Left colon displacement three times gypsy cob

[suemc66]

Hi ..my first post. I joined in the hope of finding someone in a similar situation.

My heavy feathered 14.2 gypsy cob had colic surgery Dec 22....8 feet of small intestine removed. He did well until Nov 23 when out of the blue a mild colic that turned out to be left colon displacement. He has now had this 3 x which has involved another laparotomy (which was not needed as it had gone to the right place when they operated but they didn't know) and much expense and hospital stays for tubing. I have been offered a nephrosplenic space ablation but would like to know who else has experienced repeated episodes and whether they managed to control it with diet or if they went for the ablation and how it went. It had cost about £18k so far so I am desperate and I love him. He is well between episodes. Thanks guys.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Hi ..my first post. I joined in the hope of finding someone in a similar situation.

My heavy feathered 14.2 gypsy cob had colic surgery Dec 22....8 feet of small intestine removed. He did well until Nov 23 when out of the blue a mild colic that turned out to be left colon displacement. He has now had this 3 x which has involved another laparotomy (which was not needed as it had gone to the right place when they operated but they didn't know) and much expense and hospital stays for tubing. I have been offered a nephrosplenic space ablation but would like to know who else has experienced repeated episodes and whether they managed to control it with diet or if they went for the ablation and how it went. It had cost about £18k so far so I am desperate and I love him. He is well between episodes. Thanks guys.

Me , i lost my horse in September due to colon displacement. We had surgery and the surgery went went and he was recovering. 3 1/2 weeks later his blood stopped clotting and sadly his life came to an end. His tears in the colon were just not able to repair, His was very complex as his colon had repaired itself previously so those abrasions on the colon did not help his situation. The colon does not hold stitches very well and it can very rarely be repaired fully as it is expanding so much during drip feeding and recovery.
This was his second time in hospital in 4 years, first time it was medically managed. This time surgery.
Colon displacement is the worst colic you can ever have. Id want an impaction over that any day. Well obviously no colic is best.

I am pretty sure that feeding an ulcer friendly diet with no soya and alfalfa did get a few more happy years with him though. Plenty of fluids especially on hot days. Electrolytes if needed.
Im like you I would go to the ends of the earth to save him.

Im sorry I dont have better news but obviously this is just going on my experience. Others may have other experiences that are more positive.

 

[shortstuff99]

Is it getting trapped? My big cob had an op for gastrosplenic entrapment. If this was something that kept happening then I would have the space blocked up as otherwise would keep happening.

 

[suemc66]

Me , i lost my horse in September due to colon displacement. We had surgery and the surgery went went and he was recovering. 3 1/2 weeks later his blood stopped clotting and sadly his life came to an end. His tears in the colon were just not able to repair, His was very complex as his colon had repaired itself previously so those abrasions on the colon did not help his situation. The colon does not hold stitches very well and it can very rarely be repaired fully as it is expanding so much during drip feeding and recovery.
This was his second time in hospital in 4 years, first time it was medically managed. This time surgery.
Colon displacement is the worst colic you can ever have. Id want an impaction over that any day. Well obviously no colic is best.

I am pretty sure that feeding an ulcer friendly diet with no soya and alfalfa did get a few more happy years with him though. Plenty of fluids especially on hot days. Electrolytes if needed.
Im like you I would go to the ends of the earth to save him.

Im sorry I dont have better news but obviously this is just going on my experience. Others may have other experiences that are more positive.

So sorry to hear this BB - we are opting for surgery to stop it entrapping.. but I get the feeling that it may well have happened again this morning. I am fed up of it.

 

[suemc66]

Is it getting trapped? My big cob had an op for gastrosplenic entrapment. If this was something that kept happening then I would have the space blocked up as otherwise would keep happening.

Hello SS99 They say the first time it wasn't actually trapped but the 2nd two times it was in the nephro space - did the operation your cob have prevent it? What type of cob is he? How big? Another vet I spoke to said it is unheard of in gypsy cobs and he is a heavyweight 14.2 gypsy cob with loads of feather.

 

[Barton Bounty]

So sorry to hear this BB - we are opting for surgery to stop it entrapping.. but I get the feeling that it may well have happened again this morning. I am fed up of it.

