"Elective" Exploratory Colic Surgery - Trying to Diagnose Recurrent Colic - Massive Doubt and Guilt

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

OP
Just wanted to say sorry for what you and your mare are going through .

I think exploratory surgery might be the way to go, but it is a decision only you can make.

Just a suggestion, but you may want to consider getting a consultation with the local county extension office.

Your mare may be eating a seasonal grass , plant or weed that she is highly allergic to.
This plant dies off or mostly dies off during the cold months which could explain why her symptoms improve at that time .

It is an onerous task to try and pin point just what plant it might be. But it may be worth it to try.

Hay could also be a problem. And a lot harder to trace, as hay can come from so many regions.

Good luck. I hope you can finally get an answer.

[2DogsFarm]

I’ve used Care Credit for cats a few times over a period of years.
They give you 6mos interest-free.
Then the usurious (26%?) rate kicks in until balance is paid.
IIRC, that deal is only for the first time used.

[NaturallyHappy]

Holy cow!!! I paid mine off quickly (before 6 months) when I used it. I knew I would, and I don’t remember the 26% interest rate. Yikes!

[Jealoushe]

How awful you are dealing with this OP.

Apologies if you posted it but I didn’t see the horsekeeping details anywhere other than out 24/7 sometimes with hay.

One of the issues with a horse living out 24/7 unless they are alone is you can’t really assess how much hay or water they are getting.

Does the horse have access to hay 24/7? A horse who experiences gas colic should never be left without hay or equivalent forage.
Is the horse drinking the normal amount daily?
Do you add salt to the diet?

I’m sure all the basics are covered and I see there has been extensive vet work, but sometimes going back to the very start can show where the issues might start.

[RaconteurRaven]

Unfortunately they did not have her long, and her pregnancy/delivery, I think, masked some things.

[RaconteurRaven]

Hmmm…in the summer, no, we start easing off putting hay out as the grass comes up. Everything is tapered, though, and they’re at no want for grass, ever. Matter of fact, we sometimes have to change paddocks to keep them off of the sugary new stuff and ease them slowly onto it.

She’s had bouts in the spring and fall where she suddenly becomes very…ritualistic with her water. I’ll bring her in from a walk and she’ll PULL me to the nearest water bucket, take a short drink, then mosey off to graze or, ya know…let me take the halter off.

I bought a salt holding tray and a 50lb block of salt. They’ve had a supply since spring. They have done a number on the 50lb block.

I’ve heard that the hay could be causing the issue and heard that a lack of hay could be causing the issue…back when she had ulcers, we were thinking HAY, ALL OF THE HAY, ALL OF THE TIME. When she was getting gassy, we were trying to ease off the hay… It’s a mess.

[RaconteurRaven]

Unfortunately we ran an allergy panel and she is theoretically “allergic” to absolutely everything. Notably curly dock weed and ragweed. But she’s also allergic to all types of grass and several trees that she’s never been exposed to before, so the local vet put her on therapy shots and the NBC vets basically don’t think the panel is relevant beyond the indication that something is causing her immune system to go bananas. She’s also had this happen while living in two different fields–IF it’s a singular plant, I’d put it to ragweed given that curly dock was also in the one field she did not colic in, but ragweed had not come up much right before her March colic. I’ll look into the local county office, though, as I might as well. Thanks for the tip.

[RaconteurRaven]

Oh hi, sorry, I saw this after I gave you a ring–still learning the site’s layout. I believe we tested her pH levels and found nothing untoward. I will have to re-check that. Would still like to know your experience in terms of hospital care.

[RaconteurRaven]

She’s fasted something like eight times now and I’ve never had the vets report that anything was in her stomach. Nice clean images of her stomach each time (apart from the horrific details of ulcers, obviously).

[RaconteurRaven]

That’s essentially what her hospital vets told me could be happening too. To me this is a likely but unfortunate conclusion that would result in me telling them to take the colon out.

[RaconteurRaven]

Vets flat out said that the “tacking” procedure was a terrible idea. Way too easy for her to rip it loose again “doing something silly in the field” and the result would be fatal. For NBC, at least, they apparently do not recommend that particular route for too many.

[joiedevie99]

This! I’d definitely tack the colon down once the horse had displaced more than once. I believe there is a surgeon doing that laparoscopically - so you wouldn’t even have to commit to the full exploratory surgery for that.

[SimpleSimon]

In layman’s terms, a portion of his intestine never developed properly and that section was much reduced in diameter to the portions preceding it. It would block up, he’d spasm and colic and eventually the flow would restore to normal - until the next blockage.

[4horses]

I would probably do the exploratory. If they don’t find anything, then I would assume it’s GI dysmotility.

