colic - need any help you can give me

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Winchester Farms

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ok this will be long but im writing this out of desparation. my 16 year old mare started colicing about 3 weeks ago. the vet came out twice, tubed her with epsome salts, water, and gave her banamine and electrolytes. no poop no gut sounds.

-we brought her up to their clinic where they had her for a week. they did an ultrasound and a belly tap, tons of bloodwork, all came out perfect. they had her on grass ( i have a dry lot) through out that week the vet said he kept having mini colics but was getting better. the vet was afraid she might be getting gastric ulcers becasue she was refusing to eat anything. at the end of the week, she was pooping a tiny bit, about once or twice a day that was runny like cow poop, and was eatting grass very well. she had gut sounds and seemed much better. vet sent me home with gastro meds to continue her guts moving, and electroltyes

-she started out ok. would eat grass, had small cow patties once or twice a day. vet said that was ok, because it was the mineral oil finally moving through her system the had given her while she was up there. well day after day she eventually has stopped eatting. she will eat a bit of grass (not like before where she ate any piece in sight) and will gobble up carrots and apples, but refuses to eat any type of hay or her grain. she has lot a lot of weight.

-called the vet back, she said there is nothing more she can do and i should drive her up to new bolton. i just can not afford that after paying for the all of the above and two emergecy visits with my cat, who i had to eventally put down, i have no more money. i mentioned maybe she has gastric ulcers but the vet didnt say anything about it. i started giving her tums twice a day after reading about it online but that didnt seem to help.

-the only other vet in the area stopped seeing horses and only does cows. isnt that nice?

-im lost as what to do, will gobble up apples and carrots still, but refuses to eat anything else. no poop for a week, does not seem to be in any pain, with good gut sounds. any ideas?
 
So sorry this is happening to you.

There is something that happens to the liver when a miniature horse loses weight too quickly. It is lipo-something--cannot think of the whole word. Maybe that is something your vet can check. It does not happen often to big horses, so maybe she did not think of it. It could a complication of losing so much weight so quickly.

Also could be something organically wrong. My friend lost her horse recently. They thought he was having a simple colic, but he died. The vet was mystified and, on his own, did a necropsy and found an aneurysm in the intestine. Sometimes things just happen. Do not beat yourself up because you cannot afford heroic vet care.
 
I had a colt have a mild colic for a few days, never really fully went off feed, always stayed hydrated, but was super off - then suddenly out of nowhere had insane neurological symptoms - whole hind end paralysis beginning, walking drunk, couldn't feel his legs, would look at one specific spot on his belly. You could cross his hind legs and he would just leave them there. Turns out he coliced because he didn't eat or drink because he didn't feel good because his whole abdominal cavity and spine was full of cancer. His liver and kidneys were shutting down. Euthanasia via euthasall was not fun nor easy. He was just 3 years old - and a dapple grey.

Now, I have decided as soon as anything 'weird' happens I will be found generic blood work on all my critters. We would have seen on day 1 his blood was wayyyyy out of whack - and saved him a bit if suffering.

Do not feel bad you cannot afford heroic vet care - I couldn't for this colt. My vet tried guilting me about it (I should add now former vet) until she went to put him down - took an entire bottle for a 11hh pony he was that 'shut down' in his liver and kidneys that he even had issues processing the euthasall.
 
If it is ulcers it will take a bit for the meds to work. The one biggie mom had was off for weeks until they 'kicked in.' He was scoped and confirmed it was just ulcers though.

Talk to your vet about cimetidine or ranitidine. I remember for the biggie we got the cimetidine at the walmart pharmacy in bulk and it was shockingly cheap. Won't hurt her if she doesn't have ulcers, and may 'soothe' the tummy. I would stop the tums until your vet approves as you don't want to 'bind her up' which can happen if too much is given.
 
thank you both for your replies. it makes me think that something else probably is going on. i dont think she would have made it this long if it was colic, with no signs of pain, do you?
 
If it is ulcers it will take a bit for the meds to work. The one biggie mom had was off for weeks until they 'kicked in.' He was scoped and confirmed it was just ulcers though.

Talk to your vet about cimetidine or ranitidine. I remember for the biggie we got the cimetidine at the walmart pharmacy in bulk and it was shockingly cheap. Won't hurt her if she doesn't have ulcers, and may 'soothe' the tummy. I would stop the tums until your vet approves as you don't want to 'bind her up' which can happen if too much is given.
was your mare still pooping before it was confirmed? would she still eat hay? the vet doesnt seem to think its ulcers. ill call again and see what she says, is there anything i can give her in the meantime over the counter?
 
ok i just texted the vet about the ulcers and she is insisting i take her to New Bolton after i have repeatly told her i cant afford it. so zero help there. im so stressed out and lost. its not like i havent done anyhting to try to help her, so the fact the vet is acting like im choosing to do nothing is extremely frusterating and upsetting.
 
I'm so sorry you are going through this. I've been there and it's a horrible feeling to not be able to afford to just load up and go for help, most of us can't so please don't beat yourself up over that part. When she came home from the Vets was she ever pooping normal? Is she exhibiting any sign of colic or just not eating? Can the Vet do NEW blood work? What kind of "Gasto meds" did she send you home with?

What Marsha mentioned, Hyperlipidemia, is when the liver becomes so overwhelmed with the metabolized fat that it cannot function properly. For treatment Insulin and glucose are used to keep the body from releasing more fat into the blood stream. An anti-coagulant like Heparin is used to break down the fat that is already in the bloodstream. Hyperlipemia is a life threatening condition that comes on quickly and needs immediate care from a Vet.

Your Vet should be able to at least do new blood work and give your mare fluids but if it's outside her scope of care and she has referred you to a different facility that puts you in a bad position.

