Colitis in adult horses

[Becky]

Anyone have an adult horse with colitis? If so, how did you treat and how long did it take for the horse to recover?

 

[muffntuf]

Do you know the cause of it? Here is a link to a good article.

http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/aaep/2001/91010100400.pdf

 

[Becky]

Thanks for sending the link. I did read that article the other day.

More than likely dealing with a clostridial colitis here. The horse here was in the hospital for 3 days and is home now but still having 'issues'. Wondered if anybody else has gone through this?

 

[whitney]

My mare had a TERRIBLE bout with colitis after an antibotic. I treated her with 35cc MAXIMUM strength Pepto Bismal every 6 hours and she cleared up in 2 days.

She was 7 and weighed 230 pounds 32" tall.

 

[wildoak]

Our outcome with colitis wasn't good. We lost a 12 year old mare several months ago. She went from being okay to being near death in a very short time, and we made the decision to put her down since her condition had deteriorated so quickly. Hope you have a much better outcome.

Jan

 

[Becky]

Oh gee, Jan, I was thinking I remembered you having a horse with colitis not long ago. So sorry you lost her!

I'm dealing with a 14 yr old gelding with it. Never been sick in the 13 years we've owned him. Until Saturday. Diarrhea is under control and he was on IV's at the vets. Now that he's home, he still doesn't show much interest in eating. He will eat some grass so he gets out of his dry lot several times a day to graze. He's still on Bio Sponge, Ulcer Guard, Fastrack and I gave him a low dose of banamine this morning because he was acting a bit painful. I hope he improves soon.......

 

[dgrminis]

A couple of years ago we had a stallion get this -- he was a 35" mini -- but it took 3-4 weeks to get him better.. He was IVed the first couple days to keep him from dehydrating and then after that he was given regualr water one day and electrolytes water the next -- alternated to keep him from getting to many electrolytes... He recieved a shot of banamine twice a day for the first 2 or 3 days (if I remember right) and then another week of just once a day. He was given a dose of probios on a regular basis also (cant remember how often we did that)... But he was but on antibiotics -- metronidazle - 250mg tablets -- he got 8 of them 3 times a day... I would crush them and mix them with kyro syrup or mollases and then syringe it into his mouth like you would a wormer.

I honostly did not think he would make it the first couple days but by the second week he had perked up and started to show signs of going the right direction...

Good Luck with your gelding..

 

[Mercysmom]

My outcome was not good - my late draft mare had something similar - vet called it anterior enteritis (she said it occurs usually in young Thoroughbreds under stress on high carb diets - not 7 year old Belgian draft mares that do not travel or eat high carb diets - she was on the EPSM diet) and compared the condition to colitis-x in humans. She got sick on a Thursday (I was out of the country), she stabilized under Banamine, had 6 gallons of nasty orange reflux through the NG tube, then profuse, foul smelling, projectile diarrhea yet was still eating hay and drinking. She lasted long enough for me to get home on Sunday and died the next day - I had asked the vet to put her down on Thursday when the horsesitter initially called but the vet felt that she was doing well with the Banamine and wanted to support her as she felt the mare was going to pull through.

Good luck - I hope you have a successful outcome with your horse.

Denise

 

[MinisOutWest]

Becky- This is almost what my boy did die of- Colitis, but not the kind with diarrea. It does take about 3-6 weeks for them to get thru it if they have the slightest case. My Levi- had the full blown killer Colitis. But hopefully not you- the horses are back and forth to the vets , hooked up on IV's, mega tons of antibiotics, the neck veins usually blow, so you will need to look for that with the infection to set in too. but yes, tons of biosponge, probios, ulcerguard. you name it, they pump them full of it.. It is not fun, I have a friend in texas her 35 inch show gelding is just getting over it and it has been 5 weeks now.

 

[wildoak]

Anyone who has been through this - have your vets ever been able to pinpoint the cause? We had a necropsy done but they were unable to nail down the exact bacteria. Becky, I hope your guy pulls through. At least you have a fighting chance if he is responding to treatment, ours was such an acute onset that we never had a chance.

Jan

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

Becky,

I am not a vet but may I suggest asking the vet for Metronidazole? It is a pill that dissolves easily in just a few drops of warm water, given am and pm orally by syringe for 10 days- 14 days. (It is also called Flagyl) It is great for diarrhea caused by antibiotics. Many antibiotics kill the "good" bacteria" in the gut and the bad bacteria takes over. It really fixes horrible diarrhea. It is also great for diarrhea caused by irritable bowel syndrome.

My premie minis were on it this spring.Worked great!

Also, My Rottie had irritable bowel syndrome for many years and horrendous diarrhea. She was frequently on Metronidazole and it was the only thing(I tried everything) that would stop her diarrhea)

Robin