Colic in minis

[mydaddysjag]

Lately on another forum Im a member of a lot of members have been having colic issues. Now, I had a (big horse) in the past who coliced once or twice every winter, no matter how we managed her. Heck, by now I should know everything about colic. What I never realized is I never researched anything about colic in minis. I know some medical procedures are different for the little guys, and want to make sure If it ever does happen, we're prepared. You know how some vets seem to think every mini is 500 lbs etc? I like to have information for my vet, since she does not treat many minis.

With impaction colics we usually treat with banamine 1cc per 100 lbs, and tube with 1 gallon of mineral oil, with warm water. Is the banamine still 1 cc per lb with aini? How much oil should they be tubed with?

How is a gas colic normally treated in a mini?

Just trying to be proactive, hoping we never need to treat colic in one of the little guys.

 

[Katiean]

IMO a mini is treated the same as a big horse for just about everything. Just use less. I have only used Banamine once (1cc per 100lbs) during a colic. It was our mare that is supposed to be due first. She coliced this last summer. I actually gave her about 1/2 of a regular bottle of mineral oil and a lot of water and gatorade. I also walked her for about 4 hours before she started to feel better. I don't know what type of colic she had. The only thing I can figure is it was the type of hay I was feeding. It didn't agree with her. Two other farms had colics on the same hay (same grower and harvest). As soon as I saw there was something not quite right I went into action. We did avoid a vet call on that one. She did colic a week after the first colic. I got rid of the hay after that. No colics since.

I do know of someone that gave too much mineral oil (a whole bottle) to a 1-2 month old foal and she pooped the runs for about a week after her colic. So she had to be treated for that too. Poor baby was real sick. She actually gave mineral oil (15-20cc's) about every 20 minutes or so and every time the foal pooped and she didn't see any oil. Oh and that foal was getting the same type of hay as I had but a better, earlier harvest.

 

[Ellen]

This time of year you do hear a lot about colics. Weather changes bring them on, not enought water intake leads to impactions, gas colic, certain types of feed and stress.

For a simple colic, we oil and walk, we also do this for gas colic. We then will administer banamine if no improvement. But always check the CRT rate first.

Colics with impactions can take days to resolve. Our vet has tought us to hang a bag of lactated ringers first. Then, we will tube with 60cc of oil and a stress pack. I give banamine and at times we have to administer rompum. After this we always treat as if they have ulcers. Blood work is generally required.

If it isn't a horse who has never done this to me before.....I call the vet. Give him the report and begin were he tells me.

The only thing that really helps this time of year IMHO is to give beat pulp, warm water, oil and minerals. And finer hay.

 

[Joanne]

The only things I can add to Ellen's excellent advice is:

With gas colics we would give Pepto Bismal instead of oil.

In our area there is more sand colic in winter when they are grazing on the ground, so psyllium given once a month is good to keep the sand moving through.

We also like warm beet mashes with oil. The horses here LOVE them.

Their gut is smaller than full size horses, so looking for finer stemmed hay is a must.