Second serious colic in a month, looking for advice on how to prevent!

[clbrown]

My gelding is a 10 year old big warmblood. He has no history of colic until the last month.

Last month the barn called saying he was refusing to eat breakfast and appeared to be in pain. I had the vet come to the farm, she tubed him and due to an incoming snow storm recommended that we take him to the clinic. He had an impaction in his pelvic flexure and it moved 12 hours later after several doses of oral fluids. within 3 days they had him back on normal hay feeds and he was cleared to go home. At the barn the indoor horses are out for 15 hours a day and get 2 feeds of a round bail during that time and a grain and hay feed in the evening when they come in. Over the next 2 weeks he was slowly brought back to full feeds and then brought back into work. He was working really well, drinking well and seemed to have recovered really well.

Until this past Friday when I received the same call from the barn. This time I took him straight to the clinic where he has been for the past 3 days. They were worried at first he would be a surgical candidate but as the amount of gas he was holding decreased they found he had another, much larger impaction in the same spot as last time. This time he was refluxing so they could not deliver oral fluids so he was put right onto an IV. 24-36 hours later he passed the impaction and seems to be doing well. They will be bringing him back onto feed slowly and then releasing in 3 days or so.

I am trying to decide what to do when I bring him home. He will have his teeth checked before being released however they have been done in the past year so should not be terrible. I am looking for thoughts on slow feed nets, soaked cubes, soaked grain, the best feeds (Step 6, 8 and Nutrena safe choice are easily available) and whether a probiotic could be helpful.

[joiedevie99]

Is there anything anatomically wrong at that spot? A tumor, mass, lipoma, etc.?

[clbrown]

No there isn’t, they have done ultrasounds and run full blood panels and ruled out a systemic cause. He is otherwise very healthy.

[dotneko]

I would start by changing his feed schedule. Many small meals of very wet grain - soupy. Did I read that he gets only one grain meal a day? Should be like 4.

[clbrown]

I plan to turn his grain into soup. The most that is offered at most barns is 2 grain feeds/ day. He gets a very very small amount of step 8 so his grain intake is very low as is but can be split to 2x/ day

[PrincessPonies]

You can always try adding electrolytes. My vet always says that this time of year has more colic cases that other times. The barn I use to board at added salt and warm water to everyone’s grain morning and evening all through winter and spring. I personally keep mine on salts(non-working mini) and electrolytes(riding horse) year round.

[tinah]

I would start monitoring his water intake very, very closely. I bet he’s not drinking like he should. when was the last time his teeth were looked at? Get someone to show you how to check his teeth without getting bitten.

[clbrown]

Thanks, his teeth are being checked today. They were done within the last year but it is for sure something I have considered. I am wondering if maybe he needs to be moved to a paddock alone with a tub of water instead of the big shared trough. Living with buddies makes it tough to monitor! He always drinks 1-1.5 buckets at night.

[Simkie]

Any chance he’s being bullied away from the water in turnout? If solitary turnout won’t stress him, that could certainly be useful to help keep an eye on his intake!

Is his water inside heated? How about outside?

[clbrown]

He could be, but he has been with the same gelding since he was 2 so I would be surprised. He is close to the top of the pecking order but anything is possible!!! His water inside is not heated but the barn is warm so it is not cold at ambient temperature. He would probably chew on a cord in his still so I am hesitant to go to a heated bucket. I am worried that solitary turn out would be stressful for him since he has had the same routine since he was 2.

[Simkie]

Is the water outside heated? Maybe he’s getting a little shock off of it, if so. Or did once, and now the tank is the devil. They really hold grudges with that sort of thing!

[clbrown]

They have access to 2 troughs, one is heated one is not. Both of these colics have been associated with a massive change in weather so I am thinking that has something to do with it. Also in both cases he has not been considered dehydrated when they took blood.

[pompeiii]

My gelding gets chronic impaction colics. The first one he had was major and left him with a multi-day stay at New Bolton where it was touch and go for the first 12 hours and he received fluids every couple of hours for days. This was my first colic experiences with him (I’m known him since he as 2… he was 13), but not the last.

We now follow a strict regiment of all meals are soaked and as soupy as he’ll allow. He’s a very easy keeper so he is fed alfalfa/timothy cubes and beet pulp 2x/day with his ration balancer. Sometimes he’ll eat soup, right now we’re more in a soaked stew phase. At my vet’s recommendation, he gets a double dose of electrolytes twice a day, which is crazy, but it is the ONLY way to keep him drinking. His colics are usually brought on my not drinking. Honestly? He’s not the brightest horse and he lives to eat and just forgets to drink. So, between the soaked feed and the electrolytes, he gets fluids in him and he gets thirsty and usually wonders over to the trough to drink immediately after each meal.

