In the case that made me sadly familar with this, the horse went from normal/eating dinner to dead in under three hours and without the signs usually associated with colic such as sweating, pawing, kicking, etc.
So sorry for your experience.
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Many vets will advise banamine right off, in many cases, and see if that resolves things.
A single dose is not going to hide major pain.
Also I will not put off veterinary care for a colic.
Did you read? She called the vet and they had a plan from the start
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OP, {{hugs}}. Sorry for your loss, that’s awful.
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My vet told me once that Banamine has saved a lot of horses. Horses often die due to twisted gut. Question was did they have colic due to twisted gut or did they twist the gut from rolling due to a mild colic. By administering Banamine the horse is more comfortable and less likely to roll. If they punch through the Banamine you know you have a serious colic.
I am so sorry OP but you did everything one could do. Even if the vet had come that evening without getting the horse to a clinic there wouldn’t have been anything she could do.
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I had a 10yr old mare go fairly similarly- I had sold her to a lovely family 2 weeks prior. The kid was out at lunch, mare was fine. Came back at 3pm and she was flat out, unable to rise etc. They opted to do surgery and what had happened is a loop of intestine had slid through a small tear/hole in the mesentery and pinched off the blood supply. They did the full resection surgery but the mare did not recover well and had to be euthanized shortly after. Surgeon explained the tear may have been there from birth, or could’ve happened just with a funny movement in the field and just bad luck that the intestine happened to trap itself. It makes me wonder if that’s what happened with yours but perhaps it managed to slip back out (reducing immediate pain response) but then the compromised section was still there.
So sorry for your loss, even knowing doesn’t take it away.
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OP, so sorry for your loss.
I think you did everything right. Ignore any criticism.
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No idea about what happened, but I’m so sorry for your loss.
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I’m so sorry Stormy. That is terrible. Big hugs.
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Thank you for everyone’s kind words.
We are waiting on further biopsy results so I don’t have much of an update.
but, upon review the pathologist says the duodenum had something seriously wrong with it. She is in contact with some other pathologists to see if they can brainstorm what would cause something like this.
I’m very lucky that the barn Owner is one of the leading pathologists in the country, so if anyone can come to a conclusion it will be her and her colleagues.
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That was my thought too, or that there was a twist that relaxed after death.
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The reason I do not immediately give banamine is because I have seen things like this before… Neighbor had a horse with colic in the late afternoon, gave banamine, and the horse died sometime during the night. Didn’t have the vet up. I’m sure she thought the horse looked fine, after she administered the banamine…
Another horse I was caring for had colic. I called the owner who suggested Banamine, horse was fine for 6 hours or so, by midnight the horse was sick again. I called the owner again, they wanted me to give another dose which got the horse through to morning. Had the vet up at 8 am on a Sunday morning to tube the horse, as he was still painful.
”‹”‹Fortunately he recovered just fine. Not my horse…I would have had the vet up sooner.
From my experience, it effectively masks the pain for 6-8 hours, and if you have not treated the cause of the colic, the horse will be painful again.
It is a powerful painkiller and it can cover up the symptoms so you may not recognize if something is going seriously wrong. Sort of like taking morphine for a stomachache.
To the OP, this is not a criticism of you in any way. I just want people to be aware that by giving banamine, you risk the horse deteriorating because they can’t tell us their level of pain. This is the risk you take every time you administer the drug. Most people find that risk acceptable. In non-surgical colics, the horse usually recovers just fine with a dose of banamine and time.
But when things go badly wrong, that is when you need to know how painful your horse is. If your horse needs surgery, the sooner you recognize that it is a surgical colic, the better.
Again it isn’t a promise of survival. The horse could get severely ill without being that painful, or he could be severely painful without being at risk of death.
We weigh these risks every time we administer medications to our horses. I will hesitate before giving banamine. Do I have to give this drug? Can I just watch and wait? If i give the drug, i need to be there when that drug wears off.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹
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the fever of 102.9 alone is call for banamine… Stormy day i am so sorry for your sudden and shocking loss. i hope that if there is something that might alert for risks to the other horses it will be found. peace to all at your barn
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Well, considering this is a discussion about what killed my horse and not a discussion about how to prevent bad colic, giving suggestions about how I should or shouldn’t have done something isn’t exactly appropriate.
My horse died. Your anecdotes about colic aren’t helpful.
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Yes, biggest worry is it’s something that could be spread. So far everyone else is fine; though storm, my gelding, is absolutely devastated by her loss. He loved her very much.
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That’s really fascinating, and I’m so glad you have that level of expertise at hand - that has to give you some bit of comfort.
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And for each of those horses, there are 100s who were totally fine because of banamine.
Besides, the vet had already been called and talked to the OP 10 minutes later, so the VET knew the entire situation and the VET deemed the situation one where they could wait a bit. A 1000lb dose of banamine is not going to hid anything REALLY painful, not for long
From my experience, it effectively masks the pain for 6-8 hours, and if you have not treated the cause of the colic, the horse will be painful again.
Try not even 20 minutes when my horse had a strangulating lipoma. Like I and others said - it’s not going to cover up something really painful
It is a powerful painkiller and it can cover up the symptoms so you may not recognize if something is going seriously wrong. Sort of like taking morphine for a stomachache.
It’s hardly anything like morphine
Maybe go back and read the timeline of things, and when and why the vet was involved.
This situation does not remotely sound like a horse who would still be alive if banamine weren’t given.
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I am so sorry. Holy shit.
Big fat hugs. :no:
I have no idea. I do know that with necropsies, sometimes the intestine can flip or even look really ugly but be unrelated to COD. I lost the gelding in my signature unexpectedly and the vet came out and performed a very preliminary post mortem - his intestines had twisted, but vet did not believe that was COD because there was no evidence of strangulation. She told me sometimes, after they die, they can twist or untwist due to sudden relaxation/death.
My first thought would be bacterial colic, or botulism – but the rest of it doesn’t fit… but clostridium as a whole, tends to operate under the MO to kill its host as fast as possible.
I imagine with sepsis you’d know pretty quickly.
So awful. :no: Please let me know if you need anything. Hoping for some answers for you, and godspeed to your mare.
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Yes, you do need to give banamine if you are instructed to by your trusted veterinarian, and that is what the OP did. It is clear that you really don’t know what you are talking about.
I hope that if you own a horse that colics you will follow your veterinarian’s advice (as the OP did) not second guess the vet and wing it, based on the few colics that you’ve witnessed.
Hang in there @StormyDay . Hugs to you.
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OP, I’m so sorry for your loss. I believe you absolutely did the right thing by giving banamine per your vet’s advice.
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So very sorry OP.
I’ve not seen a single active colic that presented with a fever that I can recall - that has to be part of the mystery on what ultimately killed her?
In the end, I’d rather have a horse die peacefully with pain meds on board then endure a long, painful battle and die days later anyway. You did well OP. So sorry for your loss.
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