Suggestions for laxatives for impaction colic first aid?

[JB]

@StormyDay

For prevention only I feed mineral oil in bran mash. I really wet the bran down and use molassess and apple juice to make sure he slurps up the soup. He always does. I also add a lot of mineral oil, I aim for 1/4 of a gallon.
I had to do this when my horse had mild sand colic for about a week. It gave him to runs.

That sounds more like intervention than prevention?

I’m hoping you aren’t really feeding 1/4 gallon MO on a regular basis. Doing so will negatively impact nutrient absorption.

@atr

I think the problem with trying to get laxatives orally into the horse is that the blockage is usually quite a long way from the mouth, and with who knows what in between, so the chances of it working are pretty slim.

the blockage is usually a long way from the stomach too You can induce a laxative effect by feeding enough Epsom Salts over a period of time, but it’s not going to be laxactive in a single dose, unless it’s a HUGE amount, and you don’t want to do that. There are various magnesium sources that are more likely to cause diarrhea than others, when fed in larger amounts, but not in single or even a couple of doses, unless it’s a huge amount, and that’s not safe

[Ghazzu]

@Scribbler

Yes, great suggestions here on keeping her hydrated, some of which I already do. She gets a big wet mash daily,(beet pulp, flax seeds) and alfalfa tea if she will bother with it. Yesterday I started her on molasses water.

I totally agree that prevention is the best step.

I am however wondering what suggestions people have for when prevention doesn’t work, and there is a clear problem. I am thinking a mash with a cup of mineral oil in it.

The whole tubing and tranq thing cannot be good for the horse’s overall recovery, since the meds depress body functions overall. There has to be a less dramatic way to get emergency laxatives into a horse.

A cup of mineral oil isn’t really much more effective than peeing in the ocean. Mineral oil isn’t really a very good laxative in the horse. It is more useful just as a marker things are moving, but it can move around an impaction. It doesn’t break up overly dry fecal matter well.
If you want a demo, put a couple balls of manure in a cup of oil and watch.
Do the same thing with water.

Hydrating them before, during, and after is a better approach.

And you can get a n/g tube into most horses without undue residual effect.

[lilitiger2]

colics are scary! Hope you and your mare never see another one but there is such awesome advice here!
Unfortunately with my old guy, we saw many and the routine was always the same.
Pull food. Take temp/heart rate. Call vet. Banamine. Wait (sometimes walk) Then when vet came (didn’t always if it resolved but did a lot–I would not have spared anything for this horse) buscapan/rectal/maybe tubing. Then (depending) fasting until he passed something(s)

yes to MO negatively impacting nutrient absorption! I will say tho, that for many months (and this is for an old guy) we gave a mix of MO/DSS/electrolytes/water to keep things moving and it worked. Until it didn’t and we were done. He did get benefibre (he wouldn’t eat Metamucil) but ultimately we switched to his “medicine”

For me, I always felt better calling the vet and running symptoms. He did get anaplasmosis once so I was very glad they came out and pulled blood.

[StormyDay]

@JB

That sounds more like intervention than prevention?

I’m hoping you aren’t really feeding 1/4 gallon MO on a regular basis. Doing so will negatively impact nutrient absorption.

the blockage is usually a long way from the stomach too You can induce a laxative effect by feeding enough Epsom Salts over a period of time, but it’s not going to be laxactive in a single dose, unless it’s a HUGE amount, and you don’t want to do that. There are various magnesium sources that are more likely to cause diarrhea than others, when fed in larger amounts, but not in single or even a couple of doses, unless it’s a huge amount, and that’s not safe

It was treatment for sand colic, along with psyllium for a week. I would never feed mineral oil long term. However if OP knows there will be a significant weather change and the vet says it’s ok, this may prevent the colic from happening. I know a person who deals with a problem horse who colics every time the temperature changes significantly, and she feeds mineral oil too to prevent that also, but I don’t know how much she feeds. She does mineral oil instead of magnesium for several health related reasons. Never feed after the colic starts unless your vet directs you to do so.

[StormyDay]

Also, I may be wrong here, but I believe that mineral oil is only slightly hyperosmotic, so it is only a lubricant unless used in large quantities. Someone with more biology training may correct me though. It works well in colic cases because it doesn’t dehydrate the horse. I believe this is why my friends vet and mine suggested it’s use instead of other hyperosmotic laxative products. I could be wrong here though, I know chemistry more than biology

[Scribbler]

Thank you for all the responses! This is giving me lots to think about, and to discuss with my primary vet.

[ryansgirl]

@JB

With any suspected colic, you really should not be adding any more food. Not hay, not grass, not anything. You just can’t know if there’s an impaction already there (or if it’s gas, or a twist, or strangulation or whatever), and you can’t know how bad things are. Adding food could potentially make a salvageable situation, not.

In the original situation, I would have used banamine much earlier, and had the vet out much earlier.

So no, I wouldn’t feed anything. When mineral oil is tubed to help an impaction, it’s quite a lot of oil, and you’d have to feed a good bit of food to get that much oil in. I wouldn’t do it. And you shouldn’t syringe MO into them, as it elicits no swallow reflex, and they could easily aspirate it.

IMHO the first step is banamine much earlier in the process - no later than 30 minutes in, as you are on the phone with the vet. That’s the “home remedy” IMHO.

