It's haunting me. Colic - what could cause such rapid death?

Wagtail

Wagtail

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What sort of colic could see a horse mildly unwell one minute and close to death within an hour? He was fine late the night before. Nothing unusual. Then in the morning was quiet and wouldn't come for his breakfast, but stable and poos undisturbed. Rang the vet immediately. Horse collapsed within half an hour. Dying. Colic diagnosed. No gut sounds (though had passed two normalish droppings in that half hour), but then just watery. Vet thought strangulated bowel possibly through internal melanomas. Nothing could be done and the horse was PTS but would have died any way. We are all in shock. The vet said he had never witnessed such a rapid deterioration. What could have caused it? Vet said not impaction or spasmotic colic. Could it have been internal rupture? Horse had seemed a bit lacking in energy lately, but last time his owner rode him he was slightly better.
 
Without a post mortem you will not know definitively but I have had several colics that came on inexplicably quickly, one horse was fine I turned him out about 6pm after a day in, he rolled as usual but then became frantic and I knew it was serious, he made it through the first few hours with a lot of meds but the decision was made at 2am that there was nothing more that could be done, the vets though much the same internal strangulation due to growths of some type, he had never had colic previously other than a mild bout 15 years earlier.

The other horse ate his breakfast normally and was being got ready to go out to a competition, he started scraping the floor, at first it seemed like excitement having his boots on, then he became distressed, vet came the usually treatment but no obvious reason for the colic, 24 hours later no improvement but no blockage or twisting felt, he got to hospital and underwent surgery for an intussusception which could not be felt on rectal examination, no reason was found for this and he did come home fully recovered.

Colic does tend to come on suddenly if serious there are often no warning signs, the horse on the Ben Fogle programme had a huge amount of dying intestine and had been "normal" until he showed the first signs, the chances are he had been dying inside for hours before succumbing to the pain, they are so stoic and their insides are very poorly designed.
 
Thanks. It was very upsetting. I called the vet thankfully at the very first sign he was unwell as he had never had so much as a grumble before in the five years I'd had him here. I even thought that maybe by the time the vet arrived he would be fine. By the time I had finished on the phone to his owner he was down in his stable. Got him out and walked him. He seemed much happier at first and was striding out, but then started to wobble and sway. I managed to get him into the sand where he collapsed. Vet arrived 25 minutes after the phone call. Only the night before he had mugged me for his night time hay net. Which was what he always did.

I lost my big lad to colic five years ago. But his was much slower. He was off his feed in the morning, rolling and just laying there flat out. Vet improved him with pain killers etc, but by evening he was no better. At 8pm we travelled him 2 hours to Rossdales where he was operated on. He travelled really well and was good as gold for the vets. Sadly he couldn't get up after the op due to hind leg paralysis and had to be PTS. He had 7 feet of intestine fall through a membrane next to his diaphragm. But no death of tissue.

I always thought you got a lot more time. But one hour! I just cannot believe it. Poor boy.
 
My boy that I lost probably had the most serious reaction, it was extremely fast and he was only kept going until 2am as he responded well to pain relief, there were no signs of obstruction so having been almost knocked out by the meds we kept hoping he would come out improved, once the meds wore off he was absolutely frantic in his reaction, the pain must have been unbearable and I regret not having pts earlier but you live in hope when they respond well to medication there is just the chance something may right itself, he was not going without a fight and in his usual way was strong to the end.

Colic is my real fear, having seen different types it is something that still makes me worry more than almost anything else, often the symptoms are easy to miss, they do not always indicate how serious it is, sometimes the most serious in presentation are the ones that respond quickly, the ones that are less dramatic can be the fatal ones like your first horse who rumbled on and before surgery was an option would have died over a period of days, unless a decision had been made.

Losing any horse is a shock, more time can make it easier but for you losing two in two days just makes you feel like giving up I should think, you have no reason to question what you did for either horse, it was just the timing that makes it worse.
 
So sorry to hear that. I had a similar (ish) situation a few years ago. Highland pony came in and didn't start eating immediately - very rare in a highland! I called vet and he did rectal and general exam. Only found his temp 0.5 degree higher than it should of been. Gave him an IV jab and mistakenly hit the artery and caused massive fitting. Pony seemed to recover an hour later and was well, pooing and eating when I left and returned at 11pm. When I returned in the morning, he was unconscious and clearly dying. I didn't have a PM, massive regret as I've never known if it was a strange colic that caused it or whether it was the fit he had.
 
My lovely old pony Foxy had a strangulating lipoma which caused colic, he was fine at last check maybe 11pm and had been on a fun ride earlier that day but heard him thrashing around in the stable at 1am and got up to find him dripping and obviously in terrible pain. The vet got there within probably 40 minutes, and we got him to the vet hospital which is about 45 minutes away by about 3am, I really didn't think he would survive the journey but the vet gave him what she called a ketamine stun which seemed to enable him to stand the pain for the journey. We did have him operated on - twice in fact but lost him 3 months later due to what we suspect were adhesions causing repeated colics. In hindsight I wish we had had him PTS that first night at home but we all loved him so much we desperately wanted to try and save his life.
 
dianchi said:
Sadly it can happen, Ruptures can happen that quick.

