Desperate help needed for colicy horse :(

[now_loves_mares]

Sorry, this is very long....

I’m at a bit of a loss and looking for some advice. My 9yo mare has been on box-rest for a broken pedal bone. It seems that as a result of the Danilon, she came down with Right Dorsal Colitis, and an impaction colic. She was hospitalised and put on IV fluids which cleared the blockage. She was also on sulfracate for the colitis, though this has now stopped. She was quite unwell for a bit but started to be on the mend, but as her hay ration was increased, the colic re-appeared. My research on colitis suggests no hay should be given for 3-6 months after suffering from this. She has only had one more minor impaction since, the rest have been “spasmodic” – as in she has active gut sounds, no blockages, but just a very sore tummy. After one of these, (she was still in clinic) vet scoped her and we found Gastric Ulcers as well, a couple were classed as Grade 4. So she has now been on Gastroguard for 2 weeks. The vet then put her on a slightly restricted diet, being fed 3 times a day, with each feed followed by some readigrass then a small quantity of hay. She also gets readigrass and very small net at 11pm.

She seemed to be settling down so I took her home on Sunday. She was fine that night, but on both Monday and Tuesday night, was doing really well at 8.30 then colicking by 10/11pm. On speaking to the vets, she’s had a few nights like this in the clinic too. Today she is ok, but not 100%. Normally the colic either seems to pass or a shot of buscopan and she’s fine. Though last night, the buscopan didn’t quite work its magic, so she was given some painkiller plus a mild sedative. 3.30am checks were fine both nights.

Today I am trying to keep her completely off hay plus pasture mix (which was part of the vet’s regime, not something I ever feed) so she is getting grazed for 5 minutes every second hour, and a very small feed of either readigrass or soaked high fibre cubes (again tiny amounts) in the intervening hour. At breakfast hour she had her gastroguard then a bit of speedibeet and topspec balancer, and also TopSpec Alfa, but she isn’t keen on eating that right now (that was her pre-sickness diet, as well as hay and grass, obviously). She is hungry, but I am trying to keep her food amounts tiny and regular to try to get her settled. I bought pink powder earlier, so she had that in her lunchtime mash. I spoke to H’s Mum today, so have some Coligone arriving tomorrow to try. On vets advice she was given a panacur wormer today (although I do worm counts and they were checked as part of this problem too, and all clear). I’ve also had a tapeworm analyser done, which was fine, but we’ll do an Equitape wormer in 48 hours too. I'm going to try putting a rug on her early evening, just in case it's the drop in temperature setting her off.

I don’t know what else to try, or if today’s experiment will even work. I don’t know if the restricted food is helping or making her worse. I don’t know how long the wormer, if that is the problem, might take to have an impact. I don’t know why she is colicking pretty much always at the same time of night. I suspect the lack of movement due to box rest isn’t helping. Due to the fact she already has a fractured pedal bone, we are currently discussing longer term plans. I’m happy to give her the time for the bone to heal; but not if she colics every day getting there! Although we haven’t put a timeframe on it, I am probably thinking that we see what happens after a month of gastroguard; and if she’s still colicking consider either exploratory surgery, or calling it a day. Hence the fact I’m desperate to try anything I can to see if we can get her better. I have to say I’m pinning a lot of hope on the Coligone right now.

The vets are being great, but are very much thinking medically, so I’m trying to consider the alternatives. I don’t know what the alternatives are, but I’ll take any suggestions. One of the vets is still suspicious that the Danilon caused all these problems so quickly, but she was so healthy before that I’m not sure.

Not surprisingly I’m sick with worry, and have only had 5 disturbed hours sleep the last two nights, so am not at my emotional best, either.

I hope someone can wave the magic wand for me.

 

[YasandCrystal]

Just to say I really feel for you - you must be so worried for your poor mare. I have heard brilliant reviews about Coligone from just about anyone who has come accross it; so I do hope that it works for her. Good Luck!

