Banamaine, colic and when to call the vet

[CindyCRNA]

My new guy colicked last night. Loose stool but no impaction per vet rectal exam. So what do you all do? Do you give paste Banamine and then see if symptoms resolve? He had passed 3 very loose stools while waiting for the vet. I’m a nurse so what do you all think of this? :

Listen for bowel sounds: hyperactive, hypoactive or normal (if normal, give Banamaine and watch)

Look at mucus membranes: normal pink or pale or purple (if normal give Banamine and watch)

Vital signs : normal or elevated (if normal give Banamine and watch)

So after giving paste Banamine, when should you see discomfort resolve?

I am not bemoaning the emergency vet bill, I am just not sure what to handle at home vs calling the vet. We had a big temperature drop yesterday which probably was the catalyst.

[tazycat]

After banamine is given orally usually 20 to 30 minutes the discomfort resolves. If by IV it usually immediate relief. I always call and at least let vet know i have a colic case,that way if horse doesn’t improve. I call back and vet is on his way out. Colic is a scary deal lost one earlier this summer to colic.

[2tempe]

Having a mare who has had two large colon displacements (surgical) and one case of anterior enteritis over a period of 3 years, I’m now a believer in call the vet and let them evaluate sooner rather than later. Our vet is solid in her belief that no banamine should be given before she is called because it can mask symptoms for too long. That said, when our barn manager suspects weather change related NQR, we will walk, hand graze and watch for passing of gas etc - usually this decision and timing is dependent on the particular horse and its history or owner hysteria - like me. Our vet is good in that she will discuss over the phone during emergency hours and tell you to report back in a period of time if things sound mild.

I know many owners who will give banamine and pend a bit; our situation at a boarding facility is a bit different, obviously.

[Jungle_Monkey]

My understanding, now this is from a long time ago thankfully, that if you give banamine they are no longer able to have surgery if required???

[Gainer]

I don’t mess around with colic. I get the vet out and let them determine the appropriate course of action. Better to nip it in the bud early than let it get too far along.

So far this has worked well for me (knocking wood furiously) and we haven’t required any trips to the emergency hospital.

[keysfins]

@Jungle Monkey

My understanding, now this is from a long time ago thankfully, that if you give banamine they are no longer able to have surgery if required???

Not the case at all.

[ndirish07]

@Jungle Monkey

My understanding, now this is from a long time ago thankfully, that if you give banamine they are no longer able to have surgery if required???

So I’m not a vet, but I’ve never heard that before. And speaking from my personal experience, my horse had banamine and (a lot of other drugs) and still had surgery.

[trubandloki]

Any sign of colic I call the vet and proceed as they instruct.

Since my vet is so far away (almost an hour) they usually have me give Banamine (orally) while they are either en-route or to see if that fixes things if we both think it is mild.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

Give banamine.
Then call vet right away and get vet out.
Colic kills and is nothing to wait and see about.
It’s a lot cheaper to pay for an emergency vet call than to pay for colic surgery.

Do not let horse roll or you’ll end up with a twisted colon and colic surgery.

[Scribbler]

Well, “colic” can be a huge range of things, some life threatening and some not so much. The problem is that the average owner doesn’t have the diagnostic skills to know what’s going on in there.

The thing to keep in mind is that Banamine is a muscle relaxant and pain control. So a horse will feel less pain within about 15 minutes of getting Banamine, but that doesn’t mean the Banamine is working to cure the colic.

Last winter my mare had four episodes of hind gut impaction, basically very bad constipation. I had the vet out to tube for one episode. The other three, I gave Banamine and let her lie down and sleep it off. The last time, she pooped right after I phoned the vet. So watch and wait has worked for us with this particular type of colic. But I wouldn’t necessarily recommend watch and wait to every owner with every colicky horse. If there was a twisted intestine for instance, things won’t resolve on their own and the intestine could get necrotic.

[Ticker]

I will give my horse a 500 lb dose of banamine and put him in the arena for monitoring. I never ever hand walk…ever. You don’t hand walk a horse that needs surgery to resolve his colic and you don’t know if he is surgical yet…so I don’t force movement…I observe movement.