Wagtail really feel for you given last week :(
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Thank you. It certainly has been a rough time.

be positive said:
My boy that I lost probably had the most serious reaction, it was extremely fast and he was only kept going until 2am as he responded well to pain relief, there were no signs of obstruction so having been almost knocked out by the meds we kept hoping he would come out improved, once the meds wore off he was absolutely frantic in his reaction, the pain must have been unbearable and I regret not having pts earlier but you live in hope when they respond well to medication there is just the chance something may right itself, he was not going without a fight and in his usual way was strong to the end.

Colic is my real fear, having seen different types it is something that still makes me worry more than almost anything else, often the symptoms are easy to miss, they do not always indicate how serious it is, sometimes the most serious in presentation are the ones that respond quickly, the ones that are less dramatic can be the fatal ones like your first horse who rumbled on and before surgery was an option would have died over a period of days, unless a decision had been made.

Losing any horse is a shock, more time can make it easier but for you losing two in two days just makes you feel like giving up I should think, you have no reason to question what you did for either horse, it was just the timing that makes it worse.
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Thank you. Yes, the timing was just unbelievable. My first thought when I saw him looking depressed and not interested in his feed was that he may have been missing my girl. He had seen her dead and being taken away. But I soon realised it was more than that. Something catastrophic had happened inside of him.

springtime1331 said:
So sorry to hear that. I had a similar (ish) situation a few years ago. Highland pony came in and didn't start eating immediately - very rare in a highland! I called vet and he did rectal and general exam. Only found his temp 0.5 degree higher than it should of been. Gave him an IV jab and mistakenly hit the artery and caused massive fitting. Pony seemed to recover an hour later and was well, pooing and eating when I left and returned at 11pm. When I returned in the morning, he was unconscious and clearly dying. I didn't have a PM, massive regret as I've never known if it was a strange colic that caused it or whether it was the fit he had.
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I'm sorry to hear about your pony. It's a difficult decision to make whether or not to have a post mortem. In the end his owner and me felt it was better not to have his body lying about longer than needed. But it would also be nice to have some answers.

Lynsey&Smartie said:
My lovely old pony Foxy had a strangulating lipoma which caused colic, he was fine at last check maybe 11pm and had been on a fun ride earlier that day but heard him thrashing around in the stable at 1am and got up to find him dripping and obviously in terrible pain. The vet got there within probably 40 minutes, and we got him to the vet hospital which is about 45 minutes away by about 3am, I really didn't think he would survive the journey but the vet gave him what she called a ketamine stun which seemed to enable him to stand the pain for the journey. We did have him operated on - twice in fact but lost him 3 months later due to what we suspect were adhesions causing repeated colics. In hindsight I wish we had had him PTS that first night at home but we all loved him so much we desperately wanted to try and save his life.
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That is very understandable. I felt the same way about my big lad. I just wanted to save him at the time, but with hindsight I wished I had not put him through the journey and the op. But then if he'd recovered I would obviously feel differently. I'm not sure if I would have an operation done again. Definitely not on my current boy as he has awful arthritis at only 11 years old and has had two operations already.
 
Wagtail, no consolation - had a similar one a number of yrs ago now.
PM results were perforated bowel, not just once, but several times.
Even if she had had an op, the prognosis would have been very poor.

So sorry to read of this on top of you losing the other x
 
I had a yearling who was fine in the evening and dead in the morning. On PM she had a torsion near the exit from her stomach. She was in the field where they usually slept and no signs of her having done anything apart from lay down and die. :( I suspect it might have been caused by a trauma when one of the others chased her and she slipped and fell at a gallop.
 
gingerarab said:
I am really sorry you lost yours, I had a traumatic colic years ago and it has haunted me ever this. I recently saw this posted on fb by newmarket equine hospital and thought it was a really good talk on colic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJq1fcaVUos
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Thanks for that link. It is really informative. So sorry about your experience.

The Fuzzy Furry said:
Wagtail, no consolation - had a similar one a number of yrs ago now.
PM results were perforated bowel, not just once, but several times.
Even if she had had an op, the prognosis would have been very poor.

So sorry to read of this on top of you losing the other x
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Thank you. I m so sorry about the one you lost. It really is a cruel condition and not a nice way to die.

Gloi said:
I had a yearling who was fine in the evening and dead in the morning. On PM she had a torsion near the exit from her stomach. She was in the field where they usually slept and no signs of her having done anything apart from lay down and die. :( I suspect it might have been caused by a trauma when one of the others chased her and she slipped and fell at a gallop.
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Oh heck that is so tragic. I'm so sorry.
 
Are you sure it was colic? Atypical myopathy has similar symptoms but kills them very quickly. Do you have any sycamore trees ?
 
