twisted guts - what causes them?!

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Morgan123

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Hiya,
as in title really - i know colic causes twisted guts obivously, but jsut wondering. a horse i know recently just dropped dead, and the post mortem showed it was a twisted gut. apparently the vet said there was nothing that anyone could have done - that may be true but the way this was said suggested it wsa 'just one of those things' and not colic or illness related?! Can they happen just spontaneously e.g. if the horse rolls around badly? i guess getting cast can cause them so maybe.... feeling a bit paranoid now!

thanks!
 
Colic is a generic term that just means tummy pain. The colic attack itself does not make a horse have a twisted gut, there are lots of different types of colic. Having a torsion or twisted gut, is just one possible problem.
 

A colic attack does not necessarily result in a twisted gut. I also know of a horse who died of a twisted gut that the vet thought had been caused by rolling, but it was a long time ago and I can't really remember the full details.
 
just a follow on from tracey01 - colic can just be a bit of trapped wind and where horses cannot burp is results in bad tummy pain (colic) or it can be as severe as a twisted gut.
 

It is caused when a loop develops in the intestine which can be the result of a blockage or presumably from violent rolling. That results in a decrease in the blood supply to the loopy bit which can lead to gangrene.
 
yeh thanks - i know, i just meant can they happen without colic in the first place? can you get a twisted gut from other causes (e.g. getting cast, but not that as this horse was in the field)?
 

Yes. the horse I knew about was also in the field, and had not shown any signs of colic. I would imagine that being cast could be a cause, as if the horse panicked it may thrash around quite violently trying to get up.
 
The problem with horses intestines is that part of the intestines are not attached to the wall of the abdomen so these parts are free moving. It is in these parts that torsions can occur because there is nothing to stabilise that part of the intestine, unlike the parts of the intestines which are attached to the abdomen wall. So if the blockage occurs in the free moving part then anything can happen. The blockage can turn on itself and twist into a position which means that the only way of correcting it would be to perform surgery to remove or realign the intestine back to where it should be.
 
Unfortunately my three year old was PTS following colic surgery. He was a very sick horse as approx 15 feet of large intestine had gone through the mesentere (? spelling, it was described to me as a curtain of tissue that hangs in the abdomen) which had got trapped and twisted and died. I believe that this caused his colic symptons. Unfortunately as the trapped intesting died a load of toxins flooded his system which caused him to become so sick.

I was told that it was very unusual for such a young horse and it was sheer bad luck.
 
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