Good idea, the sooner the better for the surgery! Im crossing everything for you

 

[shortstuff99]

Hello SS99 They say the first time it wasn't actually trapped but the 2nd two times it was in the nephro space - did the operation your cob have prevent it? What type of cob is he? How big? Another vet I spoke to said it is unheard of in gypsy cobs and he is a heavyweight 14.2 gypsy cob with loads of feather.

He is a 16hh, heavy weight gypsy cob with loads of feather. Vets told ne it was more common in geldings than anything else. He had the op around 3 years ago an hasn't had any (touch wood) problems from it since.

 

[suemc66]

He is a 16hh, heavy weight gypsy cob with loads of feather. Vets told ne it was more common in geldings than anything else. He had the op around 3 years ago an hasn't had any (touch wood) problems from it since.

Thank you for that Shortstuff99. I am waiting for the vets to ring to confirm a date for the op. I am so scared about it but that was good news with yours. Where did you have it done? Incidentally I note you are living in Cambridgeshire - we are in the middle of hopefully moving to Wisbech.

 

[shortstuff99]

Thank you for that Shortstuff99. I am waiting for the vets to ring to confirm a date for the op. I am so scared about it but that was good news with yours. Where did you have it done? Incidentally I note you are living in Cambridgeshire - we are in the middle of hopefully moving to Wisbech.

He had his done at Newmarket and they were brilliant. Good luck for yours

 

[suemc66]

Thank you - I rang the equine hospital near Newmarket - Rossdales for advice about it recently - the surgeon I spoke to, Richard Payne I think, was the nicest vet I have spoken to - it is a pity that I felt it too far to take him - he hates the horse box now as it always goes to the hospital so the less time in it the better!!. He is going for the op at Rainbow on Thursday. It makes me cry thinking about it as he looks so well right now.

THank you for your kindness. Sue

 

[Needtoretire]

Have your vets mentioned giving him more fibre to keep the colon in place.

 

[suemc66]

Not really no - I have worked out for myself that high fibre and as much fluid as possible is best.... They tell me to feed hay as normal and though I soak it I get the impression that too much blocks him up so I give tiny wet nets often. To keep weight on him (he lost loads with the starvations for the entrapments but now is a good weight) we give him 4 high fibre mashes a day (they are like soup) mixed with soaked sugarbeet pulp. The vet suggested sugarbeet as I hadnt used it in years as it is good for the gut apparently. He is in a small yard and stable - I turn him out 4 x a day for half an hour each time. In Winter I turned him out all day but again staying out on too much grass even though it was old grass seemed to bring on the entrapments too!! I just cant win.

 

[Needtoretire]

i know of a horse that has had many colon displacements, a big hunter type. The vets said displacement is often seen in the deep bodied types. The horse has been colic free for 12 months now. The advice given on the last hospital stay was to mix oat or barley straw with hay (all dunked in water for half hour) to ensure the horse has something to pick at 24/7. It was thought the horse was standing too long without long forage, the colon was emptying and going for a wander to places it should not be.

The horse is only grazed for an hour either end of the day as grass seems to induce a gassy colic. The horse is a total piglet with food, pre the straw advice it would eat its hay in a nano second and stand with nothing for hours. Turned out it would eat until it went bang.

 

[Birker2020]

Yes my horse had left dorsal displacement twice. The vet felt that her colon sat higher than most horses and the gas from the grass would push it down, the spleen would flop down and trap it.

The first time it was rectified easily but the second time was the vet coming out 4 times in three days, starvation for 24 hours, tubing, left lunging for ten mins every hour and a bumpy trailer ride.

She couldn't have the injection of phenylephrine to shrink the spleen and dislodge the colon as it could cause a fatal arrhythmia as she had 2nd degree AV block.

Surgery wouldn't have been an option for her at that stage in her life and her other issues. So the vet and I went all out to save her and it was fine thank God.

There's a horse at our yard (livery not retirement yard) that has had 4 or 5 so he had the operation to block the space up (not sure how they do it, internal stitches I think).

Agree with NTR, it's often seen on big barrell type horses.

 

[suemc66]

i know of a horse that has had many colon displacements, a big hunter type. The vets said displacement is often seen in the deep bodied types. The horse has been colic free for 12 months now. The advice given on the last hospital stay was to mix oat or barley straw with hay (all dunked in water for half hour) to ensure the horse has something to pick at 24/7. It was thought the horse was standing too long without long forage, the colon was emptying and going for a wander to places it should not be.

