Could he please have some vibes? :(

Kenny has been admitted to the equine hospital near Malton. I spoke to my vet on the phone who was worried about his condition.

She said that the colic was still present, however better than it was. However she reckons from the last time she saw him (she deals with his eye regularly) he has lost a lot of condition, despite still being ridden whilst i am not there. He's lost a lot of the muscle around his shoulders, hindquarters and withers with a large distended belly.

She took bloods and his protein count has come back low - not massively but definitely low. She thinks he may be losing protein through his gut hence the loss of condition and low count. The line wasn't great and she kept breaking up but i think she said this could be caused by chronic inflammation of his gut? if so most horses respond well to a course of steroids. Pretty sure she said this was called protein losing enteropathy. The other possibility is lymphoma however with him being so young (6) its hopefully not this.

He also had a raging heart murmur yesterday and today. Every other time she has been to see him (vacs, sedating for eye etc) there has never been a trace of this, she checks his heart every time. She did say they can be brought on with stress.

So he is being admitted for tests - they are going to scan his abdomen and then there is a possibility of a biopsy too amongst other things that have unfortunately become a blur in my head.

Ive got everything crossed for my boy - does anyone have any experience of either of these? please don't worry about cushioning the blow id rather know it straight. Will post in vets too.
 
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No experience related to colic, but my boy had a biopsy of his liver, and I'd imagine it's a similar procedure. They sedate them, and then ultrasound, once they've located the area they want to biopsy they clip the hair and then insert the needle. The actual biopsy doesn't take long, less than 10mins, the ultrasound takes up most of the time. They are heavily sedated and don't know what's going on, I was there with my boy and it was reassuring for me to be able to comfort him- although I think that was more for my sake than his. They then go to recovery and come round quite quickly. My boy had two small staples that were removed a week later- no scar, no reaction. I have my fingers crossed for you. Best wishes
 
Elvis said:
No experience related to colic, but my boy had a biopsy of his liver, and I'd imagine it's a similar procedure. They sedate them, and then ultrasound, once they've located the area they want to biopsy they clip the hair and then insert the needle. The actual biopsy doesn't take long, less than 10mins, the ultrasound takes up most of the time. They are heavily sedated and don't know what's going on, I was there with my boy and it was reassuring for me to be able to comfort him- although I think that was more for my sake than his. They then go to recovery and come round quite quickly. My boy had two small staples that were removed a week later- no scar, no reaction. I have my fingers crossed for you. Best wishes
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Thank you Elvis thats reassuring. I had visions of massive open invasive surgery.... not quite sure why!

Made the mistake of googling things... when will i learn?!
 
Don't worry I googled too with my boy, it's never a wise idea!

It really is a very simple, not too invasive procedure that they do all the time.

I've also had my boy on steroids- again for his liver, they worked really well and really quickly. Although it did turn him into a bit of an energetic sod!
 
Elvis said:
Don't worry I googled too with my boy, it's never a wise idea!

It really is a very simple, not too invasive procedure that they do all the time.

I've also had my boy on steroids- again for his liver, they worked really well and really quickly. Although it did turn him into a bit of an energetic sod!
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Kenny has always been on the lazy side and since going to uni the people riding him have commented that they have never ridden anything so lazy. It didn't occur to me that there may be something underlying as when i was back id ride him and he'd be fine. just put it down to him taking advantage of people who don't normally ride him. I do think this could have been lurking for a while which has taken the edge off him and made him lose his "spark" so to say. However i would have thought he would be the same when i rode him?

Anyway i'll stop speculating and wait to hear back from the vets. I have absolutely no worries that he is in the best hands where he is
 
Sorry to hear he is going in again but...hopefully it will help get to the bottom of things. Thinking of you and vibes being sent. Xx
 
No news yet - have put YO down as first contact as I'm in and out of lectures all week but can ring them for updates when I'm free. I know there was a bit of lorry trouble at first but he should be there by now. Hopefully he's being good!
 
Update from Equine Hospital​

Apparently he is very similar to last time they saw him for this colic, very gassy and grumbly. They are not sure if his colon (I'm pretty sure they said colon but again its a bit jumbly) might be displaced, they are waiting for a scan to see if it is. If so they normally over hydrate and then lunge to see if it will flip back. They are also going to scan his heart as the murmur is still there - they gave it a 4/5 for severity. All in all they are just sitting it out and testing what they can but nothing is screaming out at them as of yet. Got everything crossed for him still - trying to do some uni work but an essay on enzyme activity is really the least of my worries at the moment! :o
 
Thank you everyone for taking time to reply. He's still within the year for this colic claim and with nearly £4000 to play with I hope we can get to the bottom of this and get him sorted. If I didn't have assignments in for this week I'd be home already. Not that I can do anything other than cuddle him! But it would be better than feeling helpless
 
I have everything crossed the specialist will get to the bottom of it and your boy will soon be on the road to recovery. He could not be in better hands and that will hopefully settle your mind as much as is possible at such a time. Take care and try to get some sleep tonight x
 
fingers crossed for your boy and hope he has a
Settled night and you manage to get some sleep aswell , is that him on your profile
Pic? X
 
O
Wagtail said:
Oh no. I really hope he's okay. We lost a grey to colic a month ago due to internal melanomas. Sending him healing vibes. Colic is such a worry. I have known several horses regularly colic and still be okay after many years, and then others where it is far more serious. Does the vet know what type of colic it is? Are there any gut sounds or droppings?
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Morning I hope he has a settled night and he has a scan today , he looks lovely I have a soft spot for Connemara and mines grey too !! Fingers crossed x
 
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