Repeat Colic Episodes

[Roadmix3]

Back in June of this year, my 25 yr old gelding began having reoccurring, mild colic symptoms. Mostly when he would be eating. This would consist of him stopping mid meal, looking at sides or stretching out for a few minutes, then resume eating. It was very strange. We only let this happen a couple times before I took him to a university large animal clinic. They found out he had sand and was experiencing sand colic. They kept him a few days, treated him, and then we were sent home to be on a phyllium supplement seven days out of each month. He was doing good.

Then we moved five hours away last month. He didn’t seem “stressed” by the move, but this is a typical reaction for him as he tends to be rather stoic by nature. However not long after we moved he managed to have a decently painful colic episode. A vet was called out and we treated him using the usual. Pain meds, tube with mineral oil and water etc. Reintroduced food slowly the next day. All seemed good. In the days following he developed diarrhea. Pretty severe. Had vet out again, colitis this time. Gave meds for that, improved pretty quickly. The next week, we were exhibiting signs of mild colic again. I was done trying to figure stuff out from the farm with vets coming out, so trailered him to a equine hospital. They scoped him and found 3, grade 3 ulcers. He never looked like an ulcer horse, so this was surprising to me. We were sent home with the appropriate meds (gastroguard) and instructed to give on an empty stomach. He did beautiful for about two weeks. No signs of colic, best poops he’s had in years, eating well, bright and alert. Just doing wonderful. Now again today, he looks “dull”. Not “painful” per say, but dull. Like he doesn’t feel good. He did eat some hay this morning and afternoon, but did not finish it. Poops are back to some
Formed and some watery. It looks like another trip to the equine hospital is in his near future.

All of that to say…… has anyone experienced anything similar? Upon some research I was wondering if he has a gastric stone? Or a lipoma inside. Those would be some ideas at the top of my head. Obviously I won’t know until I take him in, but this just seems really strange. Any ideas or advice would be appreciated.

[starsandsun]

I’ve gone through a period of a colic each month (or more often) since last November through July.

It’s a long long long story, but I can tell you that the positive changes have occurred with a gastroscopy, an ultrasound to identify inflammation in colon/small intestine, and stomach fluid pH testing and lab evaluation for bacteria. Steroids reduced colon inflammation, working still on small intestine, and now on specific antibiotic for unusual bad bacteria in stomach. Let me know if you want to chat off line - way too much to report in this format.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

This reminds me of what my Bodie went through in his last 18 months, though not exactly. He was diagnosed with colitis. Repeated bouts of somewhat mild colics - a few that resolved with some banamine and hand walking, and a few others that I called the vet for. He was never impacted, and we rarely found much in his stomach when we did a gastric tube. He was simply in pain from the inflammation, which banamine helped for a while. He also rarely had diarrhea; it was loose from time to time, but not consistently.

You might look at this and see if it sounds familiar:

https://www.vetspecialists.com/vet-blog-landing/animal-health-articles/2020/04/01/colitis-in-adult-horses

[Roadmix3]

He was diagnosed with colitis earlier on. I still think we are dealing with that. And maybe something else too. Oh and add ulcers on top of all that…… I’m at a loss. Did he make it through his ordeal?

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

My vet consulted with UC Davis; they said that there was no real treatment for Bodie, given his age and severity of symptoms (he was 26). We treated the colics as they came, until he finally came to a point where he just said he was done. He stopped eating, was clearly uncomfortable, and no pain meds or steroids perked him up. That’s when we let him go.

[starsandsun]

I would consider using steroids if your vet thinks he can tolerate them to reduce inflammation from colitis, and feed the softest hay you can find or chopped forage.

You might also get some relief with sucralfate - and they make it in a suspension now so you don’t have to crush pills.

[Obsidian_Fire]

Colitis… did the vets ever mention taking him off long stem forage and giving only soft wet food? Like soaked pellets, senior, or hay cubes? Because in my knowledge that is what you’re supposed to do.

[Roadmix3]

Thank you for all the advice and info. His “dull” looking attitude yesterday turned into an “I’m painful and uncomfortable” attitude. He was standing around quietly, you could hear his gut sounds from across the stall-basically they were moving fast, and then the diarrhea started back again, after that, he laid down looking miserable. I ended up having him trailered to OSU to have them run tests and see what they come up with. I feel like I’m throwing money at a 25 year old horse and I’m not sure that’s the smartest thing to do; but I feel like before decisions could be made, I need answers. It definitely sounds like he’s dealing with what all of you suggested, colitis.

