Colic Guide
Many horses will show signs of colic at some point in their lives. These include, for example, refusal to feed, flehmen, looking around at the stomach, restlessness, scratching, sweating, and rolling. When one or more of the above symptoms occurs, some owners often panic: What to do? who to call? With this information we want to show you possible procedures, a colic Guide, and prophylaxis:
Definition of colic:
Change in behavior due to abdominal pain.
Behavior change:
- Do not eat (measure fever!)
- flea
- pawing
- lying down / getting up
- rolling
- rampage (restlessness)
- sweat
Correct behavior of the horse owner:
- call the vet
- Exact observation and description of the observations
- How long colic
- How hard? (The more severe the colic, the more likely it is an indication of intestinal obstruction
- Give the horse a chance (space) to roll (risk of displacement/injury)
- organize transport
Correct behavior after a vet visit:
Assistance with referral to a veterinary clinic/practice specializing in colic
- How and for how long does the patient react to the antispasmodic injection? The horse should be completely fine for several hours. If there is only an improvement or a brief cessation of the colic symptoms, -> clinic.
- Poor circulatory situation Pulse / heart rate over 50 per minute -> clinic.
- Long duration of colic or colic overnight -> clinic
- Clear diagnosis by veterinary examination, which indicates intestinal obstruction -> clinic
- No clear findings, but points 1 to 3 all and/or in combination -> clinic
- Colic and fever hours or days later -> clinic
Most common treatment errors:
- Application of strong painkillers e.g. Finaldyne Masks Abdominal Pain as a Diagnostic Tool
- No exact clinical examination Pulse/heart rate must be lower than 50 per minute!
- Treatment without a clear diagnosis, e.g. water or Glauber’s salt administration as blind activism.
Colic prophylaxis:
- Regular deworming
- 4 to 5 times a year
- rather an overdose
- use modern, more expensive, less resistant anthelmintics
- once a year deworming against tapeworms
- Lots of exercises, regular and frequent feeding (4 to 5 times a day)
- No straw bedding (eaten straw is 70% ballast)
Colic Guide
The procedures (colic guide) listed here are only guidelines that have developed from our many years of experience. Please always remember that your horse is a living being. This means that complications can always occur, which intensifies the treatment!
We hope we could help you, if you like this article, check out our archive for more horse-related articles.
