colic surgery

[trackgal]

Anyone out there ever have a horse return to "good as new" after a colic surgery? we have a horse in our barn who just had surgery, 9 yrs old, and never had colicked before, he did colic again before leaving the clinic, but responded well to meds. So, what are we in for with this horse, he is just a pleasure horse with a great attitude, all opinions and advice are greatly appreciated...PS this horse came from a large boarding facility that had really crappy yellow, straw-like hay, does anyone agree the hay could have been the culprit?? Thanks!

[jumper77]

We had a hunter at an old barn that had surgery and was back practically before the hair grew back on the incision area.

I can't speculate on the hay, since some of them will colic if you look at them the wrong way, but I'm sure it's possible.

[Intrinsic Worth]

If the hay was moldy, it could very well have caused the colic. I've known quite a few horses who have had colic surgery, most had reoccuring problems afterwards.

[freshman]

Moldy hay can cause a horse to colic, but most surgical colics that are related to hay consumption are due to hay that is coarse, stemmy, and fiberous, usually poor quality. Some horses do ok with this type of hay, but in others it will cause severe imapactions that can require surgery. Usually happens to horses that are not used to this type of hay or are not drinking enough water for whatever reason. Horses that are abruptly switched to bermuda grass hay are notorious for this.

Obviously, this may or may not have anything to do with this horse's colic episode. His prognosis depends on what type of colic he had and what the surgeons had to do to correct it. Speaking very generally, horses whose surgeries do not involve resection or removal of bowel do better long term than those that do. In all, about 60-70% of horses that have colic surgery survive w/o problems in the future.

The surgery is done and paid for now, so no reason not to be optimistic. If you are considering buying this horse, then I would find out mores specifics about his condition so you can get a better idea of what to expect.

[Lei Owen]

Trackgal, we have a mare who has had impact colic twice. Both time's had to have surgery. The culprit for her impacting is Bermuda hay. We keep her on pasture and if she has hay, it's either alfalfa or Chaffhaye.
www.chaffhaye.com. (Yes, we have pasture, we're very lucky.)

After her first surgery, the vet told us to make sure she got a flake of alfalfa daily. But nearly 3 year's later, she impacted the second time. This time the surgeon told us to never feed her Bermuda. The marjority of impact colic's they saw that required surgery was due to feeding Bermuda.

Although the mare is broke to ride, we've always used her as a broodmare. After each surgery, she has come back well.

Did the vet give any instruction's for re-habbing? Any feeding, hand-walking instruction's? We kept our mare in a small trap with access to her stall. She alway's had visitor's from the pasture. LOL

[trackgal]

Thanks for the input you guy's, this guy is on 3 weeks stall rest and alittle hand grazing, and he is on a very mushy mash about every 6 hours or so.. and no hay.. all the ones I know that had a surgery had some complications afterward, glad to hear your mare did well, interesting about the bermuda hay, now, is this hay course? or is it soft and grassy? I had read somewhere that real soft fine hay is not the greatest because it can clog up a horse like hair in a drain don't know if this is true, but I am alway's trying to find the best hay I can get because I don't have access to pasture, but I do feed free choice hay all day,

Now, a few years ago I knew someone who had a colicky horse and the vet said this horse needs surgery... the owner refused and said just treat him with meds and lets see how he is in the morning, this horse was down but not thrashing around, by the next morning, this horse was looking for breakfast like the night before never happened... go figure!

[Lei Owen]

As Dr. Major explained "colic", it's a catch all phrase for "your horse has a belly ache". There are variation's. From over eating to impact. The danger is when they lay down and roll from the pain. As one vet explained it to me, a horses inside's are not packed in there nice and secure. They're kinda floppy and loose. That's how they can twist a gut rolling.

Since your fellow is on a soft diet, I suspect they had to open the gut. Both time's with our mare, they were able to massage the log jam (both time's the vet's described the blockage as the size and length of the artifical fireplace log's!) and move it without haveing to cut the gut. Both time's the vet had us feed her moisten Equine Senior and gradually add roughage, preferably in the form of grass. We also fed her every four - six hour's. They didn't want her to get too hungry.

It's not so much the texture of hay as the moisture content. Bermuda doesn't have as much moisture as alfalfa has. If you have a horse who isn't a big drinker or a glutton, straight bermuda would not be my first choice to feed. We usually try to get second cutting in hay. Sometimes the first cutting is too rich.

[yukidragon]

I had a mare that was 7 months gestation and colicked, she was 16. She had to have a section of her large intestine flipped back over. She now has a hernia of about 4 inches in length due to the growing of her belly while she was healing, but she managed to have another foal the next year and has had no problems AT ALL since. She is now 25 yo.

[Lei Owen]

Yuki, our mare was in foal when she had her first surgery. She had her surgery in December and foaled a colt in May. She never developed a hernia even though she had another colt . But if she had, that could have been fixed when she had her second surgery.

[yukidragon]

Sounds like you and your mare are lucky to have come out so well after multiple colics and surgeries! Good luck in the future!