Friend Filly

[auledasacres]

My friend filly had the colic surgery, ended up a impaction. Well she was doing very good after the surgery the first day. Last night I went with her to pick the filly up and she was in colic again.

Not my filly but I stressed to the vet that this has been going on since the beginning of July. Diarhea, colic, diarhea, colic, then cow patties, back to diarhea and then this recent bought with impaction.

I asked the vet to do some bloodwork on this filly, that this impaction colic was the result of weeks of problems. But I didn't feel we had gotten to the root of her problems and if we didn't find the cause then this may continue.

She has never run a fever, has never lost weight in any way. She has eaten dirt in large quanitities but to me there is a reason for that also. Deficient somewhere, calcium, phos, etc. Wouldn't I blood test help determine this.

Another friend thought it was possible the filly was having difficulty with the mothers milk??? She had one with diarhea and this ended up being the problem, once removed the colt did fine.

Also wouldn't pain management be important after colic surgery. I am thinking the pain from the surgery would show as colic. Being a 3 month old filly, I would think she wouldn't understand the pain from the surgery. She also got taken from her dam immediately which would cause stress also.

Guys I am so confused over all of this. But just believe if they would keep her on pain meds for a few days it would help her overcome the surgery pain. A HUMAN wouldn't be expected to go without pain meds for a while.

Sorry for the novel this is just really bothering me.

Traci

 

[kaykay]

i read a bunch of articles about this and pretty much this is what all them say about horses eating dirt:

Horses that eat Dirt: What are they Looking for?

Horses are sometimes observed to be eating soil (geophagia) and it is usually regarded as a sign of nutritional deficiency or boredom. Geophagia is of concern to owners since excess soil consumption is thought to have irritant effects on the gastrointestinal tract. There have been no previous studies that have investigated the soil constituents sought by horses that eat soil.

Researchers from the University of Sydney conducted a study to identify elements that might be sought by horses that are observed to eat soil. Results suggest that copper and iron were the most likely elemental attractants in soils selected for geophagia. The authors note that further research is needed determine why these horses sought these elements and whether the behaviour reflects an underlying metabolic requirement. It would also be interesting to investigate the mechanism horses use to identify and select these sites.

Reference: PD McGreevy, LA Hawson, TC Habermann and SR Cattle (2001) Geophagia in Horses: A Short Note on 13 Cases Applied Animal Behavioural Science Vol. 71, No. 2, Pg 119

 

[Dr. Pam]

Yes, post op pain management is important!!! Also very important is determining if she has ulcers. If the vet can't or won't check, it sure wouldn't hurt to put her on ulcer meds anyways. Push him on this!! Ask him about putting her on Gastoguard!!

 

[Debby - LB]

How long since the surgery? and why was she taken from her Dam? Yes she should be on pain management and ulcer medication, she should also have a muzzle on. I just went through this and will be glad to help answer maybe anything we went through can help you.