I will prevent … laying down and rolling while lightly encouraging the horse to walk or stand as the horse chooses. However, depending on the horse, I will allow them to lay down if they are quiet and sitting on their sternum and not thrashing. To me, a thrashing horse is an emergency as is horse that is constantly trying to go down. A horse that may be surgical is not likely to stand still for more than a few seconds…a surgical horse may also lay down and stretch out flat while making groaning noises.
(having paid for 8 colic surgeries…you get a bit of a feeling about it)

I watch for him to make a manure and or let off gas. Improvement to me means he is willing to stand or walk quietly and is not pawing the ground as frequently or trying to go down as frequently. He should be showing ‘improvement’ in his level of comfort within 45 minutes of getting the banamine. He should look visibly more relaxed.
If he is not showing improvement, or at any time gets worse, I call the vet.

If he is sweating hard or pushing his sides against a wall, I call the vet and hook the trailer up. If at anytime he is more than ‘mildly’ uncomfortable…I call the vet.
You can never go wrong by calling the vet at the first sign of trouble.

[Laurierace]

I don’t understand why you are asking this question. Did the vet who examined the horse not give you any instructions? If not I would call them back and asked them how to proceed based upon their findings from the exam

[dotneko]

I call the vet. Usually he has me give banamine and call him. We had our first twist in 40 years of 20+ horse barn ownership. Horse was fine at 8 pm by 9pm he was throwing himself on the ground. There was nothing we could do to stop him getting down. He was not a surgical candidate and had to be put down by 10:30 pm. Drugs didn’t touch him.
The only good thing was he was seen by staff at night check and didn’t suffer all night long.

[walktrot]

Vitals (temp, pulse, respirations), then Xtra-strength Gas-X per advice of the vet, and the banamine. The BO will call the vet, but it will take some time to get there depending on how far out in the boondocks they are. We’ve had many horses resolve on their own with that combination. Vet says the Gas-X does for the horse the same as it does for humans, and it won’t hurt them even if it doesn’t help. We keep Gas-X with the first aid supplies so it is always available. One tablet per 100 lbs. Some of them will eat it out of your hand if it’s the right flavor.

[findeight]

My barns were all professionally staffed, made it a point to carefully track each horses health and their policies were the same, Give banamine AND call the vet, not instead of calling and waiting. Worst case vet bill is generated for a quick farm call, that beats the horse’s condition deteriorating while waiting around deciding what to do. And, as owner? Call the vet first, then me.

[joiedevie99]

I take vitals, start hand walking, and text the vet. Depending on what I’m seeing, she’ll either head straight out, or instruct me to give banamine, wait 30 minutes, and then give her another update.

[theresak]

Call the vet with vitals (temp, resp, HR, gut sounds) and get banamine dosing instructions. If he/she wants to wait to see how the horse does after the banamine, this call at least puts them on alert they may get a call out in a few hours for an exam/tubing.

Having had an impaction colic that went on because I dragged my feet about tubing (horse had an appetite after the banamine), I’d probably call the vet for an exam/tubing if the colic did not look to be resolving after the first dose of banamine.

No walking is needed and horse can lay down as long as they are quiet. My vet says if you are doing hour(s) of walking, it can make the horse tired and weaker and it’s more for the owner to be doing something than for the horse’s sake.

[candyappy]

Calling the vet out is all I have ever felt comfortable doing when it is colic related. Major or minor I never want to mess around and masking the symptoms with pain meds makes me extremely concerned.

[CindyCRNA]

@Laurierace

I don’t understand why you are asking this question. Did the vet who examined the horse not give you any instructions? If not I would call them back and asked them how to proceed based upon their findings from the exam

No the vet came out. We went full court press. But it turned out to be a weather change (more than likely) type colic and come to find out, he colicked twice in the spring for the same reason. Meaning a dose of Banamine to get thru the short episode and your good. Colic treatment is not without risk. Passing the tube into the stomach, IV sedation, meds are not worry free. I know others have hot house flowers that when the wind blows, horse gets a brief tummy ache. This is my first time owning a horse that watches the barometric pressure in order to cause his owner grief! lol

[EmilyM]

my only advice here is give the banamine IV if you are able to (and I assume you would be since you have nursing skills!).