Post colic surgery help

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emmo1

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My old man came home from Langford's yesterday after colic surgery last Wednesday and I can't believe how much weight he's dropped in a week. It's the first time I have seen him since I dropped him off due to a family bereavement and I really questioned whether I should have put him through it when I saw him. I have owned him for 18 years and he's only ever been looked after by my sister and I and never been away from his friends so that's probably not helped either.
I will be going to see my local vet later but what would be the best to feed him other than hay, if anything, that will pick him back up without giving him any energy. He's to be in for 4 weeks then another 4 very restricted before joining the field. He was on Spillers senior conditioning mix and balancer with alfa-a and kwik-beet. He's 19 yrs young xx
 
I'm surprised the vet hasn't given you instructions? I would give everything really wet, soaked hay, start with Fast Fibre or another wet food like Speedi Beet. Then build it up gradually when you know his gut can cope. I would treat him like he had laminitis. maybe stick a balancer in like Top Spec Lite to make sure he has his vits/mins and some protein to help build him up.
 
Hey,

My 6 month old filly had to have colic surgery (also ruptured her stomach and got a hernia due to trying to jump a fence and landing on the post!) Her colic surgery was required due to impaction and no gut was removed.

She too lost alot of weight, I think they just stress. Is he more tucked up than physically lighter? I also took my mare (her mum) who obviously had no issues, she came back extremely tucked up and looked horrible. After 4 days she was back to looking herself.

I would try A&P Calm and condition. Its soaked to complies with the rules regarding wet feed following colic. You could also try grass nuts also soaked, help him keep the grass in him before he goes back out.

Good luck, and I took wondered about putting her through it. However, its the best decision because I look at her now (after 3 months box rest) and well... you'd think she was a normal foal!
 
Mine came home from Avonvale on soaked Spillers Lay Off Mix following colic surgery. He did really well on it, looked better than he did before the colic, even though he had to spend more than 3 weeks there having developed a wound infection and an allergic reaction to the stitches.

Feel free to PM if you have any questions.
 
He was only being fed hay at Langfords, no hard feed. Spoke to my vet this am who advised to feed him his balancer with a small amount of hi-fi and some quick-beet to make it wet. He is very tucked up and his coat is an an awful mess. He colicked in the field in the muddiest spot imaginable. I didn't recognise him when I got to him.
He's getting quite anxious when i'm around as he just wants to go back out with his mates. We're keeping a horse in next door 24/7 for company, just rotating the companion I'm going to ring around local yards and see if anyone has a spare box on a busy yard so he's plenty to look at but not easy to split yourself when you have another 4!!

He didn't have any gut removed. He managed to flip a section of his large intestine up and over his spleen where it got stuck. It was too full to try exercise as a way of bouncing it back as they were scared it would rupture. His would is enormous but really clean and neat looking. I just want to make this as pleasant an experience as possible for him. x
 
Since you've got others that you can have in to keep him company I wouldn't rush to move him, another change will just add to his stress levels & that's the last thing you want to do. He'll take a few days to settle into his new routine, I know my lad also wanted out as soon as he got home & that made the first few days hard but he did settle down after that.

If the hospital just had him on hay then that's what I'd keep him on to begin with & slowly add his balancer in. Now he's home & in less pain he'll probably start to slowly put weight back on, also if he is carrying a bit less it will put less strain on the incision while it heals. Give him time, he's been through a lot & probably the best thing for him now is familiar people, surroundings & friends so he can relax & carry on healing.

Lots of get well vibes on the way to him x
 
Hi, not been on forum for ages so only just seen this.
My 27 year old has had 2 colic surgeries - one at 19 and one at 25. Resection and 3m small intestine removed the first time; no resection needed the second time. Actually put weight on the first time, but lost a fair bit of weight after 2nd surgery mainly due to developing an un-associated catastrophic hock infection while he was in hospital, so had 3 general anaesthetics in a week, arthroscopy, hock flush, 8 standing flushes etc etc, stayed in hospital 3 weeks. Quite a big thing for a 25year old.
Ever since the first surgery, I have fed all feeds very wet, always build up quantity of feed very gradually. The 2nd time was more of a challenge to get him looking his usual slightly portly self. He has a few different things so that he can pretty much choose what he wants to eat. Separate small nets of haylage and soaked hay. Just Grass in a big tub with a couple of handfuls of mix thrown in for interest. Hard feed - has D&H Hi Fi molasses free, Alfa A molasses free, bran and D&H Equine Sensitive with some soaked grass nuts (instead of sugar beet, less gassy). Lots of sliced carrots. Have also used Curragh Carron Oil (digestive aid) for the last 7 years on the recommendation of vets who did first surgery. Soya Oil also did wonders for getting the weight back on and getting his coat shiny again. He also has Pink Senior. He had to be turned out immediately, into a tiny paddock,on his return from hospital, wearing a belly band corset thing, as the risk from the colic surgery incision was felt to be less than the need to keep his infected hock moving. (I had to graze him in hand for a few weeks after the first surgery until he was allowed out - no belly band then, just staples!)