He'd been completely off the grass for two months. Turnout was just in the all weather for 5 - 6 hours a day. No sycamore trees.
 
Wagtail, no answers but at least you know that you got the vet as soon as as you saw he was off colour, so if there was a chance he could survive he had it.

I can't believe how quickly it can come on. I was riding a horse for a friend, and we went out for a lovely hack together on a Sunday. Turned the mare out overnight as usual, by 7am next morning she was in a terrible state, her belly was raw as she'd been kicking at it and the fencing was all in a mess. Got the vet out, he hoped it was just a spasmodic as she did rally on the painkillers, but she then rapidly deteriorated. Friend couldn't make up her mind whether to send her to Leahurst or not, but eventually decided against and she was pts.

She wasn't pm'd either. There was no hint at all the previous day that she was under the weather. It's a horrible terrifying condition.
 
OH Wagtail how devastating for you, my heart goes out to you!! Could of been a rupture of the intestine and would of poisoned the body but getting a post mortem will determine this. So very sorry x
 
Have you considered it could have been Grass Sickness? (they don't have to be at grass to get this but can get it from eating hay...) I lost my boy end of August to this, it was very quick, he was rushed in for surgery at 7pm and by noon the next day he was confirmed grass sickness and PTS. I was lucky he made it through the operation... :-(
 
My pony died very quickly from colic a few years ago now. She went from first symptoms to being put down in about 3 hours. The day before she was attacked visiously by another horse but had seemed fine afterwards. On the day she died she went out in morning as usual and was reportedly ok all day acting normally then when I went to catch her at t time she was rolling. Managed to get her in and had phoned vet from field so by time I managed to get her in vet was arriving. He said it didn't look good and no bowel noise and very ill. He jagged her and said he would come back in an hour but shortly after he left she went down and lay on her back . Called vet back and he said not a good sign as sometimes they do that as it relieves the pain a bit . She wasn't rolling just lying on her back. Anyway when vet came back her heart rate and breathing were showing signs that she was in severe pain and her guts were not sounding any better. We live too far from vet college to transfer plus she was too ill. She couldn't get up and she was too
old for surgery anyway as she was 27. We decided that the only thing we could do was put her down to save her any further suffering . If was very quick and a shock at the time but in many ways easier than dealing with her growing older and having to make the decision anyway. Vet thinks her colic was caused by a kick during the fight the previous day bursting a major bloid vessel to the bowel which without blood then started to die.
 
Suffolkangel said:
Have you considered it could have been Grass Sickness? (they don't have to be at grass to get this but can get it from eating hay...) I lost my boy end of August to this, it was very quick, he was rushed in for surgery at 7pm and by noon the next day he was confirmed grass sickness and PTS. I was lucky he made it through the operation... :-(
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He was being fed on expensive marksway haylage so I don't think it was grass sickness otherwise loads of others fed on the same haylage would be coming down with it. Good suggestion though as it would have been something to consider had the haylage been sourced locally or something.

lornaA said:
My pony died very quickly from colic a few years ago now. She went from first symptoms to being put down in about 3 hours. The day before she was attacked visiously by another horse but had seemed fine afterwards. On the day she died she went out in morning as usual and was reportedly ok all day acting normally then when I went to catch her at t time she was rolling. Managed to get her in and had phoned vet from field so by time I managed to get her in vet was arriving. He said it didn't look good and no bowel noise and very ill. He jagged her and said he would come back in an hour but shortly after he left she went down and lay on her back . Called vet back and he said not a good sign as sometimes they do that as it relieves the pain a bit . She wasn't rolling just lying on her back. Anyway when vet came back her heart rate and breathing were showing signs that she was in severe pain and her guts were not sounding any better. We live too far from vet college to transfer plus she was too ill. She couldn't get up and she was too
old for surgery anyway as she was 27. We decided that the only thing we could do was put her down to save her any further suffering . If was very quick and a shock at the time but in many ways easier than dealing with her growing older and having to make the decision anyway. Vet thinks her colic was caused by a kick during the fight the previous day bursting a major bloid vessel to the bowel which without blood then started to die.
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I am so sorry to hear that. This horse also lay on his back for ages. It must be as you say to relieve the pain. I hadn't seen any incidents the previous day, although the mare he was turned out with would often chase him about a bit, so it could well have been something I had missed.
 
I never gave it a thought that a horse could die from colic after having an problem with another horse until mine died. The vet said to me afterwards that sometimes if they fall violently the weight of the food in their intestines can make them twist but when mine went down all I worried about was a graze on her knee. I didn't think she was going to die, she didn't show any signs of a problem and was grazing as normal. It just shows how suddenly they can be taken from you. :(
 
we lost one at our farm a couple of weeks ago very quickly, she was a lovely big horse, she too kept lying on her back with her legs in the air. I knew as soon as I saw her it was terrible. vet said she had only ever seen one other as bad.
sorry you are having a hard time.
 
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