 

[K27]

Sorry to hear what you are going through- hope you can hang on in there and she will come out of it the other side stronger- you must be tearing your hair out- your poor horse!

Just to say wishing you lots of luck- i've not had a horse go through exactly the same as you but I have had a horse in the past with a bad impaction that resulted in going to an equine hospital- luckily they didn't have to operate, they just gave him gallons of liquid parrafin- one of my horses now as well, can only be described as extremely sensitive, when he had pain in his feet once (heel pain) he coliced- so maybe the 2 are linked? I'm not sure- my boy gets it the same time every year, normally oct time (worming all ok) he gets his shots of buscopan and finadyne and he's right as rain after- Because he's so sensitive to keep him on an even keel he and my other boy get Pink powder every day, added mint to the feed (i just use the naf mint and garlic mixed)as supposed to be good for digestion, and added Linseed oil -or irish caron oil as both are good for their digestion apparently.

You may well find after a few weeks of gastroguard it may make a big change- as it's supposed to be very good, and good luck with the coligone, i was tempted to try that on my boy last year!

They normally say plenty of fibre but given little and often as well- is she better if the hay is soaked? only a thought.

Good luck, keep positive and do keep us posted, i'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you!

 

[now_loves_mares]

Just to say I really feel for you - you must be so worried for your poor mare. I have heard brilliant reviews about Coligone from just about anyone who has come accross it; so I do hope that it works for her. Good Luck!

Thanks, I hope so to! Katie was lovely and certainly some of it's features do sound like exactly what she needs. Shame we've got another night to get through before it arrives. I may as well book the vet in now

 

[now_loves_mares]

Thanks K27. It's actually good to know that some horses are just really really sensitive. I suppose in some ways I shouldn't be surprised, as she is going through so much. She does seem a little bit brighter this afternoon than this morning, but given the last two nights, I'm not holding out hope.

Her hay has been soaked ever since she was at vets. Actually I use haylage, but mine is soft and not ultra rich - it just looks like really nice hay actually. But in any case, if today's experiment works, I'll be trying to increase the readigrass/grass content first.

She is getting Linseed oil in her pm feed. I also have some dried mint so could try that. She has a bucket of electrolytes in with her at all times, as well as normal water. The readigrass is being soaked, as are the high fibre cubes; so she should be getting plenty of water in to her, I hope?

It's just so worrying

 

[Britestar]

Hey.

Is it absolutely paramount she is box rested? My own pony fractured her pedal bone very badly and it stopped less then 5mm from the joint surface. I simply turned her out for a year, on Vet advise. Never had any problems at all.

After a year, she was re-xrayed, and they were unable to see any sign of the fracture - it had a gap of about 1cm at the bottom!

I'm sure if she was living naturally the colic would subside. The only thing it takes much longer than the box rest method, although my pony was sound after probably 4 months.

 

[dressagecrazy]

I know exactly what your going through as ive been through it, my horse also has had the same problems.
He too had to go on a period of extended box rest, previous to this he had Ulcers which caused Colic.

Then he ended up on Box rest all was ok for around 6 weeks & then the problems started. I was having to give him daily Sedalin only 1 1/2 ml a day which for an 18hh is not much. But he started colicky behavior whenever he was coming round from the sedalin.

This was happening every night & had got to the point where he was sedated all the time morning & evening just to stop the colic. So he was on full Gastrogard & sedalin, he was still colicking slightly almost every night i was exhusted.
My horse also suffers Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome which means we have to be very careful what we feed him, as any changes cause severe & very painful Scouring which can go on for days. When this happens he will throw himself around the stable. So when the Sedalin started to wear off the stress of being in & all the drugs in his system would cause the painful scouring & colic.

The Sedalin was actually causing more problems than it was solving by slowing the gut down, he couldnt cope at all when it would start to return to normal. So then would colic, it was a nightmare & i really wish i hadnt gone down the box rest route & just gone for putting him in a pen. But he wasnt allowed to move at all for 4 weeks so box rest had to happen, he was on box rest from August to Jan this year. Never again will i do box rest of that length, i ended up in the doctors because of the stress of the colic & no sleep.