I wish you the very best of luck. Most people would not have gone as far as you have with diagnostics. You’ve done everything possibly to medically manage her colics, but the fact that she is not responding, suggests that something more is going on.

[IPEsq]

@joiedevie99

This! I’d definitely tack the colon down once the horse had displaced more than once. I believe there is a surgeon doing that laparoscopically - so you wouldn’t even have to commit to the full exploratory surgery for that.

I believe this is done for the spleen area for displacements of that type. Not the tacking down the colon part. The surgeon at CSU I think said the preference is to do a resection on the colon (but not the whole thing!) to create better tension versus trying to tighten up the lax ligaments with sutures.

[Critter]

Sorry you’ve had to go through this. I would be the type to do the exploratory surgery, especially with a horse I really felt was worth trying everything for. Did something similar when I had to make a decision about doing a myelogram for my gelding with EDM. I had to make sure we ruled out compression before making the decision to euthanize, since we ran out of all options. He went through the myelogram and it was clear, so it helped make that final decision more conclusive (though certainly not any easier).

I also had one mare with recurring colic. She even coliced badly while at NBC for a totally different work up. They were pretty sure she was going to have to go to surgery that night…though she pulled through. A few more minor colics at home…then a very severe colic where we couldn’t give her enough meds to even get on a trailer. Looked like a small intestine twist with how she presented. We did a necropsy as required by insurance. No issues in her intestines…they were shocked and dug around a bit more. Found she had acute on chronic pancreatitis. So all the colic episodes were actually not colic…they were bouts of pancreatitis. It was best we ended up euthanizing, as there would have been no way to manage it and it would have just continued to happen off and on. Glad we hadn’t sent for for colic surgery as they would have not found any answers at that time. Blood work was fine too. You never know…so you have to make those decisions based on each horse. That mare tried to kill people on a daily basis, so there was no way I was going to have her go to surgery and have to manage her after!! But, we now realize she probably was always in a bit of pain, so likely that’s why she was such a demon. Best of luck with the decision.

[vxf111]

Neither exactly matches this scenario but two zebra diagnoses I’ve seen to consider in cases of horses who coliced repeatedly without obvious explanation.

One had advanced liver disease, likely acquired at the track. Seemed ok for almost a year then had a bunch of colics that got worse and worse followed by some other mystery symptoms. Bloodwork ultimately diagnosed the problem.

Another had somehow eaten a whole lead rope (likely at the track). The lead rope didn’t pass and blocked off enough space to caused bizarre intermittent colics. The final colic was so bad the decision was made to euthanize and the lead rope was found on necropsy.

[Renn_aissance]

OP, I have no particular experience to share. But what strikes me is that one of the reasons you’re hesitating about the surgery is her welfare during rehab. Your mare is 6. It sounds like the surgery is being recommended because it may improve her chances at a long and happy life whereas doing nothing leaves you with either a continuation of her current circumstances or the potential of not knowing there’s something lurking in her gut. If the surgery gives you practical steps to take to improve her quality and duration of life, then 3 months of rehab acting like a dragon is a blip in her lifetime.

I have some speculations that are probably unhelpful. Your mention of her unusual drinking habits got me thinking about an inguinal hernia. I have no experience with this in horses. My husband has a hernia that presents in recurrent minor colic and can minimize severity of symptoms by drinking more water than usual when he feels them coming on. I have absolutely no idea if this is relevant to a horse or not. It does seem logical that if she has an issue with gut motility, whether that is because of the way her body is or because she has a partial blockage that impacts movement through the gut, drinking water might bring some relief from that.

[Jealoushe]

So a salt block is actually designed for cattle and livestock and not horses. Their tongues can’t get enough salt from that. I would suggest adding loose salt to the diet to ensure enough drink.

Grass or hay should be sufficient as long as its high quality and available 24/7. Some horses do have issues digesting grass though and if there are allergies that might be something to try, an all hay diet instead.

I would also suggest something that might not be considered and that is to use the Mastersons Method on this horse. I personally have found this method to be beneficial in many ways but one thing it does is get the moving and making great gut sounds. It’s easy to learn and you can do it yourself you just have to be observant and patient. It likely won’t cure the horse but it will help keep the gut moving along nicely. When I do my horses they all have a great big drink during the session which also helps.

[starsandsun]

Forgot to mention … my guy’s allergies also got WAY worse when he started going downhill. Testing done at 2 months of recurrent ulcers and 8 months showed very, very different results. Also ulcers were recurrent for years and could not get a handle on them.

Also this seemed to have been triggered by vaccines. I can match on a calendar his colics and they do align with vaccinations for pretty much everything, but PHF was the worst colic. Also, curiously, when we did antibody testing a month after the PHF vaccine, he had a reading of zero - it had burned out of his system.