I have found a really nice, very soft hay here where we live now. He loves it. I’m hoping he can stay on hay, but if he needs a diet change I’m willing to try that as well. Honestly it would be nice to just have some answers and be able to help him if I can, he and I both can’t live like this. It’s uncomfortable for him, and nerve-racking for me wondering when he will colic next. Quite frustrating.

[cnd8]

I purchased a horse four years ago who started having weekly and bi-weekly colic episodes for the first 9 months of me owning him. He would present sick immediately after a ride, spontaneously with a stressful stimulus, mid-meal, etc. It was so strange. We tried everything. We had him scoped, assuming ulcers, and treated with GG. He didnt have active ulcers, but he did have some thickening, so we thought it was worth a try since it would be covered by his major medical insurance. Made no difference. We tried no grain. We tried psyllium. We tried various GI supps such as RelyneGI, and Assure Guard Gold. No improvement. We kept hay in front of him 24/7, netted. No change in the rate of colics. Banamine always resolved the episodes within one hour, but it was so stressful. When he wasn’t colicing, he seemed dull and not present.
Long story short, after many vet farm calls and visits, I hauled to a specialist. They did ultrasounds, another scope, a rectal exam, and ran all the bloodtests they could. Nothing was significant. They sent me home with one instruction—remove all long stemmed forage for at least 3 months. So, since I had tried everything else, I did just that. Senior feed and soaked alfalfa pellets for 3 months. HE DIDN’T HAVE ONE SINGLE COLIC EPISODE! Apparently the coastal hay he had been raised on his entire life, and that we’d been keeping in front of him, was not digesting properly and backing him up, causing gas to develop and cause him pain. I’d say about 2 weeks in to the no-hay regimen and I had a brand new horse. He was bright eyed and happy and finally relaxed.
We never were able to wean him back onto normal coastal hay. Every time we tried, he’d get sick again. So, he can only have alfalfa, perennial peanut (comparable to alfalfa and grown down here), timothy, or orchard. Any of these hays cause ZERO issues. Give him a flake of coastal and he will throw himself on the ground within hours. We did also keep him on Assure Guard Gold. Eventually, I went down one step to Assure Guard, but I’m afraid to stop that, honestly. lol

I’m not sure if any of this helps. They did hypothesize that this may have started with a round of bute therapy before I purchased him. Causing mild colitis and/or Right Dorsal Colitis. Who the heck knows. He has been colic free after the hay change for about 3 years now.

[starsandsun]

I would absolutely ask to put him on steroids - it’s the only thing that will quickly relieve inflammation and pain.

FWIW, although we did about 12 abdominal ultrasounds, more gastroscopies than that, did every blood test you could imagine, it’s incredibly difficult to end up with enteritis or colitis as a sure thing simply because so much could be going on. There are some specific blood tests that might point you in the direction of a diagnosis, but even so the treatments are not so very dissimilar I think.

I had my horse on a massive (MASSIVE) dose of steroids for a month before we could wean him off (and that took about 2 weeks). But after a week on steroids, he started to really brighten up, and while it was stressful for me there were no side effects. His manure literally changed to what it’s supposed to be - went from soft puffy balls the size of dinner rolls to tight, perfect piles.

[Roadmix3]

They have run multiple tests today at OSU. Found no residual sand in his system from his sand colic back in June. However they noticed his protein and white blood count was low. The Dr thinks he is loosing both through his GI tract. His large, and small intestines are inflamed. She said this could be a Salmonella issue, which they will be testing for, or a bad case of colitis. She mentioned steroids, but said they can cause laminitis…… great!

Did your boy do okay on the steroids? Was he able to function well without them once he was weaned off slowly?

Thanks for all the help.

[starsandsun]

So there’s a ton of research out that diminishes the previously-held association between steroids and laminitis, so consider that. There was nothing else we could do - so any risk was worth it.

If they can pull stomach fluids, it might be worthwhile. My horse has an unusual overgrowth of a bacteria that increases ammonia and causes intense pain. We’re using a particularly focused antibiotic for it (pseudemomas, and treating with enrofloxacin).

Within just a few days the steroids started to work and he got brighter. After weaning down to a 5 tabs/2x per day, which he’s been on for about 3 weeks, he looks incredible. Back to what he was like a few years ago and I’ve never NEVER sat on him when he felt the way he does now. It’s been truly an amazing switch. I had actively contemplated euthanasia in July, as I could not handle any more colics. He was in constant discomfort or pain, and I was a mess.

Now, it’s a new world.