In the end i couldnt cope anymore & phoned Leahurst & my own vets & asked if i could T/O in a tiny electric paddock. They all agreed to this so he was put in a pen where he could just about turn round for the first week.

But it was so worth it as the colicing stopped he's off all Sedalin & we've managed to stop the Gastrogard again, he's still in a pen now as really he should still be on box rest. He has been penned since Jan & it's the best thing i did. To keep him calm i give him V-calm as his gut can't tolerate Magnesium.

 

[now_loves_mares]

Britestar - one of the vet's is an orthopeadic surgeon so I guess is quite fussy about these things. The complication is, part of the fracture has come away and moved slightly, and now the joint is also looking implicated. That said, still no guarantee either way what the outcome will be - she could in theory still come right. The conservative treatment therefore is to box rest. That said, today when I have been taking her onto my garden to graze (it's the nearest and driest "grazing" I have!) she looks much more comfortable on it, due to the give in the grass. If today's regime helps, I will start increasing the grazing in hand element as much as possible, as I agree that the ideal solution sounds like it would be a small pen. OH and I have already agreed we will sacrifice our lawn if needs be!

Spoke to my vet earlier and she agreed grass and the little and often is the best I can do right now. She hadn't heard of coligone though .

Dressagecrazy - I do appreciate that this is very selfish of me, but I can't tell you how much it helps to know someone else has gone through this type of thing . Obviously I'm questioning the validity of persevering, and nightly colic is no fun for anyone; but I agree (as with Britestar too) if I could figure out a way to pen her, that would be ideal. My main worry is that my own field is wrecked from winter, hence I'm currently using my garden...It's just such a rollercoaster.

I know what you mean about the sedative. My mare had to have a tiny bit last night as buscopan on it's own wasn't quite enough; and sure enough she's taken all morning to start to look a bit more normal again. Same with the pain meds, we ended up having to tough it out and stop giving her any pain meds for her foot, as it was just contributing to the viscious cycle of ulcers/gut problems/colic.

I do find the support on here absolutely wonderful. My OH has been great, stayed up with me and my mare both nights, but he isn't horsey and worries about ME, whereas all I care about is my horse . It's nice to have some practical suggestions, too.

One thing last night's vet said, was that one guy who used to work for them, who was a gastric specialist, had this theory that bowel worms came out to "play" at night. How exactly they knew it was night wasn't divulged, but there does seem to be something that is bringing on the colic at the same time in most instances. Could be something, could be nothing?

 

[Britestar]

Joint surface implication does rather change things regarding rest. However the tiny pen that DC mentions is also a good plan. You can move it daily to make sure she has grass, but never make it large enough for them to hoon!

I have also used this method for other box rest cases, as especially in the summer I feel terribly mean keeping them in - my stables are inside a shed so they would never see light of day. So long as the current is going through the electric fence they 'shouldn't' escape

Maybe this could be suggested to your Vet, as she's not going to be any more active in a 12 x12 pen than in a 12 x 12 stable. Who needs a lawn anyway, you'd only have to start mowing it soon

 

[brucea]

Just a thought

I have a gelding that had colic every few weeks for nearly 2 years - quite scary as you know. Turned out that a completely cereal free diet was the thing for him (and strangely for me too as it turned out - I only tried him on it because I had awesome migraine and that seemed to help greatly)

The other thing I found that has helped him a great deal is simply linseed meal - the Charnwood version at £25 for 20 Kg - I feed about a tea mug each feed. Fantastic stuff.

The linseed provides oils, but also provides mucilage which sooths the digestive tract nicely.

He hasn't had another colic since I started this regime - that's been almost 5 years now. I have not had another migraine either

Afraid none of mine get on with the TopSpec products.