The horse is only grazed for an hour either end of the day as grass seems to induce a gassy colic. The horse is a total piglet with food, pre the straw advice it would eat its hay in a nano second and stand with nothing for hours. Turned out it would eat until it went bang.

Mmm everyone I see on here has big horses affected - I do wonder about Rocky's diagnosis as he is only 14.2. I guess I am almost doing the opposite to what you have said - I am scared to feed him anything coarse in case it blocks him up behind a displacement. I have noted on the three times it happened - he was out at long coarse winter grass x 2 occasions. X 1 occasion he was being fed by friends whilst iwas on holiday and had 4 x half hour turn outs and, 4 x mashes and 4 x very small nets. I wonder if I am doing the oppiste of what I should do?? Thanks for your kind reply. Sue

 

[suemc66]

Yes my horse had left dorsal displacement twice. The vet felt that her colon sat higher than most horses and the gas from the grass would push it down, the spleen would flop down and trap it.

The first time it was rectified easily but the second time was the vet coming out 4 times in three days, starvation for 24 hours, tubing, left lunging for ten mins every hour and a bumpy trailer ride.

She couldn't have the injection of phenylephrine to shrink the spleen and dislodge the colon as it could cause a fatal arrhythmia as she had 2nd degree AV block.

Surgery wouldn't have been an option for her at that stage in her life and her other issues. So the vet and I went all out to test her and it was fine thank God.

There's a horse at our yard (livery not retirement yard) that has had 4 or 5 so he had the operation to block the space up (not sure how they do it, internal stitches I think).

Agree with NTR, it's often seen on big barrell type horses.

Thank you for letting me know this. Hoew did the horse that had the spsacer blocked go? Rocky is booked in for Thursday and I am so scared about it. Sue

 

[Birker2020]

Thank you for letting me know this. Hoew did the horse that had the spsacer blocked go? Rocky is booked in for Thursday and I am so scared about it. Sue

Unfortunately the op wasn't successful as the horse managed to escape from its stable during the night and decided to have a hooney round the fields!

I think the stitches came undone inside as he had another one not long after.

 

[Needtoretire]

Mmm everyone I see on here has big horses affected - I do wonder about Rocky's diagnosis as he is only 14.2. I guess I am almost doing the opposite to what you have said - I am scared to feed him anything coarse in case it blocks him up behind a displacement. I have noted on the three times it happened - he was out at long coarse winter grass x 2 occasions. X 1 occasion he was being fed by friends whilst iwas on holiday and had 4 x half hour turn outs and, 4 x mashes and 4 x very small nets. I wonder if I am doing the oppiste of what I should do?? Thanks for your kind reply. Sue

Impactions can be caused by lack of fluid and lack of movement and dry forage. The horse I know had one impaction and that was definitely lack of fluid. All other colic episodes were gas build up and displacement. The horse would eat a haynet at speed and then stand with nothing for hours, it also stood and ground its teeth for hours as if it was trying to graze. It was in and out of hospital at least 6 times and the cost was massive. All the gut supplements were tried, Equine 74 and Succeed, kolicare etc but nothing changed. Every test done on it with nothing found.

Changing the diet to 40% straw and 60% meadow hay finally stopped the colic. The vet that suggested the mix was from Europe and apparently in Europe they routinely feed the big warmbloods with straw/hay mix to keep their weight at a suitable level and to keep the hind gut processing. The horse is a 15.1 quality cob with a very deep barrel. It looks superb now, slim and very fit, working most days, only has an hour grazing at either end of the day at this time of year. Diet is the hay/straw mix and a top spec balancer, plus natural Vit E to make up for lack of grazing, nothing else at all.

 

[suemc66]

Impactions can be caused by lack of fluid and lack of movement and dry forage. The horse I know had one impaction and that was definitely lack of fluid. All other colic episodes were gas build up and displacement. The horse would eat a haynet at speed and then stand with nothing for hours, it also stood and ground its teeth for hours as if it was trying to graze. It was in and out of hospital at least 6 times and the cost was massive. All the gut supplements were tried, Equine 74 and Succeed, kolicare etc but nothing changed. Every test done on it with nothing found.

