Is it normal to hear but sounds in your horse when grooming etc? I’ve heard them in my guy almost daily while grooming the last few weeks but I don’t recall ever hearing them before? Should I be concerned? He shows no other signs of illness.
Oh yes you want to hear gut sounds! It’s when there are no gut sounds that you start to worry about colic. Enjoy the growling of your horse’s intestines. Sometimes the sounds are loud and sometimes you have to put your ear to the horse to hear them. Depends on when horse last ate, rate of digestion, etc., what the horse ate, etc.
When vets come out on colic calls, they always listen to try to hear gut sounds.
^ Everything she said.
It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to make yourself familiar with your horse’s ordinary, baseline gut sounds, temperature, pulse and respiration rates when he’s in good health.
Should there ever be an emergency, the vet will often ask for these things when you call it in. Should you ever find your horse just a bit “off”, knowing what to check will help you determine the seriousness if the problem.
Basically, just good things to know.
Is your spring grass coming in? He may be a bit extra gassy, usually not a problem.
The rule of thumb I was taught is that you should hear at least one gut sound per minute if you have your ear up to the horse (louder is OK and more are OK, although continuous gut sound means diarrhea). If you don’t hear that, call the vet now. (Even if you hear gut sounds, your horse may have an impaction in another region of the gut, but no gut sounds is a clear emergency.)
Thank you. The only reason I’m concerned is because I had a horse with chronic colic for unknown reasons and it was characterized by overactive bowl sounds. Now I’m never sure if the sounds I’m hearing are normal or to loud/frequent.
[QUOTE=Equestrian_;8542890]
Thank you. The only reason I’m concerned is because I had a horse with chronic colic for unknown reasons and it was characterized by overactive bowl sounds. Now I’m never sure if the sounds I’m hearing are normal or to loud/frequent.[/QUOTE]
Rule of thumb for “normal” is 3 or less borborygmi (rumbles) in 60 seconds. Loudness can be affected by a number of things. While it is good to note, especially if there is a big change from what’s normal for the horse, it is not necessarily indicative of a problem.
Hypermotility, or an overactive gut, is classified as more than 3 borborygmi a minute. Hypermotility often sounds like a near continuous rumble, or even like fluid is rushing through the gut.
Hypomotility, or not enough activity, is less than 1 borborygmus a minute. Often in those cases, hypomotility is accompanied by the “ping” noise produced from gas in the gut.
You generally want to listen to all four quadrants on both sides of the horse and assess each independently. The upper quadrants are the area at the top of the flank, just in front of the point of the hip. The lower quadrants are at the bottom of the flank, just in front of the stifle. The right side often sounds a bit different than the left side, as you’re listening to the cecum and tend to hear more activity with all the contents swishing and mixing around.
A stethoscope is helpful, but an ear pressed to the flank works, too.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8543231]
Rule of thumb for “normal” is 3 or less borborygmi (rumbles) in 60 seconds. Loudness can be affected by a number of things. While it is good to note, especially if there is a big change from what’s normal for the horse, it is not necessarily indicative of a problem.
Hypermotility, or an overactive gut, is classified as more than 3 borborygmi a minute. Hypermotility often sounds like a near continuous rumble, or even like fluid is rushing through the gut.
Hypomotility, or not enough activity, is less than 1 borborygmus a minute. Often in those cases, hypomotility is accompanied by the “ping” noise produced from gas in the gut.
You generally want to listen to all four quadrants on both sides of the horse and assess each independently. The upper quadrants are the area at the top of the flank, just in front of the point of the hip. The lower quadrants are at the bottom of the flank, just in front of the stifle. The right side often sounds a bit different than the left side, as you’re listening to the cecum and tend to hear more activity with all the contents swishing and mixing around.
A stethoscope is helpful, but an ear pressed to the flank works, too.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. I took my stethoscope out tonight and listened in all 4 quadrants. Do you mean 3 rumbles as I should only hear noise 3 times in 60 seconds or 3 of the noises that sound similar to thunder storms. If that makes sense.
If you think of a thunderstorm, one borborygmus=one rumble of thunder that may last several seconds. Rumble for a few seconds, pause for a few seconds, rumble again.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8544105]
If you think of a thunderstorm, one borborygmus=one rumble of thunder that may last several seconds. Rumble for a few seconds, pause for a few seconds, rumble again.[/QUOTE]
That’s what I’m hearing I’m also hearing other sounds inbetween the borborygmus. I assume this is normal too? It’s not loud like the rumbles but more like background noise.
Yes, completely normal.
The rumbling is caused by the contractions that move food through the intestines. There are many, many feet of intestines. When you’re listening to a quadrant, you’re focusing on one area of the digestive tract, but you can often still get background noise from other areas. Also, there are other noises from movement of digesta, especially on the right side. When listening to the upper right side and the cecum, you will frequently hear swishing and toilet flush-like noises as things enter and exit the cecum.
As Red Barn said, it’s good just to know what’s normal for your horse, too.
