colic

[macintosh miniature's]

I found my 6 month old pinto colt Rocky in minor distress yesterday morning in his stall. When I let him out he immediately wasn't himself and tried to lie down so right away I knew something was wrong. He was still walking a bit and looked pretty alert. To make a long story short, I listened to his stomach and heard no sounds and knew I was in trouble. Over the next several hours he got worse and worse and we just kept him moving and wouldn't let him lie down. When it was really bad we were all holding him up because he was not standing at all. By the time the vet got there he was either going to die or get better. The last attack he had he seemed to recover a little better so the vet gave him some worm medicine and then a shot of batamine and he recovered pretty quick( in between the worm medicine and batamine he had a very big mess of diarrea!) Needless to say, it was a terrible thing to go through. I have no idea what brought it on although this particular little guy picks things up all the time and one other time he got something stuck in his throat and that was pretty stressful. The vet that came to the house said that foals should be wormed every 6 weeks when they are small - is that what all of you guys do? I wasn't familiar with that idea. I usually worm them when they are first born and then follow a regular routine like the rest of the horses follow. Also, I was giving all the horses cut up fresh apples right off the trees and wondered if maybe that might have caused the colic. Although he got maybe a quarter of an apple everyday at suppertime. They have been getting apples for a long time but they don't always get apples that are that fresh and sour. It is driving me crazy thinking I did something to cause this and I was so upset at almost losing him. I had powered bantamine at the house but never realized you should give that to them. I know the shots work better but can you give them the powder? What do other poeple do in these situations? I would appreciate amy help.

 

[Minimor]

I'm glad your little guy is better today.

As far as powdered banamine...I've never heard of banamine coming in powder form, only liquid and paste. Are you sure that the powder you have isn't bute rather than banamine? if you have the liquid form (usually given by injection) you can give that orally.

For deworming, our foals get dewormed monthly until they are 10-12 months old, then they get changed to every 2 months like the rest of the horses.

 

[Relic]

l use the powdered Banamine it comes in little packets of 250mg we buy it from the vets. l mix as much as l think l need with about 20 cc's water and give by mouth l just find it easier for myself if it's liquid getting it all down. l'm careful with the apples of the tree we did have a choke last fall that was scary but the trailer ride to the vets must have got it loose so all was fine by the time we got there. My old mare Becky does get the poops and makes a whole lot of noise from the rear if fed crap apples straight from the tree...but have never had a colic from them l know of....

 

[Viki]

Same here on the deworming. Every month till about 12 months old.

Viki

 

[shorthorsemom]

I keep either paste or injectable banamine on hand at all times in my horse first aid kit. They can go down hill so quickly with colic while you are waiting for a vet. You can give the injectable banamine orally if you don't want to give a needle. It is a bit easier to be accurate for the smaller guys, but mostly I rely on the paste since my boys are B sized. I would have no hesitation to give banamine at the start of what looks like a belly ache or colic starting. Better to be safe than sorry. Hope everything turned out ok.