Another gas colic post - Update post 24

[ljc]

My 14-year-old Welsh mare just had her second gas colic episode in three months. I’ve had her for nine months so still a new relationship. Both episodes were nearly identical. She was fine all day, ate breakfast and lunch (when too wet to graze, they get lunch, but one episode happened after grazing).note -she has Cushings (1/2 tablet of Prascend) and is on a very careful diet of low NSC orchard grass hay and Teff hay. She also gets a TC ration balancer mixed with beet pulp shreds and some timothy pellets. Always wears grazing muzzle when grazing except in winter when grass is nearly non-existent. She’s a perfect weight. Teeth recently checked.

In both instances, she came in for dinner, ate the rarion balancer and beet pulp, started eating hay,then came back into stall to lie down after just a few minutes of eating hay, (a very un-pony like thing to do!). Not in distress, no rolling or pawing or biting stomach, just quietly lying down and not even interested in a piece of carrot. No temperature and a completely normal amount of manure. Not a drop of sweat on her.

Checked with vets then gave a dose of banamine. Within one hour she was banging on stall door for her missed dinner. Of course I only gave her limited hay (and there were fresh piles of manure since she had come in).

I treated her for ulcers (28 days of Gastroguard because she seemed more girthy and cranky). That treatment fell halfway between two episodes.

So what to do with an occasional gassy horse? I’m waiting to hear back from her last owner to see if this happened before.

Are there any supplements designed for this? Not sure what else to do but wait for each episode and hope things don’t get worse!

Appreciate any ideas. Thanks.

[AMackechnie]

I have a pony mare at our stable with a similar issue and she presents the same symptoms as your mare with very quiet, lying down unhappiness. As with your pony, banamine helps her.

Our mare has also had courses of gastrogard over the years. I have found Finish Line U7 Gastric aid in liquid form (she will not eat the powder version in her feed) to help quite a bit. Her gas colic episodes have been greatly reduced. She’s been on the U7 for about four years now. I use a syringe to dispense the U7.

[punchy]

I had a chronic gassy horse and we never could figure out how to prevent it. Gastroguard for small ulcers (upon scoping) didn’t help. Sucralfate didn’t help. No medication or diet change really helped—we would think it did and then it’d happen again. Grazing seemed to be the most common denominator for episodes, so the best thing we could do is restrict it and keep a close eye on him so we could treat it ASAP. He wasn’t a great water drinker so we’d monitor that for early signs as well. Sometimes he just needed to hand walk and improved after that. It was mostly about catching it early than preventing it. Sounds like that’s what you’re already doing.

[Weezer]

My senior gelding had three bouts of gas colic in the last 6 months, after 28 years of never colicking. The last two bouts were two days apart. I put him on probiotics and an herbal supplement called Gastra-FX. No problems since (last colic was two months ago). The last two times he colicked, we gave him an anti-gas paste from the vet and everything cleared up within a few minutes. So I just keep that paste on hand and stay alert to early signs of colic. My vet says gas colic is very manageable with the paste and a keen eye.

My vet doesn’t like banamine for colic because he says it can sometimes mask the symptoms and the horse quietly gets deeper into colic. He’s had to put down several colicky horses because the owners gave banamine and thought everything was fine, but the horse continued to colic for a day or more. So if you use banamine, watch the horse VERY closely after.

[cilla1]

A friend’s horse seems to be sensitive to beet pulp expecially during cold season. He often had mild colicks and she tried many things but the only thing that worked for him was not giving beet pulp

[RedHorses]

If you haven’t done one yet, get a fecal count. My senior, Cushings/PPID horse colicked before Christmas, presenting as gas colic. It didn’t resolve the way gas colic should and he turned out to have a heavy worm load. He has been a low shedder up until this point (his various medications may be interfering with his natural resistance). He got a Power Pac deworming and was feeling better the day after the first dose. I had a fecal check done a month later and based on the results dewormed him again, this time with Quest Plus.

Don’t say “She’s been dewormed” or “The seller said her fecal count was low”. If you haven’t done it yourself, you won’t know if the deworming was effective or if she’s got resistant worms or picked some up. I was planning a fecal count for my senior and was just waiting to see if we could get four people to sign up for the herd health program. That attempt to save $40 cost me a $1000 colic bill.

I had a horse who used to get mild gas colic fairly often and I found it happened far less often when he was getting Omega Alpha’s Biotic 8 (probiotics). Years ago I knew another horse who got yogurt daily to prevent him colicking - which is what made me try the Biotic 8.

[ridernc]

@cilla1

A friend’s horse seems to be sensitive to beet pulp expecially during cold season. He often had mild colicks and she tried many things but the only thing that worked for him was not giving beet pulp

I came here to say this. I have heard of several horses with recurrent gas colics that seemed related to beet pulp. It may or may not be what you have going on here, but it would a fairly easy thing to swap and see if it helps.