 

[now_loves_mares]

Just a thought

I have a gelding that had colic every few weeks for nearly 2 years - quite scary as you know. Turned out that a completely cereal free diet was the thing for him (and strangely for me too as it turned out - I only tried him on it because I had awesome migraine and that seemed to help greatly)

The other thing I found that has helped him a great deal is simply linseed meal - the Charnwood version at £25 for 20 Kg - I feed about a tea mug each feed. Fantastic stuff.

The linseed provides oils, but also provides mucilage which sooths the digestive tract nicely.

He hasn't had another colic since I started this regime - that's been almost 5 years now. I have not had another migraine either

Afraid none of mine get on with the TopSpec products.

Thanks. I certainly have cut out the obvious cereals ie the pasture mix, and the only other possible sources are the Spillers High Fibre cubes, or the balancer. The thing is, she has been on TS balancer for nearly 4 years, and I've never had any digestive problems with her at all. My current tactic is to try to get her back to something as close as possible to her previous diet, because I know she was fine on that?

She is getting Linseed oil (rather than meal) as advised by the vet, as she lost a fair amount of condition. Does that have the same mucilage impact? The coligone (praying it arrives tomorrow) also has this benefit, so definitely hoping this should help.

Britestar - the vet is coming to check her tomorrow (assuming I don't have to call her in the next couple of hours...) so I will ask about the pen. She was certainly supportive of the hand grazing. But at some point, I'm also going to have to go back to work.

One thing I read on t'internet today was an obvious benefit of them being out that I had overlooked. i.e. if they do colic when turned out, they have the option of being able to move about to relieve the pain. Simple and blindingly obvious.

It's just so frustrating that every solution contradicts another problem.

 

[doris2008]

Again I'm another who went through something similar.
My TB was boxrested with foreleg lameness issues followed immediately by a suspected pelvic fracture, so months in. He started to get spasmodic colic several times a week. Each one was settled with a buscopan. We kept him soaked hay and fibre based feeds - no cereals at all. Eventually he was scoped which showed up nothing significant other than food leaving his intestines slower than they should, ie after 12 (or 24? cant remember..) hours starvation there were things left which shouldnt be.
Vets thought the most likely cause was as he was stationary so long that his metabolism slowed right down causing food to stay inside too long and begin to ferment i guess causing the gassiness.
He was kept on pre & pro biotics and has remained on NAF Pink Powder ever since - I swear by the stuff now! This really seemed to help. I also fed him as much fresh grass as possible.
Turning out became an issue as too much grass at once would set him off so it had to be reintroduced by half an hour every day. Painstakingly slow but worth it.

I dont thnk I really have any useful advice to offer other than maybe find out whther there is any possibility of even turnout in a tiny area for a short period to try and keep everything moving without compromising the healing of the injury?

 

[now_loves_mares]

Thanks Doris. Again selfishly, it really helps to hear of others who've had similar situations. At least if I can get her turned out now, the grass hasn't yet started growing much, so it shouldn't be too rich. It's also interesting re the movement, as I am beginning to think that is also have a huge impact.

In good news, no colic last night. So something worked. The vet has just been to give her a check as she is going away for a bit and wanted to see how everything was going. She has agreed that we can fence off a bit of the garden and turn her out in there - yay! We are right now putting the colic before the foot, as she isn't going to be allowed to keep colicking this often, so we have to do something about it. And just hope we don't compromise the foot recovery in the meantime. We have also agreed to try to do a week with no hay at all, and see if that means no colic. She's not gone a week without colicking since her first dose, so that would be great but also very interesting for the vets if it works.

Fingers crossed!

 

[brucea]

Thanks. I certainly have cut out the obvious cereals ie the pasture mix, and the only other possible sources are the Spillers High Fibre cubes, or the balancer. The thing is, she has been on TS balancer for nearly 4 years, and I've never had any digestive problems with her at all. My current tactic is to try to get her back to something as close as possible to her previous diet, because I know she was fine on that?

She is getting Linseed oil (rather than meal) as advised by the vet, as she lost a fair amount of condition. Does that have the same mucilage impact? The coligone (praying it arrives tomorrow) also has this benefit, so definitely hoping this should help.

