelligently)

I used to feed D&H sixteen plus cube (easily soaked down for poor teeth) and a bit of happy hoof.

However I used to make up a hot bran mash if they started to show colicky signs, and give them a buscopan tablet - if symptoms persisted then i would call the vet.
 
Always feed 1 hour soaked hay.
Get a bloods done for tapeworm and encysted small red worm as they don't show up in a worm count.
 
My mare had colic surgery five years ago at 16 and came back fighting fit - it's an expensive op. so make sure you're covered by insurance. She had a twisted gut so it was a close run thing, but your description sounds more like pain from "indigestion" related causes or worms etc.. I would take on board all the other suggestions before coming to any decisions.
 
thank you, he is due again for hsi teeth in next couple of weeks being doneeveyr nine months unless any problems, worm count all done and fine and wormed up to date, bloods all done and revealed no mayjor problems just high muscle enzymes which indicated an episode of tying up secondary the last episode of colic. xx will ahve to have a long think as veyr bright and happy today which makes the sitiuation so much harder !
 
Have your vets suggested or mentioned doing a rectal biopsy? Basically a small sample of tissue is taken from which they can ascertain what is going on in the insides from the very minor ailments to the major issues. My ID x TB had this done when he also had several bouts of colic within a short timescale.

From memory I think the cost of the tests was around £50 plus vet call out. Least this would give you peace of mind as well.

Wishing you and your lad all the best.
 
If all other sinister things are ruled out, then if you are able to spot when he is starting to get a bit colic-y, in my case I have found that a single sachet of bute at the right moment can make the horse more comfortable and get things back on track.

But it does depend on there not being more too it than a tendency to impaction colic, and not for serious colics.

I can tell most times now when my big chap is starting to look a bit funny and off his food, maybe once or twice a year, and I nip in with a syringe of dissolved bute and have managed to avert winter colics (in his case it's usually from eating snow!).
 
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