Our 2 year old filly had colic surgery, very minor twist-uncomplicated surgery by all present.
She has been doing very well, but I have never had a surgical colic prior, 18 years in horses and this is the first (not bad eh?).
So I guess my question is this-what are some useful tips? Things to avoid? notes? I have the surgeons recommendations, but no experience with it-so I would like imput from those who would know.
Colic Surgery
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Mood Swings
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Whenever we have one recovering from colic we follow the same plan.....
We feed about half of the horses regular grain ration, and we switch them to a senior feed. These are generally very easy to digest. We do this for about the first month and then gradually reintroduce their regular feed and schedule over another 2 weeks.
They are kept in for the first month with a small amount of walking (20 minutes). We walk ours on an Equiciser but hand-walking is fine too.
The 2nd month they are walked longer and possibly turned out in a SMALL paddock.
The 3rd month they are able to be on full turn-out.
The 4th month we begin to work them again. We start by jogging them on the Equiciser but if one is not available you could jog them under saddle. Be sure to build them up gradually.
Most horses recover well. Always keep an eye on the incision site and monitor manure output. We give our horses as much hay as they will eat, not straight alfalfa though as that is too rich. Usually just a quality timothy hay. You can soak the hay although we usually don't find the need.
At the first sign of any additional colic pain we will treat with 10cc Banamine and 2cc Rompum (don't mix those up or your horse will be sleeping for a week!!!). If the Rompum wears off (about 30 minutes) and the horse is still showing signs of discomfort we get a vet out right away.....don't wait any longer than that.
Best of luck to you!
We feed about half of the horses regular grain ration, and we switch them to a senior feed. These are generally very easy to digest. We do this for about the first month and then gradually reintroduce their regular feed and schedule over another 2 weeks.
They are kept in for the first month with a small amount of walking (20 minutes). We walk ours on an Equiciser but hand-walking is fine too.
The 2nd month they are walked longer and possibly turned out in a SMALL paddock.
The 3rd month they are able to be on full turn-out.
The 4th month we begin to work them again. We start by jogging them on the Equiciser but if one is not available you could jog them under saddle. Be sure to build them up gradually.
Most horses recover well. Always keep an eye on the incision site and monitor manure output. We give our horses as much hay as they will eat, not straight alfalfa though as that is too rich. Usually just a quality timothy hay. You can soak the hay although we usually don't find the need.
At the first sign of any additional colic pain we will treat with 10cc Banamine and 2cc Rompum (don't mix those up or your horse will be sleeping for a week!!!). If the Rompum wears off (about 30 minutes) and the horse is still showing signs of discomfort we get a vet out right away.....don't wait any longer than that.
Best of luck to you!
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Vindicated
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I am worried about her life on the track-as everything I have read/heard says that (Ideally all the time) after colic surgery it is important to feed small meals-and she had some kidney issues after the surgery due to pain drugs ect...so I am concerned that while I do not like the "pre-race" bute and all that other **** it may be an even bigger detriment to her.
Ideas? thoughts?
She is recovering very well and her personality, while a bit depressed (the sign on her stall at the hospital only said "May bite" not "Body armor required") is normal-she is perky
Ideas? thoughts?
She is recovering very well and her personality, while a bit depressed (the sign on her stall at the hospital only said "May bite" not "Body armor required") is normal-she is perky
Vindicated....
My first move would be to make sure she is on some type of probiotic to aide digestion. If you want to go the expensive route Succeed is great, but when I say expensive I mean $$@*!***$$!
There are a lot of products out there but we have ALL our horses on Fast Track. It is cheap (a $17 bag will last one horse about 3 months) and it works. We seldom have any colicky horses, they hold weight well, and they look great. We start the young horses on it as soon as they turn yearling. I swear by this product.
Also, you may want to start some sort of protection from ulcers. If she had any apparent ones prior to surgery they should have found them on Ultrasound and let you know. Of course bute itself isn't exactly easy on the stomach. Again, there are some expensive routes and some cheaper ones. I would go with a cheaper one and try to head off any problems before they become problems.
On a potentially sore subject.....Furosemide (Lasix), if you choose to use it, MAY be beneficial to a horse with reduced kidney function, as it flushes drugs through the kidneys. I am not a fan of Lasix long term, but used as it was intented it can help. Perhaps check with your vet now as this will be the time the drugs are still running through her system.