[cayuse]

I have had the same experience with one of my minis and my Welsh pony, they don’t tolerate any beet pulp products at all.

[PaddockWood]

I’ve been on a journey with my new guy - well it’s coming up on 2 yrs in April. Consistent gas, loose stools, colicky. Yes to the FEC - I was told he was dewormed before I got him but oh wow we got a 2100 count. Dewormed w Ivermectin to start and he had squirting diarrhea and then broke out in hives that crusted. And then dewormed with other products including Quest Plus.

Before doing the FEC I had an emergency colic call and gas was the dx. Scoped for ulcers and there were NONE.

He was grumpy to be touched and especially in the hind quarters. That took a long time to stop.

Do she have loose stools? Describe other observations and behaviors, please. I’m so curious. My guy also had an absessed molar that was extracted and then a fistula above an incissor and subsequent root canal so we’ve had so many things going on. All that could cause intestinal inflammation.

My latest research and rabbit trail was suspecting leaky gut and have him on Stride’s GI Calm and have noticed more improvements since starting it. Little gas, more normal stools meaning normal fecal balls instead of partial or more mushy. Stools that no longer smell strong.

There’s fascinating multiple vet presentations on how prevalent leaky gut is and all the causes. So many! You can watch them for free and there are multiple years of presentations.
https://www.kemin.com/na/en-us/markets/animal/equine/welcome-to-equisummit

I have noticed a marked improvement in everything since starting the supplement and he’s been on it for at least two weeks… Maybe three.

[PaddockWood]

Here’s that other thread. What Starsandsun found was bad bacteria and all her problems and symptoms went away when they solved that.
https://forum.chronofhorse.com/t/re-repeat-colic-for-10-months-every-test-you-could-imagine-finally-solved/788732/274

[PaddockWood]

Symptoms of Leaky Gut:
Snarky
Girthy
Diarrhea (may or may not)
Tight Hamstrings
Tight Flank
Irritable to be groomed
Reduced compliance under saddle
Poor - Finicky appetite
Allergies
Recurrent Ulcers

and leaky gut can cause insulin resistance because a leaky gut is a glucose sink meaning the body uses glucose disproportionally and glucose leaks through the intestines. Something like that.

[BlueDrifter]

Instead of banamine, try the OTC colic busters. The two I know of

Colic Buster
EquiSpaz

They are like GasX for horses. In fact some here have used human Gas-X successfully.

They relieve gas, but do not mask symptoms, so if not better in 20-30 min, you can go ahead with vet recommendations.

[Festivity]

My husband’s mare has had a few episodes of gas colic over the years. She presents similarly, not super interested in hay but otherwise bright and alert. As soon as my husband shows up she lays down at his feet and looks pathetic, but no rolling or thrashing. She can be a bit of a princess. Had the vet out the first couple of times, couldn’t find anything besides gas and possible cramps from cycling. He prescribed buscapan and within 15 minutes of the shot she was completely better and had no further problems. He likes the buscapan because it’s fast acting as a smooth muscle relaxer but it’s not a painkiller so it won’t mask things like banamine can. He left me a bottle of buscapan with instructions to use it if she looked colicky and to call him if it didn’t work. It worked every time for her. Fortunately we haven’t had an episode recently and they seem to have decreased in frequency. We never did find a definitive case. Maybe see what your vet thinks of buscapan for suspected gas colics.

[ljc]

What was the anti-gas paste?

[ljc]

Her manure is fine (I had a pony with fecal water syndrome and that was a royal pain. Cleared up when I switched him to Teff hay.)My other Welsh pony gets major diarrhea if he gets alfalfa or orchard grass. No other symptoms of any sort (apart from being a mare, which can result in occasional grouchy days.

[Pippigirl]

What is the ingredient in EquiSpaz that relieves gas within 20-30 minutes? Does the combination of digestive enzymes, vitamins and amino acids work that fast? How does it compare to Simethicone/GasX?

[Pippigirl]

What anti-gas paste did your vet prescribe? Something along the lines of “Anti Gaz Emulsion”?

The only other paste I’m familiar with is McIntosh Emergency 911 paste.

[ljc]

Do you think she would have eaten her feed with the liquid form?

[TWH_Girl]

Gas colic can displace the colon so glad to see good discussion about this. My friends teen gelding had a few bouts of this in severe heat and humidity this summer.

I like Equishure or RiteTrac from KER but my one late horse didn’t eat them. He did eat Tractguard from Fox Den Equine pretty well. Later on I switched him to Tribute Constant Comfort and that worked well and also helped his fecal water issues. It’s listed as more for ulcer type issues but it seems to help the entire digestive tract. Purina Outlast is also a good product to look into.

[TWH_Girl]

Stride has some excellent products.