Thank you everyone, this is Larry. It's been a rough week but our lovely Arenosa mare, Princessita, is no longer in pain. I get to bury her today
For old timers here, they know that since I am not MA answering this, the response is going to be long
I came on here to answer Stacy.
Cita's gas colic was not unlike any other gas colic we've had in the past. We treated her as we have others but unfortunately, the hyperlepemia had already kicked in and she didn't respond very well...the vet had done everything normally done for a colic that he could do on the ranch...fluids, tubing, pain killer (dermosodan). He also palpated her to find out the foal's status. In fact, she gave Maryann and me every indication that she was going to abort that foal.
That was Wednesday. When she recovered from the pain killers and had a chance to relax some, she passed a small amount of loose manure. I took her for walks and she would nibble on grass for about 15 or 20 minutes until she'd lose interest. We'd walk some more, she would drink then we'd go back to her stall where she'd nibble on a bit of hay or a little mushy complete feed grain. She didn't have interest in eating much but at least she was picking a little at her food.
The following day, her vitals were mostly normal except for an extremely high heart rate. That and the lack of appetite clued MA into the hyperlepemia thoughts. We continued walking her about hourly and take her to where she could eat some green grass. When the vet came to check her, MA mentioned that to me and we decided to vigorously attack it with the things we had to use until the chem panel came back. The vet called an hour later to tell us of the fatty globules he found in her blood serum. After a brief discussion he came back with glucose and insulin for her which MA and I administered as well as several doses of apple juice (karo syrup was on the shopping list) to help boost the sugar level.
That night, Cita ate both hay and all the complete feed that was in her stall. It wasn't until around midnight that she started rolling and showing signs of extreme pain. We walked her and she would want to stop and roll. This was after banamine and other stronger pain killers. We knew this was a real colic
She was gone within three hours. The necropsy yesterday only showed signs of a displaced large intestine (twisted gut) and a rather large section of it had died. According to the vet, it was unlikely that surgery would have helped her.
In retrospect, and not nearly enough time has passed, I think we missed the beginning of the hyperlepemia by at least a couple of days. She really wasn't drinking enough water (it's been extremely cold here especially in the night) and the grain, even soaked in water shouldn't have been given to her (in spite of what the vet said). I believe that she actually started feeling a little better on Thursday night because of the influx of sugars and the meds to help balance her system and combat the hyperlepemia. She hadn't had any pain killer for around 48 hours and was hungry, too. We're still waiting for test results (I assume vet doesn't think rapid delivery of them is important right now).
We've discussed with the vet about pulling blood even after "minor" gas colics. Although, we've not had quite this situation before, the stress from the colic could easily bring on hyperlipemia and the blood test isn't really even a test...just let the serum sit and separate. IF there are large globs of fat...well, it's time to get aggressive.
Hope this helps, Stacy and once again, thank you everyone for your concern
