Cure for the early stages of colic . . ?

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wonkey_donkey

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What do you all keep in your first aid kit to try and stop the early stages of colic developing ??

I'm not talking about an alternative to a vet here, just any good remedies new or old !!
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essential oils, there are a few that i use before walking the horse in hand for about 25 mins, AS LONG AS THE SIGNS ARE VERY MILD (off feed, won't take a polo mint, pawing the ground occasionally.)
if the horse looks in pain, tries to roll, is looking round at tummy or kicking stomach, i get the vet immediately - the best thing for early stages of colic is a vet's visit - rectal exam, muscle relaxant, painkillers, then far less chance of it getting to the later stages of colic...
 
Echo kerilli. You can feed Coligone at a maintenance level as a preventative for low grade stressy colic but the golden rule is colic signs = call the vet as an emergency. The average owner won't be able to decide whether the observed early signs of a colic attack are going to turn out to be minor or major and if you wait to see which way it's going to go it may be too late to help the horse.
 
obviously for v v mild colic only, anything more than that then its a phone call to the vets!

a bottle of fizzy pop, or a bumpy lorry ride or a good fast lunge to get the gut working.
 
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obviously for v v mild colic only, anything more than that then its a phone call to the vets!

a bottle of fizzy pop, or a bumpy lorry ride or a good fast lunge to get the gut working.

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that reminds of a bloke i worked for in belgium.. horse had colic, as in laying down sweating etc, he put it in the inddor and chased it around i was horrified, but he said trapped wind = gut ache nout like a buck and a fart to clear the system.. ok so a more sensible responce.

whilst i think most colics start off the same how you treat and what you do depends on the actually type of colic. and im not convinced a lot of us as owners have the know how to decide..

to me 1st signs of colic get the horse walking and call a vet. not worth the risk imo.
 
What do I do? 2 sachets of bute in a syringe with a little water to make it in to a paste, down horse throat and about 3 twists of sedeline gel. If no improvement within a couple of hours call the vet. Plus walk in hand or on horse walker.
 
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The trouble is, that you can't tell what is happening internally from the external symptoms, especially the initial ones.
You are always much better just to stop faffing around, and call your vet straight away...
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Call the vet.

From experience I know that some horses only show slight symptoms even when the colic is bad. I'd far rather have a vets bill for something that I could maybe have walked off than a dead horse. Even as Jim went into surgery his heart rate was normal, he was on his feet & walking, not pawing, not looking at tummy, not sweating. Yet he was seriously ill & surgery was his only real chance even if his external symptoms didn't suggest it.

I don't mess with colic. If I'd tried to treat him myself rather than call the vet I really don't think he'd have made it.
 
Arnica tincture 200X. I always have some here for stress conditions. Its always given to my broodmares before and after foaling. I've even had it work miracles on a lamb who got savaged, and was going into shock.
 
Nari- agreed that some only show slight symptoms when its quite bad, but mine aren't insured, so if they need an op, they are shot. End of. If it's very bad I get the vet as sometimes they need tubing etc. and something stronger but we always try and clear it first. FYI we have lost 3 in 5 yrs to colic, one got a twist in the field and it was clear that he wouldn't make it (25 yr old pony who couldn't have handled op anyway) Another was a 2 yr old who also went down in field and by the time we found him it was too late and the other was a livery who was insured but in a really bad way and actually died on the operating table.
 
I had a Welsh D proned to colic, after tracing his old owner (before dealer) through a ad in Horse we found out he had an unusually small stomach and a good haynet and a feed after coming in from the field at night was enough to set him off.

So many times he had the early stages of colic and the vet that lives on another island will not come out unless he thinks the colic is very severe as the government pays for the boat budget and only runs to out of hours emergencies and the vet feel mild colic is not an emergency.

We became so use to Taffys colic I knew the signs well, just took him for a good lunge got out as much wind as I could and then he was always ok after.

Once we found his problem through past owner I limited his hay in rations in small holed nets and made his feed much smaller more frequently and never gave coming in from grass.

Sadly we lost out TB mare Tess from colic 4 years ago, she just went down with it in the field very suddenly, vet did come and do the paraffin but sadly her gut twisted and being 8 hrs from a vets who could operate she was PTS. After that when ever I think my horses look odd or not right at night I always give them a good lunge just in case :-)
 
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