I really don’t think there’s any good home remedy for anything like this where you just don’t know whether it’s a barometer-caused gas colic, or an impaction from not drinking enough.

This. Exactly. Do NOT feed a potential colicky horse. I spent five years at an emergency equine hospital. About 60% of our cases were colic related. ALL food was held and most were hooked up to IV fluids. Any meds were given as needed. When things were in the clear they would only get a handful of hay and a small, soupy mash of senior feed. Obviously every case was different but this was basic protocol.

[JB]

I would say that any “food” could be in the form of a handful of alfalfa pellets soaked in a couple gallons of water to encourage drinking.

[Mango20]

I had an old pony who would get impaction colic several times each winter despite having soaked feed and warm water. When he would colic, the best laxative/cure I had was a short ride in the horse trailer. I’d put him in, and drive 10 minutes to a shopping center, where I’d get out and check on him. More often than not, he had passed some manure and was feeling much better already. He would colic 3-5 times per winter his last few years, and I would usually only have to have the vet out to treat one of them.

[Sparrowette]

@JB

With any suspected colic, you really should not be adding any more food. Not hay, not grass, not anything. You just can’t know if there’s an impaction already there (or if it’s gas, or a twist, or strangulation or whatever), and you can’t know how bad things are. Adding food could potentially make a salvageable situation, not.

In the original situation, I would have used banamine much earlier, and had the vet out much earlier.

So no, I wouldn’t feed anything. When mineral oil is tubed to help an impaction, it’s quite a lot of oil, and you’d have to feed a good bit of food to get that much oil in. I wouldn’t do it. And you shouldn’t syringe MO into them, as it elicits no swallow reflex, and they could easily aspirate it.

IMHO the first step is banamine much earlier in the process - no later than 30 minutes in, as you are on the phone with the vet. That’s the “home remedy” IMHO.

I really don’t think there’s any good home remedy for anything like this where you just don’t know whether it’s a barometer-caused gas colic, or an impaction from not drinking enough.

Thank you, JB. These sorts of “What-home-remedy-would-you-try?” threads always bother me. I know some home remedies work well for other things, but Colic is a life-threatening situation, and I just can’t see playing games with it.

[Montanas_Girl]

As usual, I agree with JB.

[Scribbler]

Well, I’ve been experimenting with recipes for maresy. Today she got almost 5 gallons of alfalfa soup, 6 gallons of lukewarm molasses water, and two runny beet pulp mashes, for about 13 gallons of liquid total if she finishes it all up tonight.

But she hasn’t been drinking very much plain water.

The secret ingredient for her to suck all this back turns out to be salt. She drank two gallons of molasses salt water in one long slurp, and then went to her salt block. Molasses salt water tastes disgusting, IMO, a bit like blood.

So I think I’ve got some prevention strategies figured out, but now starting to wonder how I transition her back to plain water…

[trubandloki]

@Scribbler

I am however wondering what suggestions people have for when prevention doesn’t work, and there is a clear problem.

The only answer to this question is - call your vet. Talk with your vet about what is happening with your horse right now, what is happening this time, and move forward with what the vet suggests.
Colic is not a ‘what home remedy will I try today’ thing.

@JB

It’s not always a bad thing to sedate a horse, as tension and anxiety can be a cause of or contribute to, a colic case.

Yes!
What we thought was gas colic but was not resolving and the vet and I were having the discussion on my old guy being a surgical candidate or not (thinking it might be something else) when our last effort to resolve his discomfort that was making him throw himself on the ground even with banamine on board was to give him a bit of sedation. Shortly after the sedation he let out a huge amount of gas and then some manure. Sedation was the trick that time.

[keysfins]

@Scribbler

Well, I’ve been experimenting with recipes for maresy. Today she got almost 5 gallons of alfalfa soup, 6 gallons of lukewarm molasses water, and two runny beet pulp mashes, for about 13 gallons of liquid total if she finishes it all up tonight.

But she hasn’t been drinking very much plain water.

The secret ingredient for her to suck all this back turns out to be salt. She drank two gallons of molasses salt water in one long slurp, and then went to her salt block. Molasses salt water tastes disgusting, IMO, a bit like blood.

So I think I’ve got some prevention strategies figured out, but now starting to wonder how I transition her back to plain water…

Add electrolytes year round, or table salt, to her food. Or hang a bucket so she has the option of drinking water with some salt/flavoring in it?

[Scribbler]

She gets salt in her mash year round (two ounces a day). She does not like electrolytes with the apple flavor. She loves molasses water with salt at the moment, she will suck back a two gallon bucket at once. I’m OK with giving her various teas and flavored waters, but over 24 hours Tues/Wed she consumed 13 gallons of water via tea & flavoring & beet pulp mash, and a total of six ounces of salt in all this, which is great, but totally ignored her “real” water. Maybe this is what it will take, at least until it gets warmer.

[keysfins]

The senior horse I mentioned previously does not really care for plain water, or even flavored “tea” water (handful of grain, or some Horse Quencher). He did go for the Horse Quencher after one of his medical colics. Then he just waited for the grain/goodies to sink to the bottom of the bucket, and went diving for them.

What does work is the muck bucket in his stall that his hay is soaked in. He will drink that pre-flavored water, and that allows us to monitor his daily intake. He ignores the automatic waterer, and usually is not interested in his hanging bucket. But he loves the soaking bucket water. He also loves his Himalayan salt, and I make sure he always has that available.

YMMV.