Reoccurring colic - seemingly no explanation

[Marzipan12]

I am at a loss as to what is causing my mare's reoccurring colic and just wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar and can shed any light.

I have owned her for almost two years, but in the last seven months she has had four episodes of colic, three needing the vet, all spasmodic and all responsive to buscopan.

The first time was on spring grass and we thought she had just over-indulged, so she was muzzled and grazing restricted. The second time she had removed her muzzle but had been muzzled for some of the day and the grass was scorched due to very hot weather.

The third time she had been muzzled all day and the fourth time was a couple of weeks ago, she had been in for five hours and only out for a short time in the morning.

The vets have carried out blood tests, but no results, she has been gastroscoped but her stomach is healthy and no ulcers, she has been tested for tapeworm and although possibly a moderate infestation, she was wormed quite a long time before this last colic episode and she has now had an abdominal tap.

This abdominal tap showed protein in the fluid of her gut. No abnormal cells or bacteria but vet says protein could show she has a damaged gut wall and said there isn't much more we can test for, just to wait and see if she colics again and perhaps change her paddock (which I can do but all grazing on the yard is the same!)

Despite spending a lot of money, as she's 20 so not insured to cover vet fees, I don't feel like I have got an answer, or any prognosis, or way of dealing with this. I just wondered if anyone had ever experienced anything similar and could shed any light.

She is on as much haylage as I can give her, pro and prebiotics, molasses free fibre based feed and currently stabled, but was going out for 4 hours in morning then coming in to a smallish net so as to eat slowly and not over indulge.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Silverfire]

Has she had an abdominal scan of intestines? You might get lucky and see something on that or you might not. How bad are the colics? Mild or lots of rolling? While four times in seven months is a bit worrying it isn't as bad as four times in seven weeks or days. You just have to find a way to manage it and avoid anything that might cause her colic. Learn her habits and learn what is a normal colic for her if she has any more. The colics and the protein in P fluid could be two seperate things, horses like to be awkward like that! Maybe try putting her on a field with really short grass on it. Pre/probiotic is a good thing. Has she been tested for cushings? I think i remember seeing colic on a list of cushing symptoms somewhere.

I have a young horse who has a thickened piece of intestine in her large intestine with a small impaction before it. It can be felt rectally, shes had it at least two years now, don't know what caused it or when it happened or whether she was born with it. She is four years old in June. She was mildly colicky daily for weeks and also acted colicky while eating feed, every feed every day for months. She also had teeth problems/diastemata. She had a few tests, the rectal exam picked up the thickened bit of intestine which explained the mild colic but not the acting colicky while eating which wasn't ulcers. The eating feed problem never found an answer for, (she could eat okay on doxycycline so had that for seven months) although it seems likely now that it was teeth pain of some sort. With her my vet told me to find a way to manage it so thats what i did. She has adlib hay, turnout in a bare patch so never any grass, i feed her four small feeds a day of speedi beet, soaked grass nuts, bit of bran and micronised linseed and a flask hot water to take the chill off it (sensitive teeth/gums!). The linseed is supposed to have anti inflammatory properties and also puts a layer of oil along the gut, its definately helping her, her droppings are firm but soft. I avoid giving her anything that might slow movement of food through the gut. She has pink powder for prebiotic. Shes been okay for months now (touchwood!!), the thickened bit of intestine and small impaction were still there last June exactly the same, although not painful touched like it had been the previous year. I keep a very close eye on her.

 

[AnShanDan]

Really difficult to know what to do and very frustrating. I had a mare with recurrent colic, prob. about once a month on average for 9 months, sometimes v mild, sometimes pretty severe.

I did everything I could to prevent it, and I could find no common factor that set her off.

Eventually, she had exploratory surgery, and they found nothing wrong with her. Weirdly, she has had one episode since and the surgery was Jan 2012, and that I could put down to a specific feed. The vet that operated on her told me that he'd let the bad spirits out from her tum

So, they can just stop and you never know what it was.

At 20 could it be a lipoma? Gut wall damage could be from previous worm burden?

Only my personal view, but I'd not feed haylage to a horse that coliced, only hay. I'd poss. try only feeding hay for a while, although I'd also turn out for a few hours each day too, as guts need some grass and movement.

It is so stressful, I know, watching them constantly for signs, but you do get very good at reading them.