[Roadmix3]

That’s where I’m at. Actively contemplating euthanasia. Not because it’s the “easy way out” for me, but because it’s hard to watch him not be able to go a length of time without a painful colic episode, and then not eat as a result. Not to mention it’s very stressful for me, I feel like I have to constantly be on my toes with him. No way to live.

They took biopsies in stomach and then rectal too, and are running a “diarrhea panel” on him. Both of which we won’t get back till next week, middle of the week :(. She does not want to start steroids before we get those results. I feel like we need to do something otherwise this may happen again before then.

Thanks for being encouraging. This is an incredibly hard thing to figure out and then try to manage at home. Not to mention costly too.

[starsandsun]

I wouldn’t hesitate to push harder and get her thoughts on why she doesn’t want to start treatment now. Sometimes the use of steroids gets things on a healing path which then means you can’t really explore any other clues for diagnosis, but that’s no reason for you not to get your horse relief - I have found that sometimes in vet hospitals their long-term research goals get in the way of immediate support for my horse.

Good news is that both prednisolone (if that’s the way to go) and sucralfate are not expensive, all things considered. My vet team (yes, unfortunately we have experts of all kinds involved) will not use Gastroguard as that is not useful … he does not need stomach acid lowered and long term GG use may have helped create this shitstorm.

We’ve done biopsies from everywhere we can reach and they were not conclusive. IBD, colitis, eosinophilic enteritis … all possible and often diagnosed when nothing else fits. But in my long journey here, the treatment is not much different.

In case you’re interested, the prevailing theory in my case is that disruption in the stomach micro-biome created an environment where food wasn’t properly digested; that then created inflammation in small intestine and colon, and because food wasn’t broken down as it needed to be higher up in digestive system, excess gas production in colon was the result. BTW, as ridiculous as it sounds, I do give my horse 4 extra strength GasX capsules twice a day - there is nothing in there to hurt, and I do think it has helped.

Another thing that might give some support (although not all that he needs at this time) would be a probiotic like Platinum Performance GI or Full Bucket extra strength pellets.

[Roadmix3]

Well, he’s home now. I think he just looks sick. Low energy, he is eating but not with the usual gusto. He’s lost so much weight. They still insist upon waiting for the results of the biopsies to start any kind of treatment. Which is super frustrating for me. I have been reading up on IBD/Colitis in horses and it seems like he’s at that critical stage where treatments need to begin. I feel like I may lose him in all of this.

I do think he needs to be on some kind of probiotic/prebiotic immediately. Although they did not recommend anything like that. He’s on free choice Timothy/Orchard Grass hay with just a dab of alfalfa in it. I hate to change up his food just now because he’s already having gut issues. Full Bucket products I have heard good things about, I don’t know if I can get them close by, but I’m willing to try. I feel terrible for moving him here, not that I had a choice, but it probably kickstarted the whole thing, being as it was a time of stress for him.

Honestly this forum has been more help than the several doctors I have seen thus far. Patiently waiting for the results is the worst part. Thanks for the help.

[starsandsun]

Ask your vet to agree that you can keep him on banamine and/or sucralfate until biopsies are in. It will help. I would not use GG or UG though. (Wedgewood dispenses a sucralfate suspension which is MUCH easier to deal with.)

See if you can order from Full Bucket - I got mine very quickly. Alternatively, Platinum Performance GI has similar levels of probiotics.

I’d offer him the softest hay or forage you can find. Get fluids in to him with senior grain and water.

Also wanted to ask about manure - what does it look like now?

And do not blame yourself. No one can say what causes this. My horse has had a quiet life with reasonable training exertion on my private farm for his whole life. There is no clear or obvious thing that happened that caused his gut distress.

[Haven_tJumpedInALongTime]

I had a neighbor with a horse who would intermittently colic all the years he had her. It got more and more frequent until the last episode she didn’t make it. They did an autopsy and pulled out a HUGE stone in her intestines. It had been growing and growing, causing the episodes.

[greywithchrome]

@cnd8

They sent me home with one instruction—remove all long stemmed forage for at least 3 months. So, since I had tried everything else, I did just that. Senior feed and soaked alfalfa pellets for 3 months. HE DIDN’T HAVE ONE SINGLE COLIC EPISODE!

A friend of mine has a horse that just cannot eat hay. Nothing stemmy. Even hay cubes are too stemmy. She lives on timothy/alfalfa pellets. It sucks, but this person literally did all the tests and trials known to man to try and resolve the horse’s GI issues and a “no hay” diet is the only thing that worked.

[cilla1]

OMG! But was it a stone produced by the horse or a real stone he ate?

[Haven_tJumpedInALongTime]

It was a stone produced within her, an enterolith. The largest the vet had ever seen!