Horse Colic - Causes and Recovery

also predispose horses to ileal impaction.
Occasionally a segment of gut may be so severely damaged that it must be removed and the two healthy ends sewn back together resection and anastomosis or some sort of gastrointestinal bypass has to be performed. Up to half of the small intestine can be removed without any adverse effects.
The vast majority of intestinal colic episodes in horses respond well with passage of a nasogastric tube to relieve gas or fluid accumulation administration of drugs for pain flunixin or butorphanol for instance and potentially laxatives mineral oil.
Colicky horses that remain painful despite aggressive therapy require exploratory surgery to diagnose and correct the cause of abdominal pain.
Horses that have had a colic episode that responded well to routine medical therapy are usually best managed with an additional two to three days of dietary modification. Whenever colic occurs it is useful to review if anything has changed in the horses life that may have led to colic such as cold weather that may have decreased water intake or a change in hay or concentrate feeding different source or an increased amount.
Fasting for 12 to 24 hours is a good practice to decrease the amount of feed material in the horses gut and to allow the gut to rest. The horse can be offered small frequent drinks of water to maintain hydration. Most veterinarians recommend some period of feed restriction and decreased concentrate feeding for one to two days after a colic episode. Short handgrazing sessions five to fifteen minutes are excellent to allow some feed intake and walking generally promotes movement of feed through the intestine. Many veterinarians also recommend that the horse receive only 50 percent of its normal concentrate diet for the first day after colic. Refeeding the horse with several frequent every four to six hours small meals for one to two days gradually transitions the horse back onto full feed. If hay is restricted it can be sprinkled throughout the horses stall to stimulate grazing and prolong the horses eating time.
Horses that have had surgery are more complicated to nourish how soon the horse is fed and what the horse eats depends on the extent of surgery. No surgical case is exactly the same and feeding recommendations will vary based on the lesion identified at surgery whether a resection and anastomosis or bypass procedure was required and surgeon experience and opinion.
Healthy adult horses