 

[Fransurrey]

Protein in the gut fluid is quite normal. If that protein was from the fibre portion of her intake (haylage), then it would be accessible in the hind gut and wouldd support the gut microbes. Do you know if she was on haylage before you bought her? I wonder if it's this that's upsetting the balance of bacteria in her hindgut and causing gassy colic. Or maybe the haylage batch/source changed? Agree with AnShanDan to try hay for now. Hope you find a resolution. Oh and remember that scoping will only check stomach/oesophogus ulceration, not small intestine or hindgut. Good luck - sounds worrying. :/

 

[lizness]

Have heard colic linked to seasons. Mare fed regumate, sorted! But depends if your mare comes into season in winter

 

[ruth83]

I had a mare who colicked regularly - though not always badly enough to require vet.

She also suffered a bout of azotouria (no idea whether this was related, I was a young teen at the time). She was put onto Selenavite E to try and prevent further occurances. When on this the colic incidences reduced significantly (not completely but to very little). We later changed from Selenevite to a broad spectrum vit/min supplement as a trial and she continued to be well on.

So, I might run it past the vet to ensure there is no reason not to but a vit/min supplement may be worth a consideration.

 

[Marzipan12]

Thank you all for your responses, there are some interesting ideas and different things to look into.

I don't think it's related to her seasons, although someone else has mentioned ovaries and a link, so perhaps this is something worth asking the vet.

She has been on haylage since I got her two years ago but only had problems in the last seven months. She is moving to a different field, hopefully, with better grass as the vet feels that the stress grass in her current paddock could be attributable.

The vet did think the gut wall damage could be worm burden in the past, she has always been wormed correctly with me but she has a lot of history. Also I think he was saying her protein is lower than expected in her gut, so could be leaking out into her blood and he was talking about doing blood tests again to check this, but perhaps not yet as we only last did bloods in August so he was saying it may be best to wait longer, although I am not sure about this.

It is really frustrating as, although I know its not overly frequent, three times have been fairly bad, with almost constant rolling or attempts to, and the last being the worst where she pretty much just seemed to collapse, but as I say, pain relief helped dramatically.

I will have a look at all the ideas and supplements you suggest. She is currently on Protexin on vet's advice, but this seems to be doing nothing for her!

 

[Birker2020]

I am at a loss as to what is causing my mare's reoccurring colic and just wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar and can shed any light.

I have owned her for almost two years, but in the last seven months she has had four episodes of colic, three needing the vet, all spasmodic and all responsive to buscopan.Thanks in advance.

My horse has always suffered from bouts of reoccuring colic - the gassy spasmodic type. We are on an ex dairy farm on pasture that is very rich and I have always felt it was this that caused it.

But the vet did say that a significant redworm burden can always produce this type of reocruing colic. Fortunately he's not had it for a while and then last week suffered an episode where he refused to eat hay, dug out his bank and was seen to be lying down during the evening, something very abnormal for him. I went back up later in the evening to check on him and whilst no worse was no better either, so I gave him two bute, put him on the walker for thirty mins and he was fine.

I have found pink powder to be very effective though.
.

 

[Silverfire]

"The vet did think the gut wall damage could be worm burden in the past, she has always been wormed correctly with me but she has a lot of history. Also I think he was saying her protein is lower than expected in her gut, so could be leaking out into her blood and he was talking about doing blood tests again to check this, but perhaps not yet as we only last did bloods in August so he was saying it may be best to wait longer, although I am not sure about this."


Low protein in blood can be quite serious. It would be worth blood testing again now to check whether shes getting better or worse.

 

[Marzipan12]

I think our yard is most likely ex-dairy pasture, but she was there last year and was fine, we moved to another yard, came back, she was fine for a bit and then it all started. Its hard to pinpoint really.

I think I going to get the vets to come back out and blood test, after they provide a fuller explanation of what is going on.

 

[Justturnedfifty]

I think our yard is most likely ex-dairy pasture, but she was there last year and was fine, we moved to another yard, came back, she was fine for a bit and then it all started. Its hard to pinpoint really.

I think I going to get the vets to come back out and blood test, after they provide a fuller explanation of what is going on.

