Colic

[ann in tn]

I am not usually on this part of HT but do enjoy reading all the posts.

My mare was "off" last night but moving, positive gut sounds, still I was worried. This morning she was laying down, and moaned when she saw me. So up we go, walk take a break and call the vet. I have only used this clinic for my small animals since we moved here almost 3 years ago but the oncall vet was really great. Came out right away, said gas colic, good gut sounds, tubed her and gave her pain meds. We were walking for almost 3 hours after she woke from the mild sedation, then owner had to use the bathroom and get water. Then about 1/2 hour more and owner, who is more out of shap than she thought, needed gatorade. Dr Thompson said we could stop walking for breaks so I do not wear myself out as long as she was not trying to roll or looked like she was hurting.

So this is my gatorade break while I am watching her out of the window - she is in the round pen out back. Please wish me luck that she will start moving something in the next few hours otherwise it is a trip to the vet clinic this time. Dr Thompson said the gas seems to be just a short ways past her stomach and that often this is the easier colic to resolve. I certainly hope he is right.

How is that animals know when you finally have some extra $$ in the savings account and decide it must be spent on them. Oh well, she is my baby and hopefully this works.

Off to walk and walk and walk.....

[offthegrid]

Don't exhaust yourself, of course, but don't exhaust your mare either. Has she pooped since the vet was out? Did he give her banamine? Do you have any more on hand if you need it?

I'd leave her alone for a bit to get some rest (so long as she's not in distress). I'm not sure walking for hours is necessary if the vet has already been out....

Fingers crossed!

[jill.costello]

As long as you can see her, and she's not attempting to throw herself to the ground and roll, you can take good breaks. Gas colic is dangerous only because they can twist their intestines when they roll; the gas bubble inflated a portion of the gut and it loops around and twists with the rolling.

I am NOT telling you to do this, but my mom has a mare who makes a habit of gas colic; finally we just learned to give her a big shot of Banamine in the muscle and lunge her at the trot for several minutes until she farted her way happy again, lol.

I'm sure you're doing fine and the vet's tubing and medicine will help her very shortly.

[ann in tn]

Well, we are both taking a break. I needed some water or gatorade. she needed rest. She has laid down twice when I have walked away before. Both times as soon as I saw her I yelled for her to get up. The first time took a little persuading by bumping her back with my lower legs. The second time the dogs barked when I opened the door and she looked at me getting my boots on and stood up. Neither time was she trying to roll. I am hoping but not counting on her just being tired.

My husband is talking to his boss about borrowing the F350 from the company to tow our trailer and take her to the vet this afternoon. While it appears like she is passing gas, no stool has been seen and I think we should have seen something. Hopefully she will load in the trailer and decide that it is took clean and rechristen it. I have yet to hear about a horse that thinks a clean trailer is a necessity.

[wr]

I hope it resolves quickly for you.

[where I want to]

Colic- really scary. Even a trailer ride over to the vets may cause the stuck place to move on.
Good luck.
And re: money -as they say- Equus Keepus Brokus.............

[ann in tn]

The vet came last night as borrowing a truck did not pan out. We had her tubed again, her symptoms were worse. The vet left me with pain meds to give her IV and IM. I have been up every 2 hours, except once (fell asleep) medicating her. She is worse. I will be calling the vet in the morning to put her down. At least she is sedated and not hurting.

[susieM]

So sorry for ther both of you.

[Irish Pixie]

I'm sorry you and your mare had to deal with this, no health crisis is ever easy.

You did your best for her.

[lamoncha lover]

I am sorry to hear this as well. I assumed from the other posts it would be easily resolved. Never even considered it would be life threatening.
I am sorry for you..I would be devestated.

[jill.costello]

Oh, Ann, I am so sorry. Letting her go is the most loving thing a master can do for their animal; it is the most selfless and self-sacrificing thing. She will go peacfully and loved.

[Stonybrook]

Oh, that is really sad. I too thought it would resolve fairly easily from your original posts. At least you have kept relatively pain free and won't allow her to suffer unnecessarily.

[pookshollow]

I'm so sorry to hear about your mare. Colic is such an iffy thing - it can be very minor or, like your mare, life-threatening, and by the time you realize that it is, it's too late.

I went through this many, many years ago - what the vet thought was a simple impaction turned out to be a freak thing, a loop of intestine went through a hole in the pancreatic ligament. Nothing to be done, except put him down.

It's heartbreaking, I know.

[mesa123]

You're doing the right thing. Even though its hard. I'm sorry.

[SFM in KY]

So sorry to hear this. It is always so difficult and heartbreaking.

[where I want to]

I hope that things took a better turn than you were expecting.
My heart goes out to you.

[GrannyCarol]

That's a hard decision, but you know your horse and when she is ready to go. Trust yourself and don't second guess. I've been there too, having to put down our horse when she was in pain we couldn't help. I'm still sad, but it was the right thing to do. I'm glad you are able to keep her comfortable in the meantime, so sorry it's gone bad on you.

[DamnearaFarm]

I'm sorry.

[ann in tn]

Sorry I have been slow in replying and thank you for all the kind words. Soon after I posted this morning, I went out and gave her another dose of Xylazine to help keep her calm. I had been administering this every 2 hours all night as a last ditch effort by me and the vet. Vet explained that maybe keeping her sedated would give her gut time to rest and then things may start moving again. Kind of similar to what we do to people with a similar problem (bowel obstruction) - only my patients get to keep that tube in their nose hooked up to suction.

When that dose wore off, she seemed better and was perking up. She acutally walked up to the gate of the round pen and waited for me to open it to come in the check on her. Her gut sounds were still not great and she still was tight in the belly but her attitude was much better and I decided we would wait on the vet.

My husband was able to get the part for his truck, hook up the trailer and we loaded the horse. Went one mile and the truck broke down again. Poor hubby was so upset. I actually was calmer (amazing considering I spent most the night alternating between crying and drugging my horse). I said let's unload dixie and walk home and we will figure out what to do from there. Got dixie home w/o incident (small road thank goodness) and used the tractor to tow truck/trailer home. A friend called and said her daughter was on her way to the grandmothers place to pick up the truck key - a 2 hour round trip so we could use the truck. Thank you Lord for great friends.

So we loaded dixie back in friends trailer (which is not as wide as ours and dixie did not like). Drove her for about 45 minutes and checked her and hubby thought her flanks were not as firm. Called the vet and left a msg. When the call was not returned quickly I knew it would be a little bit so we took truck, trailer and dixie into town so we would be close to vet office and got something to eat. When we went back outside you could tell dixie was passing gas - oh my could you tell. There were two very small pieces of stool in the floor of the trailer as well. The vet that I was dealing with did not get my msg and had already left for the day so one of the other vets talked with me. After explaining all of this, she agreed to prescribe a bottle of benamine that I can give dixie for pain. We picked it up and have given her the first dose. I got her to walk about 15 min in the pasture, while waiting on the benamine but she was so tired from the past couple of days she just could not go long. She is back in the round pen with hay and water. I am going to check her in a little bit to make sure the benamine is working.

Maybe we have reached a turning point. I certainly hope so. Dixie is exhausted by the pain and walking and I am not far behind her.

Again, thank you so much for everything and keep us in your thoughts/prayers if you can. I am cautiously thinking we have have this licked.

[malinda]

Sending thoughts and prayers for you and your mare.

A friend of mine got a horse through a difficult colic by taking him in the trailer on the bumpiest, crooked-est road they could find to drive on. It worked for that 20-something gelding, and he made a full recovery.