Thankfully, he’s not stoic and is quite dramatic so I can usually catch colics early. But, it’s such a pain. It’s been 4 years since the first initial major impaction in his colon. We’ve had to tube him (fluids mainly) and use paste electrolytes, but most of the time he’s resolved them himself. Our colic routine: we pull him from hay for a few days, throw him on grass (if possible and let him eat as much as he wants), soaked soupy beet pulp w/ electrolytes every 2 hours, then slowly add in soaked timothy alfalfa pellets and soaked cubes, and eventually soaked chopped hay. He gets so little feed that he gets that back pretty quickly as it’s hard to cut a handful in half and he’ll eat it soaked. He’s at home so I can check on him frequently as well (and get up a million times at night too–these things always happen when it’s cold, dark, or pouring).

Best of luck!

[betsyk]

Throwing a bunch of random ideas out, in case something sticks.

Some horses like yucky buckets, others like them clean. Has there been a change in barn habits this year w/r/t dumping and scrubbing buckets or tanks? temperature of the water in either location?

Is he a hay dunker? would he be, if the hay was near the water? was the hay formerly near the water, and now it’s elsewhere, so he’s not dunking any more? different type of hay this year, or different source, affecting his hay habits?

[Scribbler]

My usually very healthy mare got four colon impaction colics last winter & spring (2016/17) which seemed related to not drinking enough in cold or cool weather. She was not dehydrated but wasn’t taking in enough water to keep everything moving, and it was basically constipation.

I switched her to two soupy mashes per day, and during the cold weather last winter also gave her various buckets of warm salty molasses water or alfalfa cub tea, just to get more liquid into her. She would drink down 6 gallons of this at a time, for several days, until she got bored with one or the other recipes. She doesn’t like the flavored electrolytes.

I took away her heated water tub, which gets swampy smelling, and made sure to give her a clean tub of water every day plus gave her a second flatbacked bucket on the wall close to her hay.

I also started to worry that there was a correlation between alfalfa and her episodes, although she had been on some alfalfa for years. I thought perhaps alfalfa hay was giving her a little gas and she was thus not drinking, leading to impaction. So I took away her alfalfa hay.

We have not had any problems this year and she is drinking fine.

The colics would come on very suddenly, she would be in great distress, but was able to work through it with a dose of Banamine and a nap. We had a vet tube once, the other times resolved before the vet was called,

Anyhow I would take out everything from his diet except hay, and try to get as much water as possible into him with very soupy mashes.

[longlanefarm]

Great recommendations from everyone. I’d second increasing/forcing salt. If he won’t eat free choice loose salt, I would add it to his meal(s). My horses have free choice LOOSE salt (regular table salt really) and go through phases where they will eat a lot then not touch it for days-week. If the weather is calling for a drop or radical change I add a decent amount (approx 2 TBS?) to their meal(s). They noticeably drink more after that.

I have had the stray shock from my water heater before at my old barn and thankfully no one coliced. It’s certainly something to look into. My 3 horses + mini donk push each other around but there is always a chance for everyone to get to the water troughs at some point. I wouldn’t think it would be a bullying issue from how you describe his set up/history but who knows.

Best of luck. It sounds like you’re right on top of it!

[LovieBird]

What kind of hay do you feed?

[clbrown]

I have also purchased a probiotic to start him on. Thinking other options are a slow feed hay net in his stall over night, soaking his senior feed, soaked cubes… any thoughts on those things?

[DunByMistake]

Just curious why he is on Step 8? It’s a super high fat feed intended for weight gain so just curious why he is on a very small amount of that vs. another type of grain.

My horse was on Step 8 for quite some time and I never felt it did anything for him. I worked with a nutritionist because he was having GI problems and her evaluation of Step 8 is that it’s “total sh*t”. She suggested soaking it in water to see the sticky glue it turned into and decide if that’s what I wanted in my horse’s guts. I never did that but have heard similar sentiments from my vet.

Not saying it couldn’t be 100 other things causing colic but I’d evaluate the feeding of Step 8. Obviously you’re feeding much less than the 5lbs a day I was but if you have other options for grain, I might look into those.

[clbrown]

Do you have any recommendations for other grain? He is on Step 8 because it is high fat, low sugar and he is a hot head. He has been on the same feed for years with no problems but I am open to change and looking for suggestions!