Gas Colic in Gelding

[Barnmother]

I agree rabbitfizz about not withholding the feed and since i see poop what we have been doing even thought the vet said withhold feed for a minimum of 12 hours since we see poop we give him a good size handful of feed. And then repeat every three hours or so or every time we see poop. When we are "withholding" food we try to get the poop picked up everytime we see it.

It is not a new water bucket but maybe he doesn't like green so I will swap it for one of the other horses, Maybe a blue one. If that doesn't work maybe i will swap it out for a smaller 2 1/2 gallon one and see if that makes a difference. we are always careful not to use cleaning products on their buckets because i know they can leave a funny taste. I did see him drinking from the large heated stock trough outside, Water all comes from the same source so not sure what the deal is but he always has wet spots and they don't smell "off" in his stall so must be drinking enough to urinate normally.

I will let you know what transpires going forward. I am going to start adding a vitamin mineral supplement to his pellets and I will get some probiotics also. He does have access to a trace mineral block 24/7 but he is never overly interested in it but he has it if he wants it.

 

[lilnickers]

Another idea would be to throw an apple slice in his water, making it more appealing. I gave mine a pail of cool water in addition to his heated bucket. I have even put a cup of apple juice in my gelding's water when he was acting colicy. Having a salt block always available is good, too.

As Minimor said, upping the amount of hay may help. I hope you get him to come around. Nothing is more stressful on us than worrying about one of our horses when they aren't themselves

Sorry, I just saw in your last post you have a mineral block available.

(Mine won't touch the mineral ones, so I just get the plain ones now)

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I really doubt it has to do anything with the color. Is this bucket a heated one? If it is could it possibly be shocking him when he tries to drink so he is reluctant?

 

[Marty]

Ok the Doofus here is confused. If he is getting adequate hay, then why is he hungry? Maybe I misread.

Also, the eating poop thing is such a gross out. Why don't you nix the alfalfa pellets completely and just buy this horse feed and put him on a regular feed and hay program?

Just for the heck of it, you don't happen to have any acorns laying around your field do you?

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

I have a gelding who doesn't drink a lot of water and when the weather is colder even though he has a heated bucket to keep the water from freezing he drinks even less.

I thought that perhaps giving him beet pulp shreds that was really well soaked with water would help his water intake. We started feeding it two days ago and yesterday we had another bout of gas colic. So my question(s) are does beet pulp shreds create gas? His former owner only fed once a day and he did eat beet pulp when he was with her. She also said he never coliced. I worked for a large animal vet for many many years so recognize a colic pretty quickly and act pretty quickly to intervene.

The second question is when he colics he still passes poop but definitely has tons of gas. So he gets treated and stalled under the camera so he can be watched. Of course he has all food withheld until he has passed plenty of poop. Problem is he poops just fine however he eats it because he hasn't been fed so unless you see it you would never know he had gone.

How do you stop horses from eating poop? (What a gross habit!) Does anyone have any tried and true ideas?

We feed twice a day grass hay and alfalfa pellets during the winter, during the show season we add Purina's Miniature Horse and Pony. Water buckets are cleaned regularly with a scrub brush and no cleaning products. He is the only horse that seems to be having a problem.

He is current on his shots and up to date on worming, although he is not about due. All the horses in my herd are wormed regularly and I have never seen worms in their poop after worming.

Since he is eating poop could he also be eating dirt and would that cause a gas colic? I can't find any sand in his poop doing the glove test. Our local vets are not miniature horse savy in fact I have had to purchase my own miniature size supplied for them to use since they only had equipment for large equines or bovines. (Dental floats, stomach tubes etc. and before anyone even says anything no I would NEVER use these myself!)

Anyone got any thoughts or ideas?

First of all, I wouldn't necessarily assume his problem is gas colic. I'm not saying that he doesn't, I just want to open your mind to other choices;ie. impaction colic, ulcer, displacement....

Soaked beet pulp was a good idea, but understand it will hopefully increase total water consumption while decreasing what is drank out of the bucket. Adding loose salt to the diet may work better at increasing total water consumption.

Eating feces or caprophagy is not only normal, it is good. Seeding his gut with good bacteria might help out his colicky problem. I not only wouldn't stop it, I would encourage him to eat another 'normal' horses feces.

A common cause of excess gas is a change in diet. I do not encourage summer and winter diets, rather find one that works and stick to it year round.

Dr. Taylor

 

[bevann]

Sorry you are going through this.I have several who do not drink enough and have had MAJOR colic issujes in the past.Knock on wood-none for quite a while.They get feed with water in their feed buckets.Some get as much as a gallon of water others not so much.This time of year water is about 60 degrees with feed added.All get 1/2 cup shredded beet pulp + senior feed in various amounts+1 scoop apple flavored electrolytes.All clean their buckets-it's like bobbing for apples.I have also used GAS-X strips for colic Seems to help.They are flavored mint or cinnamon Just open packet for at least 2 and put in side of mouth in space where there are no teeth they dissolve almost instantly.Good luck solving the mystery.

 

[Barnmother]

First of all, I wouldn't necessarily assume his problem is gas colic. I'm not saying that he doesn't, I just want to open your mind to other choices;ie. impaction colic, ulcer, displacement.... local vet feels it is gas, sounds like gas but none of the tell tale "sand" sound you get with a sand colic;, it resolves with 5cc on banamine given once.

Soaked beet pulp was a good idea, but understand it will hopefully increase total water consumption while decreasing what is drank out of the bucket. Adding loose salt to the diet may work better at increasing total water consumption. I am certainly willing to give that a try, sure as heck can't hurt anything.

Eating feces or caprophagy is not only normal, it is good. Seeding his gut with good bacteria might help out his colicky problem. I not only wouldn't stop it, I would encourage him to eat another 'normal' horses feces. What an icky habit, glad to here is it "normal" never thought there was anything normal about my little herd.

A common cause of excess gas is a change in diet. I do not encourage summer and winter diets, rather find one that works and stick to it year round. I agree 100% and I very rarely have to make any changes was just trying to get more fluids into this guy. I weigh my horses (great to work at a lumber mill with a scale) I weigh their food carefully so I have great consistency in their diets. We have one diet year around, horses always look great, coats shiny and weight approripate for their jobs, show horse, brood mare, growing foal, etc. The only reason for a feed change is usually change in weight usually related to a busy training schedule for show season. I am incredibly picky about my hay and always buy from the same guy and usually from the exact same field every year. Hay is orchard grass and all have eaten it the whole time they have lived with me. This guys is the new addition to my herd.

Dr. Taylor

Thanks Dr. Taylor, your words are (always) very encouraging, you can rest assured there will be no kisses on the lips for this gelding!