If you've had an Impaction Colic...

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I've had a handful of impaction colics over my years with Minis, always in the winter when for different reasons they stopped drinking. The 3 cases I've had the Minis were 30.5" & 31.5." I'm just curious if there is any relation to size and increased "risk" of impaction colic. Thankfully two of the three cases were resolved at the farm, only one (the 30.5") went to an equine hospital, but didn't need surgery! I'm just curious if it's an individual thing, or if it is related to size.

I've learned from each case so now I have a routine of soaked beet pulp, daily electrolytes, and heated buckets for the few of mine who don't like to drink in winter. Everyone gets the soaked beet pulp, but only a few get the full preventative.

 

[targetsmom]

Max had surgery this past summer for an impacted cecum. At the time, he was a hair under 30" as a yearling. In his case, I think that the colic was related to ulcers, which he still was suffering from AFTER the surgery, so not sure he is a good example.

 

[bevann]

I have had WAAY more than my share of impaction colics-several in the last few weeks.Everyone has heated buckets in stalls at night and in pastures during the day.Salt and electrolytes in feed every meal and all my horses are 34" except 1 29 inch gelding.After many vet calls and jogging a mare on the concrete in the barn at3AM during a snowstorm outside, if they eat they fish the food out of water.8 quarts of water gets 1 cup senior feed, beet pulp, salt, electrolytes and chopped hay forage. Then very small amounts of dry hay later.I have 5 of my 6 on this regimin 2 times every day.I am hoping this will solve the problem.I don't think size has anything to do with it-at least not in my case.

 

[Eagle]

One of mine had it last autumn caused I think by a sudden drop in the temperature during the night and she was outside.( typical horses, I had my once a year lay in and Hubby fed the horses breakfast and didn't notice if she was in colic ) She is 29".

She was very sick by the time I found her, she had 2 operations and spent 20 days in the clinic.

By reneejewer at 2010-08-21



She now has 1 cup feed, beet pulp, salt, electrolytes and chopped hay forage all soaked in warm water and of cause gets warm water to drink in stable and field.

 

[Jill]

Our only serious colic was with Khaki, when she was a yearling. She needed colic surgery (due to impaction) but they had to "open" her 2x, so really two surgeries about 2 days apart. She's now almost 7yrs post surgery and doing really well (totally normal bossy mare). She matured just under 33".

Here she is home a few days after surgery:

And as she is as a full grown mare:

 

[Eagle]

wow Jill, she is beautiful, can I have her? pleassseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

Thanks for sharing, I figured it was just a coincidence that it has happened in my smaller ones, but I was curious.

bevann, I'm so sorry, glad you have figured out what works now! It's no fun to deal with colic!

So glad to hear all the stories of everyone doing well post surgery! Khaki is a beautiful girl Jill!

 

[Jackie]

This is interesting as I was going to ask a similar question.

My "foster" mini from CHMR, Rocket, who is 21 years now, is on 1 cup (1 lb) am/pm Tribute Maturity plus free access to grass hay/heated water. A few weeks ago he went into what I call a "GI slowdown" - he was not eating as quickly, and he had less poops than normal.

What I did was soak his pellets in water and was amazed how much they expanded and how much water it took before they stopped. I also added soaked alfalfa cubes (for the fiber). He was back to normal in two days, but he now is on pellet soup for breakfast and alfalfa/pellet mush for dinner.

My thoughts were that with my full-sized horses, that 2 lbs has a lot of gut to expand in . My other mini gets 1/4 cup so I was not concerned about him. But with Rocket, he's 30" and does not have the gut space to fit all that expansion, particularly if it happens quickly (i.e., he eats the pellets and then takes a deep drink of water).

An aside that may be related: I did rabbit rescue for years, and you learned to watch poop because they tend to go into GI Stasis and it's difficult to save them when they do - and and interestingly, they have cecums, too, like horses. You force fluids and fiber into them to get their gut active again, and if you are lucky, you can pull them out of it. You also become a "Poop Counter" and very aware of eating/pooping patterns and changes.

We've gone over the decades from whole (not extruded) to complete feed pellets. I was wondering myself if anyone researched this or noticed it with the minis. I know it's an issue with rabbits because people tend to feed them pellets only, when they really need hay and fresh greens, and limited pellets. I *love* my Tribute feeds..all my horses but Rocket are on the ration balancer, but I think this may be a downside we need to watch for.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have had two impaction colics that ended badly, in both cases. One was a 29" colt who died after two days, before I could have him euthanised, the other a 27" colt who nearly made it, his impaction had freed and we thought we were OK but ten days after that he colicked and died within two hours- necrotic tissue in the gut.

The two colts were only slightly related, they were both stalled it was not cold and they were drinking well and continued to drink well all through the colic.