We have not had any problems returning our horses to "large" rations of grain after the initial period of restriction, but we feed our horses 3 times a day instead of 2 to cut down on intake. And, of course, I am a firm believer in the good feed. We feed Vitality (by Nutrena), and sometimes Omolene. They both are good choices and are about $10 to $11 per bag, not cheap, but not stomach churning either! We also keep the best possible hay in front of our horses all the time, this seems to keep them from turning into raging starving idiots at feed time, and hay stays in the hind gut longer. If you want to keep her from wolfing feed down you can put some large (about baseball sized)rocks, or chunks of mineral block in her feed bucket....she will have to take her time eating around them.
Best of luck to you.....
My first move would be to make sure she is on some type of probiotic to aide digestion. If you want to go the expensive route Succeed is great, but when I say expensive I mean $$@*!***$$!
There are a lot of products out there but we have ALL our horses on Fast Track. It is cheap (a $17 bag will last one horse about 3 months) and it works. We seldom have any colicky horses, they hold weight well, and they look great. We start the young horses on it as soon as they turn yearling. I swear by this product.
Also, you may want to start some sort of protection from ulcers. If she had any apparent ones prior to surgery they should have found them on Ultrasound and let you know. Of course bute itself isn't exactly easy on the stomach. Again, there are some expensive routes and some cheaper ones. I would go with a cheaper one and try to head off any problems before they become problems.
On a potentially sore subject.....Furosemide (Lasix), if you choose to use it, MAY be beneficial to a horse with reduced kidney function, as it flushes drugs through the kidneys. I am not a fan of Lasix long term, but used as it was intented it can help. Perhaps check with your vet now as this will be the time the drugs are still running through her system.
We have not had any problems returning our horses to "large" rations of grain after the initial period of restriction, but we feed our horses 3 times a day instead of 2 to cut down on intake. And, of course, I am a firm believer in the good feed. We feed Vitality (by Nutrena), and sometimes Omolene. They both are good choices and are about $10 to $11 per bag, not cheap, but not stomach churning either! We also keep the best possible hay in front of our horses all the time, this seems to keep them from turning into raging starving idiots at feed time, and hay stays in the hind gut longer. If you want to keep her from wolfing feed down you can put some large (about baseball sized)rocks, or chunks of mineral block in her feed bucket....she will have to take her time eating around them.
Best of luck to you.....
I'd be optimistic about the horse's ability to return to normal work at the track envirnment.
There doesn't seem to be a real consensus on what causes a colonic torsion or displacement or evidence that it is caused by atheletic excersion or stressful management, etc. This is assuming that your horse had a large colon problem like this and did not undergo any resection, etc.
If you are going off of what someone else told you about the colic, then I'd check directly with the vet or other person involved in the case--a lot of people (trainers etc that might be interperting this thing to you, thirdhand) will chalk any surgical colic up to a generic "twist" whether this was the case or not. There are many specific conditions that are lumped under the term colic and the prognosis varies for each of these. Very generally, colic that is the result a small intestinal issue or that requires resection has a more guarded prognosis.
But even in these cases, I'd still recommend staying as optimistic as possible. After all, the surgery is done and paid for at this point. Many, many of these horses do just fine. Just follow the recommendations for rest and return to work as you would do for any sick or injured horse.
A few horses seem to be prone to large colon torsions or displacements. For these horses that colic again and must go back to surgery in the future, the colon is often pexy-ed to the body wall to prevent this from continuing to happen. More risks with this surgery and the horse is less likely to return to function.
I wouldn't hesitate to call and question the vets at length. After all, you paid them for the surgery and care. They won't have a crystal ball, but they can give you their honest professional opinions about your horse.
There doesn't seem to be a real consensus on what causes a colonic torsion or displacement or evidence that it is caused by atheletic excersion or stressful management, etc. This is assuming that your horse had a large colon problem like this and did not undergo any resection, etc.
If you are going off of what someone else told you about the colic, then I'd check directly with the vet or other person involved in the case--a lot of people (trainers etc that might be interperting this thing to you, thirdhand) will chalk any surgical colic up to a generic "twist" whether this was the case or not. There are many specific conditions that are lumped under the term colic and the prognosis varies for each of these. Very generally, colic that is the result a small intestinal issue or that requires resection has a more guarded prognosis.
But even in these cases, I'd still recommend staying as optimistic as possible. After all, the surgery is done and paid for at this point. Many, many of these horses do just fine. Just follow the recommendations for rest and return to work as you would do for any sick or injured horse.
A few horses seem to be prone to large colon torsions or displacements. For these horses that colic again and must go back to surgery in the future, the colon is often pexy-ed to the body wall to prevent this from continuing to happen. More risks with this surgery and the horse is less likely to return to function.
I wouldn't hesitate to call and question the vets at length. After all, you paid them for the surgery and care. They won't have a crystal ball, but they can give you their honest professional opinions about your horse.