For ulcers Carafate helps or you can buy Omeprazole at any drug store or Wal Mart etc. You can order Gastrogard oral paste from Jeffers or Valley Vet OR your Vet may have some (presc. needed). For diarrhea I used Pepto Bismol or better yet Kaopectate -At my Vets advice also. If you can get either it would coat her stomach and at least you'd see if it gives her relief to want to eat. Main thing is you need to know what you are dealing with like if it was a mild colic..something giving your horse diarrhea OR if it is ulcers.... really sounds like all 3. Also when my little mare had Hyperlipidemia I had to use Karo syrup and that helped raise her glucose level then she felt better and wanted to eat and I had to hand walk her to green grass and feed her Alfalfa. Alfalfa if you can get it is very soothing and helps tremendously with rehabilitating horses. I can't really advise you to do any of these things but you can talk it over with your Vet. I asked if she had pooped "normally" because your description made me feel as though she may have a blockage. Also have you or your Vet checked the inside of her mouth really good? If I think of anything else I'll post again. I hope she'll be alright. Bless you for caring.
 
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debbie - LB thank you for your reply. its kind of frusteratng because she hasnt suggested anything else to help and has basiclally has washed her hands of us. i havent checked her mouth and i guess i shouldnt assume the vet has. ill do that when i get home. i researched a bit and found ulcergard at a supply store 30 minutes from us. i was thinking about getting that. how much kayro syrup did you use?

no she never pooped normally. just cow patties to a little more runny than patties, to nothing.

do you recommend ulcergard or omeprazole? or pepto? ive also read mixed reviews on giving grain with ulcers. should i cut that back?

i wonder about the blockage too, but wouldnt she be in pain? or have zero cut sounds?
 
Debbie -LB forgot to ad, the gasto med she was on was metoclopramide, which last monday the vet said to take her off of because she thought the problem is now in her small intestines because she has good gut sounds?
 
I'd get the Ulcergard since you can get it. Ulcergard is omneprazole (in paste form) available without a prescription and will be easier for you to give. You may want to get some powdered Gatorade and mix some of that up to syringe in her mouth.

Since you don't know if this was/is a gas colic or impaction colic and the initial blood work was fine maybe you are dealing with ulcers, which could be since you said she is dry lotted. Ulcers are common in dry lot..unless the horse is never without some nice soft grass hay to eat. If she is not exhibiting any colic signs now I think I would try the ulcer stuff only. One thing I do know is when off feed and rapid weight loss is involved you have a serious condition on your hands.
 
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I'd get the Ulcergard since you can get it. Ulcergard is omneprazole (in paste form) available without a prescription and will be easier for you to give. You may want to get some powdered Gatorade and mix some of that up to syringe in her mouth.

Since you don't know if this was/is a gas colic or impaction colic and the initial blood work was fine maybe you are dealing with ulcers, which could be since you said she is dry lotted. Ulcers are common in dry lot.. If she is not exhibiting any colic signs now I think I would try the ulcer stuff only. One thing I do know is when off feed and rapid weight loss is involved you have a serious condition on your hands.
ok i just found out that omeprazole is prilosec and will probably be cheaper and easier to get for me. ive gotten pretty good at giving her pills too. what would the dosage be for her? ill definately do the gatorade too. you are totally right, i wonder if shes had ulcers the whole time and wasnt even colicing?
 
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Ulcergard is omeprazole for horses, and designed to be utilized right by horses, so go with that. The Ulcergard is OTC version of the prescription Gastrogard, the only difference is how it is dosed; Ulcergard is preventative so lower dose, Gastrogard is a higher dose for treatment. Get the Ulcergard and you'll need to treat for a month to heal any ulcers, so buy more than one tube. [Looks like Gastrogard is 4x stronger than ulcergard, so likely you'll be able to treat your mini at the dosage labeled for prevention for full-size horse. Which I believe is 1/4 tube daily of the ulcergard.]
 
Reading the Gastrogard instructions, it looks like treatment dosage is 1.8mg Omeprazole per 1# BW (1/2 that for maintenance). You'll have to do a little math to see how many pounds a Prilosec pill will do.
 
It does sound like ulcers, they often present with colic like symptoms. I have a mare that "coliced" regularly the first couple years I had her, after her third bout, I figured out it was ulcers, treated for them and she'd be fine; she finally outgrew the problem.
 
Reading the Gastrogard instructions, it looks like treatment dosage is 1.8mg Omeprazole per 1# BW (1/2 that for maintenance). You'll have to do a little math to see how many pounds a Prilosec pill will do
thank you for this! so 225lb divided by 1.8mg is 125mg if this is right. so if prilosec comes in 20mg pills, that would be 6.25 pills once a day?

and a tube of ulcergard is about $10 a dose, so ill have to see how much a box of prilosec is. you guys have helped me out so much already. you dont know how much i appriciate it! ill definately be getting one or the other tonight!
 
Sounds like ulcers to me for sure.

Pepto about 1/2 hour before feeding will coat the stomach. They start making stomach acid before and during feeding, which makes the ulcers painful so eating is painful. The pepto will protect them from that.

Other meds should be given two hours before or after the pepto because the coating of the stomach would negate the effect of the meds otherwise. It's a pretty intense process but it works, we have had to go through this a few times.

Let her eat whatever she will eat. For some reason ulcer horses seem to do best with grass.
 
Ok well I just gave her 1/4 of a tube of ulcergard and some electrolyte paste. We'll see how that goes and if it doesn't work I'll be more aggressive. I hope this works. I have her eating grass now. Will let you know what happens
 
The pastes can take several days to work so I still strongly suggest you dose your horse with pepto as well for the next week or two.
 

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