 

[HGFarm]

Have only had two over the years, and one was 34, the other 33.5". Neither required surgery and neither ever had another problem again. I know a lot of folks who live in colder climates who feed soaked beet pulp in winter to keep the moisture intake up a bit. Youngsters seem to be even worse when the weather turns cold about drinking enough water.

I know horses also hate to drink while trailering on the road, so when I was showing one of my horses and we trailered two days to Nationals, I started feeding him beet pulp at home a few weeks before we left. While on the road, even though we hauled our own water, they were drinking a minimal amount but loved the BP and even drank the juice left in the bucket! So I was glad to have it and will probably do that again if trailering a long way.

 

[disneyhorse]

I've known PLENTY of 18 hand draft horses that have gotten impaction colics. It has nothing to do with the size of the horse nor the digestive tract!

Andrea

 

[Carolyn R]

Knock on wood, with my adult minis, any colicy signs have been due to fever/virus. The equine vets at the clinic I use are wonderful. They know if I say a horse is off, it is off. We have always been able to catch things early and follow a course of action and get as much fluid in as possible to prevent a serious impaction. Now I have had two instances with young mini foals in the last years, and as we all know, foals can go down hill fast.

On the other hand, several years back I had impaction issues with two different haflingers, known to be low maintenance horses. Both came to me with under lying health issues which attributed to the impactions.

I agree it has more to due with the individual horse and circumstances rather than the size of the horse. I do however think that many vets are hesitant to aggressively treat minis when they are ill or present colic or impaction issues because they are unfamiliar with them.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

I don't think it's size related, some horses just seem to have more sensitive digestion (like humans). Miramax is the only horse we've had severe impaction with (ended up being a small fecolith) that required surgery. That was four years ago and he's never had a problem since.

 

[shelterwood]

I am dealing with colic just today with my 2 year old, 37" mini mare. I noticed last night when I fed the girls that she was a bit listless, but she ate readily, there was a normal number of manure piles around, and their heated water bucket was nearly empty as usual for that time of day. This morning when I went out, she was sluggish, off her feed, and was pawing the ground (not her norm). Again, there were a normal amount of manure piles, a normal amount of water ingested. When I let them out to pasture for a minute to clean up the piles so I could monitor manure during the day today, she immediately went out and laid down. Well, that was it. I got her up, called the vet, and checked gums. Her color was pale, but heart rate was OK, about 65 bpm. Per my vet, I gave a dose of banamine paste and waited. She improved within 5 minutes, really! She brightened right up and began nuzzling me for treats. I took her to the barn and she started eating hay immediately. She had gut sounds throughout the whole process. Now it is 6-7 hours later and she still seems OK. Anyone have similar experiences with this kind of "quick" reaction to banamine? Do you think I'm out of the woods with her? It is cold here in northern New York, but these girls are well-adjusted and well hydrated. I did notice they were munching on some woody brush and tree bark yesterday. Any thoughts?? How did you all know you were dealing with impaction colic vs. gas or strangulation short of a stressful trip to the large animal hospital. The nearest here is over an hour away!!

 

[~Lisa~]

I am glad your mare is feeling better but I am not sure that banimine paste can actually get into her system and work that quickly even given IV I would expect to see any significant change in 5-15 minutes so might have just been that she got better on her own

Either way glad she is feeling better

 

[Carolyn R]

I am dealing with colic just today with my 2 year old, 37" mini mare. I noticed last night when I fed the girls that she was a bit listless, but she ate readily, there was a normal number of manure piles around, and their heated water bucket was nearly empty as usual for that time of day. This morning when I went out, she was sluggish, off her feed, and was pawing the ground (not her norm). Again, there were a normal amount of manure piles, a normal amount of water ingested. When I let them out to pasture for a minute to clean up the piles so I could monitor manure during the day today, she immediately went out and laid down. Well, that was it. I got her up, called the vet, and checked gums. Her color was pale, but heart rate was OK, about 65 bpm. Per my vet, I gave a dose of banamine paste and waited. She improved within 5 minutes, really! She brightened right up and began nuzzling me for treats. I took her to the barn and she started eating hay immediately. She had gut sounds throughout the whole process. Now it is 6-7 hours later and she still seems OK. Anyone have similar experiences with this kind of "quick" reaction to banamine? Do you think I'm out of the woods with her? It is cold here in northern New York, but these girls are well-adjusted and well hydrated. I did notice they were munching on some woody brush and tree bark yesterday. Any thoughts?? How did you all know you were dealing with impaction colic vs. gas or strangulation short of a stressful trip to the large animal hospital. The nearest here is over an hour away!!

