colic - need any help you can give me

[Winchester Farms]

shes 32 inches, and 16 years old. i remember years ago when i was showing her i bought a tape so i could get her weight and was surprised how she only weighed around 200lbs. she has put on some weight since the show days but i dont think 50 pounds? i was thinking if they do surgeries there and whatnot maybe they have a scale and weighed her. lets hope.

 

[Winchester Farms]

thought of something else. When you get home you'll need to check her hooves also while she's going through this to feel for overly warm hooves and check her digital pulse.

ok good idea, i have been worried founder as well because she was not used to eatting grass at all, and that week they had her out all day on grass. the intern gave some reason why she wasnt worried she wouldnt founder but i cant remember what that reason was.

 

[Winchester Farms]

ok those that are still with me- thank you. thank you so much all your suggestions mean so much to me.

tuesday night update:

i ran out during my lunch break and got carrots and karo syrup. couldnt decide btw the light and dark. i got the dark and cut up about 5 carrots and coated them lightly in the syrup, and hand grazed her for an hour, and gave her more electrolytes and ulcergard. no poop during the day. my husband said we should trailer her around for a couple minutes because she always poops in the trailer. she was lying down when i went out to get her for the trailer. the second she steps on the trailer she poops 2 milk duds. hooray! we trailer her for about 10 minutes. and opened the door to this. what the heck is this? the white thing had the consitency of a hard boiled egg. and the other poops were much more normal sized and in color but covered in something? any suggestions? i googled worms but it doesnt seem to look like this.

 

[Debby - LB]

wow yuk! was it all attached together? I have no idea what the white one is, from the color I would think maybe a enterolith but those are hard like stone so that's out. Is it that color all the way through? Did you cut into any of it to see if there was something, anything, maybe tiny in it that mucus and ? could have built up around to get to that size. It's hard to see but is there any string there? you could look at it close and maybe feel it, do you think pieces of it was something she ingested? Tell husband he did good! I hope you'll see some normal looking poop soon. Check her gums and eyes and keep giving her plenty of water and electrolytes, hopefully she'll start eating some grass.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

I would almost think that is intestinal lining. I've had it happen on various stock before and it looks like that. Could be serious could not be. I had a mare who would shed some from time to time for seemingly no reason with no symptoms - but nowhere in that volume.

Call your vet ASAP.

 

[Winchester Farms]

i did cut it open, it had the same thickness and color all the way through. i did half expect to find something in there, like how an oyster does a pearl, but nothing. a tiny tiny poop was on the outside but i dont think it really had anything to do with it. the white stringy thing came out as we were inspecting the "egg". i thought it was a worm at first but was clear, almost the same constency of a sausage casing, only much smaller. the normal color poop was covered in browny orange mucus - which i just read is a sign of impaction or ulcers.

 

[Debby - LB]

could be some intestinal lining FurstPlaceMiniatures. I've seen coccidiosis in a dog that passed stringy looking worms like that but I don't think horses get that do they? You would know if it were tapeworm as they are segmented. What ever it is, that has been in there a while and you are lucky that made it through the cecum.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

A lot more than coccidia can cause intestinal lining to shed - such as trauma and irritation. Any species can get strains of coccidia. However in livestock it doesn't present like this at all.

I had the pleasure of grabbing a tapeworm once while breeding a cow (recently purchased, joys of the auction!) it looks nothing like the poster above - more tape like not as gooey as you'd expect.

Sausage casing was Intestinal lining back in the day. I would be a large sum of money that's what this is

Could also maybe be a fibroid - never seen one in horses but have in cattle a few times. I would really lean towards intestinal lining

 

[Minimor]

That will be thick mucous/intestinal lining. I think you have a serious constipation there. The little milk dud turds and that stuff say that is the case. That is not tape worm nor any other worm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, that's intestinal lining. I've seen it once before when I had an impaction colic. Your little girl really needs IV hydration, but since your vet sounds like a real winner, do everything you possibly can to get her to drink! It's a good sign that she's moved some of the impaction through! But there's more to come, and it needs fluid to help it move along. Good luck with her, and please keep us posted on her progress!

 

[chandab]

Give her plain too, but try flavoring her water to keep her drinking and make use she stays hydrated. Try molasses, kool-aid (cherry seems to be favored by many), Gatorade, perhaps even beet pulp or alfalfa (make these soupy, they drink the water, then eat the goodies, hopefully; test it with small amounts)

 

[Debby - LB]

agree with all above. Until she's hydrated enough to pass some normal looking stool and get all the blockage out I would not offer her any dry hay. If you can get Alfalfa that would be fine, if your grass hay is fresh and not dry and stemmy it may be ok but green grass and alfalfa is good. You may want to call your Vet and let her know that she was impacted and has passed quite a bit and see if she can come out and give her some fluids or if you can take her to them for some. I don't know about where you live but here that would not cost much to trailer in to have it done. She could really use some lactated ringers. In the future you may need to put salt on her food daily to make sure she drinks enough water. I wish you continued good luck with her.

 

[Winchester Farms]

i tried the clear and red gatorade, she doesnt like it. ive syringed gatorade and water into her mouth with water, and she doesnt care for that (understandable) i think she just lets it flow out of her mouth, even though i go slowly and a bit at a time. ill try the kool-aid today with the carrots. i made a mash of carrots,salt karo and water this morning which she seems to have loved. ever since that poop last night she seems better, but i know there is much more to come. i was wondering, would it be beneficial at this point to syringe mineral oil or epsome salts into her mouth? will definately trailer her again tonight and pray for more results.

forgot to add - i called new bolton yesterday just to get a rough estimate. they wouldnt give me a price on anything because the estimates are based on her condition, but the emergency fee (which is just to walk in the door, no exam, nothing) is $600, and an ultrasound starts at $350-400

 

[chandab]

If you have karyo syrup you could try that in her water as well.

If she has a favorite treat, make that into a wet mash for her, anything to get her eating and drinking, but small amounts of wet feed

.

 

[NewToMini's]

Can you give us an update on how she's doing?