Changing the diet to 40% straw and 60% meadow hay finally stopped the colic. The vet that suggested the mix was from Europe and apparently in Europe they routinely feed the big warmbloods with straw/hay mix to keep their weight at a suitable level and to keep the hind gut processing. The horse is a 15.1 quality cob with a very deep barrel. It looks superb now, slim and very fit, working most days, only has an hour grazing at either end of the day at this time of year. Diet is the hay/straw mix and a top spec balancer, plus natural Vit E to make up for lack of grazing, nothing else at all.

This is very interesting - I have worked out the buit about the lack of fluid and i supplement Rocky's normal drinking with 4 feeds of high fibre mash with sugarbeet pulp that he actually drinks more than eats. However, I have gone to feeding very little hay (4 tiny weeny soaked hay nets morning, noon, tea and late evening) and more of the fibre from the mashes - I have moved to feeding him many times a day so that his colon is always processing something but I wonder if feeding a hay/straw mix that he just nibbles occasionally would be better (or worse if the straw blocks him up)...mmmm I wonder!! he has the op tomorrow - I am dreading it as he looks so well right now. We are due to move to another house in a few months if it all works out - and with a change in land I am hoping to turn him out on short grazing all day (I cannot here as we have too much grass and the land is very sandy so I can't let him eat it short due to the sand and irritation it causes - so he has to just get 4 x half hour grazing sessions which isn't ideal)

Many thanks for this input - it has given me 'food' for thought!!

 

[suemc66]

Unfortunately the op wasn't successful as the horse managed to escape from its stable during the night and decided to have a hooney round the fields!

I think the stitches came undone inside as he had another one not long after.

Oh no - I hope the operation on Rocky has more success!

 

[CanteringCarrot]

I do know a horse (Trakehner)that had this issue and the had the op done. I think it uses stitches and a mesh screen of sorts maybe? I can't recall.

He ultimately did well, but he lost a lot of weight from the op and being in hospital. He had some complications that involved a second surgery and some issues with the incision. After being back at the yard he bounced back and put the weight right back on though. It's ultimately given him better quality of life and a longer life, I think.

 

[suemc66]

I do know a horse (Trakehner)that had this issue and the had the op done. I think it uses stitches and a mesh screen of sorts maybe? I can't recall.

He ultimately did well, but he lost a lot of weight from the op and being in hospital. He had some complications that involved a second surgery and some issues with the incision. After being back at the yard he bounced back and put the weight right back on though. It's ultimately given him better quality of life and a longer life, I think.

Thank you for this CC....the surgery is done. I'm waiting to find out how it went. I this is his third operation...he has already had two major colic surgeries. I do hope this one stops his colics.

 

[BMA2]

How is he? X

 

[suemc66]

Hi there - Thank you for asking - I brought him home yesterday

How is he? X

Hi there - thank you for asking. Operation went well they say - I brought him back home yesterday - he is on stable rest for 3 weeks then small turn out for three weeks. I am keeping praying!!

 

[suemc66]

Me , i lost my horse in September due to colon displacement. We had surgery and the surgery went went and he was recovering. 3 1/2 weeks later his blood stopped clotting and sadly his life came to an end. His tears in the colon were just not able to repair, His was very complex as his colon had repaired itself previously so those abrasions on the colon did not help his situation. The colon does not hold stitches very well and it can very rarely be repaired fully as it is expanding so much during drip feeding and recovery.
This was his second time in hospital in 4 years, first time it was medically managed. This time surgery.
Colon displacement is the worst colic you can ever have. Id want an impaction over that any day. Well obviously no colic is best.

I am pretty sure that feeding an ulcer friendly diet with no soya and alfalfa did get a few more happy years with him though. Plenty of fluids especially on hot days. Electrolytes if needed.
Im like you I would go to the ends of the earth to save him.

Im sorry I dont have better news but obviously this is just going on my experience. Others may have other experiences that are more positive.

 

[BMA2]

Fingers crossed for you xx

 

[suemc66]

Hi there - I am sorry I never gave you the courtesy of a reply - I just realised. I am sorry that you lost your horse but thank you for telling me about your experience of this. Rocky came home yesterday so I am keeping everything crossed.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Hi there - I am sorry I never gave you the courtesy of a reply - I just realised. I am sorry that you lost your horse but thank you for telling me about your experience of this. Rocky came home yesterday so I am keeping everything crossed.

Im glad he is home! Everything crossed here too for you both