Hi there, I too have a pony who suffers from regular gassy colic episodes, and has done since owned, 4 years now. I suspect it's his poor start to life that has not helped him, sounds similar to your mare. Have changed feed to Dengie Healthy Tummy which contains Protexin and Fast Fibre, along with micronised linseed and magnesium. Since changing to this he seems more contented. However, have definitely identified too much grass is the route cause of colic. Even now, if turned out after small token breakfast and no hay/haylage he is very likely to colic, so, he must have at least 30 minutes of hay/haylage before turnout. He is never ridden on an empty stomach. Never turned out on to frosty grass. Have also discovered he is 100% better on a low sugar diet and I am certain it's the sugars in grass which effects him, he simply cannot digest the sugars and this causes the gass colics. Spring time is the real worrying time, so bare paddock with hay net and tiny amounts of grass, strip graze but only move the fence about 2 inches in very limited area. Won't turn out into a normal grassy field even with grazing muzzle on, still gets too much grass! Have tried feeding Protexin as supplement when previously fed Happy Hoof or similar, still coliced. Coligone no difference. Pink Powder no difference. Regularly try pre and pro biotic supplements but can honestly say Dengie HT with no sugars seems to be very effective. Good luck will read your thread with interest.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I am at a loss as to what is causing my mare's reoccurring colic and just wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar and can shed any light.

I have owned her for almost two years, but in the last seven months she has had four episodes of colic, three needing the vet, all spasmodic and all responsive to buscopan.

The first time was on spring grass and we thought she had just over-indulged, so she was muzzled and grazing restricted. The second time she had removed her muzzle but had been muzzled for some of the day and the grass was scorched due to very hot weather.

The third time she had been muzzled all day and the fourth time was a couple of weeks ago, she had been in for five hours and only out for a short time in the morning.

The vets have carried out blood tests, but no results, she has been gastroscoped but her stomach is healthy and no ulcers, she has been tested for tapeworm and although possibly a moderate infestation, she was wormed quite a long time before this last colic episode and she has now had an abdominal tap.

This abdominal tap showed protein in the fluid of her gut. No abnormal cells or bacteria but vet says protein could show she has a damaged gut wall and said there isn't much more we can test for, just to wait and see if she colics again and perhaps change her paddock (which I can do but all grazing on the yard is the same!)

Despite spending a lot of money, as she's 20 so not insured to cover vet fees, I don't feel like I have got an answer, or any prognosis, or way of dealing with this. I just wondered if anyone had ever experienced anything similar and could shed any light.

She is on as much haylage as I can give her, pro and prebiotics, molasses free fibre based feed and currently stabled, but was going out for 4 hours in morning then coming in to a smallish net so as to eat slowly and not over indulge.

Thanks in advance.

I lost my pony to colic, been there got the T shirt, it could be viral - ulcers- larger hole in the gut wall than normal-worm damage - one of mine liveries has recurring colic, had 4 episodes in on week. She now has he on colikare, she has only had one bout since.

This could be associated with the gut (gastro-intestinal tract), but equally, the kidneys, liver or another condition such as pneumonia, fractured ribs or 'tying up' may be responsible.


There is some help here>>http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/c.html

 

[PolarSkye]

I haven't read all the replies, so please excuse me if any of this is redundant/repetitive, but . . . have you noticed a link between her seasons and the colic episodes? There was a mare on my previous yard who was very mare-ish and had the most awful seasons . . . she was clearly very uncomfortable/unhappy and she was in season A LOT. She colicked four times in about ten days - the vet found a significant worm burden (that's a whole 'nother story).
P

 

[JennBags]

Have heard colic linked to seasons. Mare fed regumate, sorted! But depends if your mare comes into season in winter

I don't think it's related to her seasons, although someone else has mentioned ovaries and a link, so perhaps this is something worth asking the vet.

Please don't rule this out. A friends mare started colicing regularly, she did everything she could, she even moved yards in case it was the pasture, but she still coliced. She put her on Regumate, and hasn't had a problem since (it was over a year ago).

Good luck, I really hope you get to the bottom of it x

 

[JennBags]

Haha cross-posted with PS, seems it's more common than you think!

 

[Crugeran Celt]

I Have a miniature filly who had a similar problem last year, she too had bouts of colic for no apparent reason and all blood tests were clear. The vet recommended we give her a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement and she hasn't had another colic bout since being on it. Good luck with your horse and I hope you find the answer to her problem.

 

[mynutmeg]

My sister's tb had a spell where he coliced regularly (like every couple of weeks). For an unrelated reason we changed hay supplier and the colics stopped immediately. The hay we had been using was good quality, didn't cause problems for any of the others but seemed to trigger colic in him.

Might be worth changing hay or haylage (slowly tho) and see if that helps.