my horse has impacted gut now - help!

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kombikids

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just had the vet out for the cripple, hes out at night and when i put him out last night he nibbled his carrot slowly but i didnt think anything of it until this morning when my loaner brought him in and he didnt eat his breakfast and looked very sad. He is also drooling and looks like he cant swallow. He also hadnt pooed or weed. Anyway vet came flushed him out with linseed drench and had to push tube up nose past a blockage in his neck, that he thought might be why he couldnt swallow, and pulled loads of poo out his bum. Said the right side of his gut isnt working and he had a huge spleen (??) Horsey still sedated so just hoping now he will poo, he really doesnt looks very happy still tho.

Any advice/thoughts??

YM thought odd he wasnt taken to vet college where he is from.

also worried as hes on 2 bute a day and apparently this would have masked the effects of the colic, hoping that this wont cause him to colic again.
 
i am surprised that they didnt take him to horspital, impaction colic is bad because once the food materials that are stuck t start to ferment its getting very bad! keep a very close eye for any signs of him attempting to pooh! if you are at all concernced get a second oppinion!
 
yes will do - have very exp yard manager who said exactly the same. better get back to yard now but will check responses again later. Plan is to feed handfuls of soacked hay tonight if ok and ten mins walking every 2 hours, altho at the mo he aint going anywhere!
 
((((((())))))))) oh so sorry to read about your horse hope that he is feeling a little better when you get back to the yard. How good to have a exp yard manager to help you. Good luck fingers and hooves crossed for you both.
 
Oh dear.

Keep an eye on hydration as well as food intake - they can survive whithout food for a bit but water is more critical and you might have to syringe some down if there isn't an improvement today

Is he insured? Staying at the vets can get very expensive
 
My Miniature Horse had this problem,she ended up at the equine hospital,cost me £700,worth every penny.I suggest you get some clear out from global herbes and fennel.I have Tinkerbell on it all the time now.I can assure you that will do the trick.Here is the link phone then without delay and get your poor neddy on them.
www.global herbs.co.uk
 
I had one with a really bad impaction from eating her straw bed.
That went on for nearly a week she had been drenched twice daily with liquid paraffin and had Buscapan and Finadyne injections. She was flat out most of the time and we had to stop her rolling which was a nightmare.
I had a go at the vets in the end and they referred her to Oakham and they turned her out on a lush grass paddock which is what I had suggested to the other vets and within about a day she was back to normal, that was all that was needed to get things moving again.
Good luck with yours and if you are not happy get a second opinion as soon as possible, we hung around for a week and it could have been a different story if she had not been referred as she had just about given up the ghost
frown.gif
 
Good luck & please don't hesitate to call the vet again if he isn't looking better quite quickly. If you & YM are both unhappy then maybe a second opinion would be in order.
 
Tink got impaction colic last year, luckily Oakham were the vets we used on the yard,.
She had a liquid paraffin drench, and some injections, we then turned her out, under vets instructions and she was fine with in a couple of hours.
I think i would be getting a 2nd opinion, any form of colic not something to be trifled with.
Good luck and i hope all is better soon.
 
As mother hen said, make sure he is well hydrated - keep an eye on the colour of his gums (they should be salmon pink) and if they feel tacky or dry, along with a skin tent, he may need iv fluids.
You say his right gut is affected and hes on bute daily - there's a chance that the bute may have caused his colic - and the impaction may be secondary to the gut not moving. Bute can cause a type of colic called right dorsal colitis.

If he is not in distress while sedated I would think that might be a positive. Ive seen horses with impactions that have had less than 10minutes relief from sedation/buscopan etc. Keep a close eye on him anyway.

Good that you have an experienced YO to help you out! Its not the sort of thing you want to handle alone no matter how experienced you are. Best of luck - I hope thing turn out well.
 
Really hoping that your horse is o.k. I am sure your vet will do all they can to try and help him. There are drugs that can be given to reduce the size of the spleen to enable the gut to have more room to pass the impaction without risking the gut getting trapped between the spleen and kidney. not sure though if this can only be adminstered at a hospital or by normal vets.

Vibes for you and you horse.
 
We had one with an impaction last year, and the same night it was diagnosed, he was admitted to hospital.

One of the first things they did was to hook him up to fluids, via a drip. The theory being to flush his guts thru with fluid, and hopefully break down the impaction. The first time they did it, it only partially cleared, but he was better. So he went back on fluids, and was clear within another 48 hours.

If I had one with an impaction, which a one off visit from a vet couldn't resolve, I would want it in hospital, and on a drip, as well as with access to good pain relief, and surgery in a hurry if he needed it.
 
well hes still not looking better - he cant actually chew or swallow - so i know for sure he hasnt eaten or drunk anything since 7am when he was brought in this morning. His mouth looks very dry and as tho he has a sore thopught is that anythign t o do with colic? How long should it take him to poo?
 
I wouldn't be happy he was not drinking, maybe he should be on a drip I don't know, but if it were me I would call vet again.
 
It does sound a bit like choke alright - has food/material been coming from his nostrils at any stage? I agree with Varkie - I would prefer to have him on fluids.
 
thats what i thought, vet will come again and will go from there.Poor boy is having such a timeof it - nothing works anymore - has sidebone infront and athritis in hocks and fetlocks, think hes had enough and hes only 11!!!
 
Before the vet tubed all the liquid parafin etc into him, did they perform a reflux test the first time they tubed him i.e. pour plain water into the tube and then siphon out the contents of the stomach by sucking on the tube until the liquid/mass starts to come out and then lowering the tube into a bucket? This can give a good indication of how severe the colic is i.e. if there is a lot of food mass, rather than just the water slightly coloured, then the colic is more severe. Not wishing to scare you but if the stomach remains too full for too long there is a risk of rupture. Draining the stomach can offer some relief whilst the impaction is clearing the other end.

Really hoping things turn out alright for your horse.
 
When Jim started colicking last Sunday he would take food in his mouth but not chew or swallow, it doesn't mean it's choke or a blockage in the throat.

I'm afraid I'd be calling the vet again & possibly asking the practice to send out a different one than saw him this morning. It sounds like he's been colicky for at least 24 hours now, isn't getting better & is starting to dehydrate. Is he insured? It may be worth discussing options with your vet.

Good luck & get well <<<vibes>>>.
 
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