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Horse Colic (part 2) Medical v Surgical - How Can You Tell?

Posted by Geoff Tucker on Wed, Aug 12, 2009
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The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.Horse colic is a serious disease that needs a veterinarian's attention. But if you can not find a vet to attend, learning the basic concepts can help you determine how serious it is.
There are 2 important facts: 1) the degree of pain DOES NOT indicate the seriousness of the colic, and 2) if the colic needs surgery to correct, time is your enemy. It is better to be wrong and ship a non-surgical horse to a clinic than to be indecisive and wait till things get worse.
In my mind, colics are either medical or surgical. There will be some that will hang out in the gray zone, but usually they show as one or the other. This video will discuss the parameters of gut sounds, gum color and refill time, and understanding the rectal exam for better communication with your vet.

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COLIC (PART 2) by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.Creative Commons License
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Comments

My daughter's event mare had emergency colic surgery. The horse came in from the field - not looking very well, promptly led down in her stable - called Vet - who arrived 45 mins or so later...examined...and more or less told us - spasmodic colic... and a waste of a Vet call! Was called back to yard by owners later at around 10.30 p.m Horse got worse... called surgery again - Vet arrived over an hour later- we kept horse walking as best we could in school... she kept collapsing... Vet arranged for surgery - only to find he couldn't get anyone to op on her (!)... sent us to another Vet surgery... 2 a.m. she was operated on - for colon torsion..... survived op - and was in Vet Hosp for 11 days...... has now gone on to produce us a fab Dun colt - hopefully our future eventer!
Posted @ Friday, August 14, 2009 1:21 PM by Sally Watkins
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