She's on top spec balancer and you are havingf colic problems - that puts it on the list of suspected things - so drop it qand see if it makes a difference. None of mine get on with TopSpec products.

The meal is far better than the oil - linseed oil is harsh stuff. The meal contains the mucilage - the mucilage gives the slightly creamy feeling to the product when you wet it (although you can feed the micronised meal simply mixed into the food), adn I've been told by a PHD in animal nutrition that horses absorb the oils from the seeds better than they do the liquid oils which tend to lubricate and pass through quickly.

I'd give the meal a go.

 

[doodleberry]

Thanks Doris. Again selfishly, it really helps to hear of others who've had similar situations. At least if I can get her turned out now, the grass hasn't yet started growing much, so it shouldn't be too rich. It's also interesting re the movement, as I am beginning to think that is also have a huge impact.

In good news, no colic last night. So something worked. The vet has just been to give her a check as she is going away for a bit and wanted to see how everything was going. She has agreed that we can fence off a bit of the garden and turn her out in there - yay! We are right now putting the colic before the foot, as she isn't going to be allowed to keep colicking this often, so we have to do something about it. And just hope we don't compromise the foot recovery in the meantime. We have also agreed to try to do a week with no hay at all, and see if that means no colic. She's not gone a week without colicking since her first dose, so that would be great but also very interesting for the vets if it works.

Fingers crossed!

great news about the no colic last night what an awful situation but it is kind of the lesser of 2 evils!! i had a horse colic last year from a lipoma thingy can't quite remember its full title!! which ended up in him having surgery and they took out 8 foot of small intestine and had to rewire him a bit different. after the operation he kept colicking a bit and usually they tend to keep colic cases stabled for 3 months but with him they were kind of at a loss so turned him out and built up his time out he got loads better so i took him home and he promptly colicked again and as i knew they couldnt operate again i gave him 2 bute and took the dogs for a walk as it was make or break i got back and he was happy as larry!! so i put it down to the journey home !! so what i am trying to say is sometimes we need to go back to nature dont worry about the weight or condition for now that will come with time the pedal bone may never be the same again but who knows ! with my horse i said to myself if it was his time to die he would of done so by now and i think yours would of been the same with all what she has been thru so there is light at the end of the tunnel!! my horse is now fat as a pig after looking like crap when he came back from the vets and is back in work when i can catch him!! soo good luck and like someone said earlier who needs a garden?!! xxx

 

[doodleberry]

just to add i did keep him on a diet of bran and used pink powder the bran was always sloppy and i used warm water and i added a bit of chaff gradually x

 

[Birker2020]

Sorry, this is very long....

I hope someone can wave the magic wand for me.

My horse has had repeated bouts of gassy spasmodic colic during the time I have owned him (7 years). I have found that the best thing for him is to restrict the hours he is out at grass until he is able to go out overnight. Turning out overnight in the summer is a better alternative than turning out in the day as the fructans in the grass are less and this is brilliant if your horse is prone to colic as a result of grazing. I also worm my horse regularly and give him a daily dose of pink powder. I tried all the muzzles to restrict his grazing but all these did was make him gorge whenever he lost them which was quite frequently.

If he gets colic now, or looks like he could have colic I will put him on the walker for half an hour and reassess him. If he is no better I will give him bute, walker for 20 mins and then if no better call the vet. This was the suggestion made to me by my own vet and its worked really well over the years. i wouldn't necessary recommend this regime unless you know that the colic your horse has is the usual colic he gets. I'd be a liar to say that his colics don't worry me, of course they do and I always go back up the yard to check on him later that night, to see he is okay. But knowing that his colic's are 'typical' to him reassures me somewhat. If ever I saw different symptoms or he didn't react in the usual way then I would call the vet out immediately. Our grazing used to be a dairy farm so it is typically very rich, as is the haylage that is made from some of the fields. This seems to just 'tip him' over the edge.