Help colic advice needed urgently

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vanessarimmer

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My horse is away from home being backed. The yard have just rung to say they had the vet out earlier who said that as she was passing droppings she could be fed normally to keep the gut working. No drugs or pain relief were considered necessary at the time. The yard have just rung to say they are still worried and are getting the vet out again now.

My question is this. My vet has always told me to withold feed and hay during even a mild colic episode. Has anyone ever heard of a vet advising to feed through the colic episode? I am really worried.
 
With one of mine I was told I could leave his hay in, but we were confident he wasn't impacted & he's not one to eat just because it's there. He didn't start nibblig it until he was perking up anyway, but if we took it away it seemed to bother him that it wasn't there - he stood at the door tongue chewing & cribbing but then ignored it once it was put back in. I'd never offer hard feed though, or anything he was likely to eat just because it was there. Also this horse has a history of ulcers so I don't like to leave him without fibre if it can be helped, & I think that was a factor with the vet's advice too.

ETA I hope your horse is better this morning.
 
My vet told me it would be safe to feed my mare when she had spasmodic colic (all gut sounds fine, still pooing just uncomfortable) but I just gave her a bran mash and a slice of hay as she hadnt eaten all day so didn't want her to eat it too quickly and cause more problems. They gave her anti spasmodics, a painkiller and a few butes and said if she hadn't improved by that evening to ring them again and they would come back out and check its not got more serious.

Luckily she was fine within a couple of hours and hasn't had any issues since but I would be worried if the vet had done less than they did. It's not something you can just hope for the best with really!
 
My vet has always suggested giving my horse 3 or 4 bute in a small feed and then putting him on the walker or lunging/riding for 20 mins whenever he has shown signs of reoccuring spasmodic gassy colic. He said to put him back in his stable and monitor, if it was a bad colic the pain would over ride the bute and time to get the vet out.

This was when he was having regular colicky episodes due to the quality of the grazing he had been assessed previously by the same vet and it was an ongoing reoccuring problem.

Still okay 8 years later so guess its okay to feed small amount but maybe this was only in my horses case as the vet knew his problem inside out.
 
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