When he was in, I kept his best mate in too, for company and also left a radio on (Radio4 - lots of talking, not music) when I wasn't there. Also have an ip camera in his stable so I can watch him from my phone, any time from anywhere. Great for peace of mind and not hideously expensive. You can get them from Maplins nowadays for about £100.

Hope everything goes well for you and him.
 
Nari said:
Since you've got others that you can have in to keep him company I wouldn't rush to move him, another change will just add to his stress levels & that's the last thing you want to do. He'll take a few days to settle into his new routine, I know my lad also wanted out as soon as he got home & that made the first few days hard but he did settle down after that.

If the hospital just had him on hay then that's what I'd keep him on to begin with & slowly add his balancer in. Now he's home & in less pain he'll probably start to slowly put weight back on, also if he is carrying a bit less it will put less strain on the incision while it heals. Give him time, he's been through a lot & probably the best thing for him now is familiar people, surroundings & friends so he can relax & carry on healing.

Lots of get well vibes on the way to him x
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply. We're coming to the end of his first week home and he's already settling into his new routine. I've not tried to hand graze him since as it just seemed to upset him more - he can't understand why he can't just go out so gets stressed. He has a friend next door who he can touch, sniff and groom and I've bought him a mirror. I've hung things like licks and swede everywhere and they gets moved to stables overlooking the farmyard in the day as his usual stable is in an internal barn so not very stimulating.
Fingers crossed we continue in this manner for the next few weeks x
 
Zerotolerance said:
Hi, not been on forum for ages so only just seen this.
My 27 year old has had 2 colic surgeries - one at 19 and one at 25. Resection and 3m small intestine removed the first time; no resection needed the second time. Actually put weight on the first time, but lost a fair bit of weight after 2nd surgery mainly due to developing an un-associated catastrophic hock infection while he was in hospital, so had 3 general anaesthetics in a week, arthroscopy, hock flush, 8 standing flushes etc etc, stayed in hospital 3 weeks. Quite a big thing for a 25year old.
Ever since the first surgery, I have fed all feeds very wet, always build up quantity of feed very gradually. The 2nd time was more of a challenge to get him looking his usual slightly portly self. He has a few different things so that he can pretty much choose what he wants to eat. Separate small nets of haylage and soaked hay. Just Grass in a big tub with a couple of handfuls of mix thrown in for interest. Hard feed - has D&H Hi Fi molasses free, Alfa A molasses free, bran and D&H Equine Sensitive with some soaked grass nuts (instead of sugar beet, less gassy). Lots of sliced carrots. Have also used Curragh Carron Oil (digestive aid) for the last 7 years on the recommendation of vets who did first surgery. Soya Oil also did wonders for getting the weight back on and getting his coat shiny again. He also has Pink Senior. He had to be turned out immediately, into a tiny paddock,on his return from hospital, wearing a belly band corset thing, as the risk from the colic surgery incision was felt to be less than the need to keep his infected hock moving. (I had to graze him in hand for a few weeks after the first surgery until he was allowed out - no belly band then, just staples!)

When he was in, I kept his best mate in too, for company and also left a radio on (Radio4 - lots of talking, not music) when I wasn't there. Also have an ip camera in his stable so I can watch him from my phone, any time from anywhere. Great for peace of mind and not hideously expensive. You can get them from Maplins nowadays for about £100.

Hope everything goes well for you and him.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. He only needed his intestine put back into the right position so there's nothing internal to heal, just the incision site. I am feeding him 2 small feeds of hi-fi with his balancer and a small amount of quick-beet with plenty of water to keep it wet. His hay is soaked and fed from hay nets as he really is greedy and eats everything like he hasn't been fed for a week. I leave him with enough that he never runs out. I've started adding small amounts of micronized linseed again now too but have steered away from things like graze on as its so dry. I've just ordered him a snack ball but our local feed store doesn't stock grass nuts so will have to order some in.
Unfortunately we are on a working farm so restricted turnout is going to be a problem as the only small paddock adjoins one of their fields so wouldn't be safe to leave him there. As for the camera, I hadn't thought of that. Will have to ask the farmer what the situation is regarding wi-fi up there.
Thank you x
 
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