Re: Re: Colic

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

I can tell you what we were just taught during a section on colic management, and mostly it boils down to there are a thousand types of colic and a different way to handle each one.  But a few points covered (plus some stuff from a physiological point of view) are that:

 

1) Walking or even mild trotting is going to help increase blood flow to the hindgut by about 10-20% and that can help alot if the colic is just tiredness, or overexertion or dehydration or that sort of thing.  If walking is going to help at all, ten minutes of walking is enough, not hours and hours.  After that, you're just tiring out the horse and not improving things.  Walking isn't going to help if the colic is caused by something like a torsion.  Lying down is okay as long as the horse stays quiet, but he needs to NOT roll.  Wanting to thrash is usually one of the indicators that this isn't just a mild belly ache and might have to be a surgical fix.

 

2) Giving some banamine or the like is okay if the colic is mild, or on the advice of the vet, etc., and the horse isn't dehydrated  The problem is that it's going to possibly mask symptoms that the vet needs to see to access the real situation, so if the vet is on their way and the horse isn't frantic, usually better to wait until he/she arrives.

 

3) There's some argument about whether oil really helps or not, some vets think it helps, others think it might help but at least won't hurt and others think just water and surfactant works best.  And of course it won't help at all if the problem is caused by a torsion or displacement.  Whether or not the vet gets reflux after passing a nasogastric tube will help him/her decide where the problem is originating.

 

4)  The surgeons said that the factors they consider in deciding whether a particular episode is going to resolve medically or will require surgery are duration of the episode, whether pain meds resolve the pain and to what extent and for how long, the behavior of the horse (thrashing, groaning, sweating, pawing, that sort of thing), what the gut sounds are like, results of the rectal exam, presence of reflux, evidence of systemic toxicity  (ie colors of the membranes and such) and of course whether or not the owner is willing to send the horse to surgery at all.  All of those things everyone here pretty much already knows.

 

Anyway, this aint a Colic Primer, just more food for thought.

 

Susan G