What is the set up for water? Does he have 24/7 access to warmed water?
[QUOTE=Simkie;8998079]
Has he passed the mineral oil yet? I’m sorry if I missed it, but didn’t see mention on a couple read throughs.[/QUOTE]
I was never told to look for it by the vet so I never noticed it, was told to make sure he was having a normal amount of bowel movements both size and frequency. It has been five days since the fush (two of which he wasn’t given food) so I am assuming he would pass it by now? I added mineral oil to his beet pulp and switched his hay to soaked alfalfa with mineral oil.
[QUOTE=candyappy;8998081]
What is the set up for water? Does he have 24/7 access to warmed water?[/QUOTE]
His beet pulp and alphalfa cubes are soaked in warm water and he has access to two pails of room temperature water in his stall which he has been drinking along with eating the mashes. He is urinating normally.
Mineral oil manure is hard to miss–it’s obviously coated with oil and shiny. If he’s not passed it, that is really pretty concerning. Some impaction colics can be pretty insidious and the horse can pass some manure, and will eat, but can still be in pretty grave trouble. Saw one like that several years ago…cecal impaction that eventually ruptured. What you’re describing sounds very similar.
As stated, the mineral oil is easy to see in the manure.
Give him the metamucil right now.
Give him alfalfa tea right now.
You need for him to urinate as well as pass manure.
If you’re not looking for MO-coated manure, and it’s getting all mixed in with bedding, it could be missed. And unless you’re feeding a LOT of it in the food, which is not advisable, it’s not enough to notice.
If it’s been 5 days, 2 of which didn’t have food, and there is still quality and quantity manure being passed, then an impaction is very unlikely. Sand, or gas, or ulcers, are the more likely culprits.
What does your vet say at this point? S/he is the one who really needs to be involved.
Is the TPR normal?
If you haven’t seen the oil come through that’s not good. Horse could be in serious trouble like others have said.
Here is the link to the thread that Fanfayre referred to.
It is the most recent, multi-page thread on colic and post-colic care and management:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?506071-Ideas-please!-What-Else-Can-Should-I-Do
Lots of experiences and sensible ideas there.
Good qualitity hay is important, mold alone can cause colic. Is he drinking well since he moved to your place? That is important. Also, you may want to rethink sweet feed, very rich & with rich 1st cutting. Come to think about it, was the 1st cutting new vs the 2nd in field ? Introduce new hay slowly. These could be tigger points to colic…
[QUOTE=Simkie;8998344]
Mineral oil manure is hard to miss–it’s obviously coated with oil and shiny. If he’s not passed it, that is really pretty concerning. Some impaction colics can be pretty insidious and the horse can pass some manure, and will eat, but can still be in pretty grave trouble. Saw one like that several years ago…cecal impaction that eventually ruptured. What you’re describing sounds very similar.[/QUOTE]
Do you think it’s possible to have a regular amount of poop for 5 days and still have an impaction colic? My guy is a stall stirrer and I didn’t even know that you could see the mineral oil pass, so I never really looked since the vet never informed me about it.He just said to watch the vitals and poo amount and frequency. I just strip the stall so I can see how much he poops and urinates before the next time I visit. Should their vitals change during an impaction colic or is it normally sudden?
[QUOTE=HealingHeart;8998433]
Good qualitity hay is important, mold alone can cause colic. Is he drinking well since he moved to your place? That is important. Also, you may want to rethink sweet feed, very rich & with rich 1st cutting. Come to think about it, was the 1st cutting new vs the 2nd in field ? Introduce new hay slowly. These could be tigger points to colic…[/QUOTE]
Yes he has always drank most if not all water he is provided which is topped up regularly so he was never water deprived. We have been very suspicious of the mold, but not sure how long the colic should last if it was from mold consumption. I have switched to the soaked beet pulp instead of sweet feet but he was only getting a very small handful so he would eat his mineral and glucosamine (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup). The first cut is nothing overly rich more of just a filler like he had at the other farm and the stuff in the field is fairly green. Would the green second cut cause colic since he never really had it before?
[QUOTE=JB;8998353]
If you’re not looking for MO-coated manure, and it’s getting all mixed in with bedding, it could be missed. And unless you’re feeding a LOT of it in the food, which is not advisable, it’s not enough to notice.
If it’s been 5 days, 2 of which didn’t have food, and there is still quality and quantity manure being passed, then an impaction is very unlikely. Sand, or gas, or ulcers, are the more likely culprits.
What does your vet say at this point? S/he is the one who really needs to be involved.
Is the TPR normal?[/QUOTE]
Sorry, not farmiliar with what TPR means? The vet wanted me to wait until next week and see what the blood tests say. Just was interested if anyone has had a similar situation and what their outcome was. I know every colic is very different and subject to a lot of things, but I have never had to deal with it before now.
Temperature
Pulse
Respiration
[QUOTE=Where’sMyWhite;8998530]
Temperature
Pulse
Respiration[/QUOTE]
Yep all normal, as well as gums. After he lies down for awhile his respiration is a little off (sounds lightly heavy). Once he is walked around it returns to normal.
My mare has similar symptoms if I forget to order her probiotics. She is a hard keeper. I give her hay and HealthyGut probiotics and it works well.
What Simkie said but also I would treat this horse aggressively for ulcers. They can also cause pawing, looking at flanks etc., gas colic and do the same but I would definitely get Gastroguard on board this horse asap.
Can do the same. Too early and forums will not allow me to edit, getting to be frustrating trying to be coherent. Maybe I need more sleep.
On seeing the mineral oil - I am willing to say that it is miss-able, even when you are looking for it.
I had a very scary almost week long colic issue with my gelding last winter. We were watching for the mineral oil, actually picking up and looking at the manure (to check the texture and look for the oil) it just never seemed to be obvious.
I do not find it that strange that the OP did not notice the mineral oil if her horse churns his stall and she was not looking for it.
(He would pass some manure (but it was small and hard) but was still not comfortable unless on banamine, ultrasound showed good movement. IV fluids fixed things in the end, or maybe it was just him feeling better, who knows.)
On the sand, he could have picked up the sand at a previous location. Even 4 months in to a new place (happened to us.) At this point I’d be checking out either ulcers or sand. My suspicion is the latter.
Whiskey, has the vet been back out to examine the horse? Have you been in communication with him about the continued colic symptoms? Is he concerned?
If the vet hasn’t been back out, get him back out. If the vet isn’t concerned, find a new vet.
The cecal impaction horses I’ve seen aren’t mine, so I’m not intimately familiar with the details of their progression. But of the two I’ve known, I do know that they were both NQR with colicy symptoms for several days, but eating and passing manure, with fairly normal TPR, until they were very, very critical and then dead.
We can offer ideas and suggestions, but what you really need here is a vet to come out and examine the horse again. This could easily be anything from sand to ulcers to something very grave.