I usually notice it takes about 20 minutes for banamine to kick in. regardless, Unless it was gas colic (seems a little unlikely if she was a little off last night too), I would keep a close eye on her. I have typically noticed in adult minis when all else seems normal and they have colicy symptoms, there is an underlying issue (resp. issue, virus, some type of bug they have caught).Normal BPM for a horse is around 40ish. My vet makes a note of it,but doesn't get too alarmed if a mini is in the high 40's low 50's, 60's would concern me, did you monitor her temp prior to her having banamine?

Everytime I have had a mini that just wasn't quite right and was a bit colicy, when taken into the vet and bloodwork was done, there was always an underlying issue (meaning blood counts, vitals and monitoring would point to the mini starting to develope a virus, resp. infect, or something of the sort). My vets typically say if it were a different owner, they would take a wait and see approach but they know that I know my minis very well. Please don't dismiss that it was nothing if this mare is a low maintenance easy keeper. Keep an eye on her.

Impaction colics have little to no gut sound, little manure if any, the horse can frantically throw themselves to the ground, but in my experience they have had a lathargic attitude, not wanting to eat or drink, standing with their legs tucked up under them, butt against the wall or head held in the corner or just quietly lay down and not want to get up. The distress signs can be lip curling, cribbing, low outstretched neck when standing or laying, nipping or frequent glaring at their sides and the belly kick followed by the stall circling and flopping down. These are just signs that I have noticed. Unfortunately, the haflingers I mentioned earlier in this post, I received with underlying health issues and had dealt with frequent impactions with both of them.

 

[shelterwood]

Thanks for the advice guys! I know that the banamine couldn't have worked that quickly (I'm an RN), but it seemed so peculiar that she rebounded after (maybe it was more like 15-20 minutes, I was panicking!). So, a little update. I went out this evening (I've been vigilant, but took a break to eat!!), and she seemed OK, but when I took a closer look, she had what appeared to be stool draining from her nostrils. Now it doesn't smell like stool, but coming from the human medicine world I thought, Oh god, impaction/obstruction. Well, I called the vet, and she said that it sounds like an esophageal obstruction/abscess/choke issue. My mare did not exhibit any of the gagging, panicking, choking symptoms usually present with a true episode of choke, though. We're thinking perhaps she had a foreign body lodged in her esophagus and that feed built up around it. She has, now that I'm thinking about it, been carrying her head a little low when she has been resting/sleeping the last two days, I just didn't chalk it up to anything because everything else seemed fine. Well, the vet came out and of course, the little stinker is totally fine now. The vet didn't even drop a nasal tube because we watched her eat and drink completely normally and the nasal drainage has stopped. I'm checking on her every half hour or so right now, but she seems to be back to her normal self. Scary though! Hopefully she'll continue to improve overnight. Anyone ever had an episode of choke or similar symptoms as I'm describing? She doesn't bolt her feed, gets grass hay and a handful of grain AM and PM. She's a very easy keeper, and has never been an unhealthy horse. She is passing normal stool now too. Unfortunately it is going to be -15 degrees F here tonight!! Cold night for all involved.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I've known PLENTY of 18 hand draft horses that have gotten impaction colics. It has nothing to do with the size of the horse nor the digestive tract!Andrea

Very good point, I do know that it can happen in any size horse, I was just curious if the smaller minis had a higher incidence of impaction because of the smaller diameter of their intestines. Seems like it doesn't make a difference, but I was just wondering...trying to distract myself from the winter weather (snow, ugh)!

 

[Jackie]

Very good point, I do know that it can happen in any size horse, I was just curious if the smaller minis had a higher incidence of impaction because of the smaller diameter of their intestines.

I have to agree with your logic here...I know full size horses also impact, but it just makes sense that the same amount of feed expanding in a smaller intestine would, if it was going to, have a better chance of impacting...particularly around the cecum.

Rocket is coming back from starvation (was a 2 on the body scale), and I've only had him since September, and it's also possible his internal organs are still getting going again and are more sensitive. But I am also feeding him more feed than I normally would. I don't know what quantities other people feed their minis.

Very neat website on equine digestion (among other nutritional information): http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/horse-anatomy.html

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

Agree with Carolyn on impaction vs gas colic. I tend to see more rolling with the gas. Miramax never rolled, but would stand with his hind legs stretched back. When he started bloating the vets recommended surgery. Fortunately the fecolith was small and required a minimally invasive surgery.

Minis with gas colic we treat with a couple of different human gas remedies and banamine to relax the spasms. Gas usually resolves fairly quickly, or has in our experience. I actually have a gelding in now that was down and rolling this a.m., but a couple of doses and he's up and appears fine tonight.

As for choke, I've only had that in a weanling foal once and the vets tubed her with a bit of oil and cleared it.