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Discussion on Feed or Not to Feed?
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Aileen
Member
Username: sunny66
Post Number: 2254
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 - 12:25 pm: |   |
One year my horse was at the trainer's and had a severe impaction because his automatic water container was very small and he thought when it was emptied he was finished, evidently. Horse needed to be tubed three times - no food for 48 hours. After the third tubing he was ok'd to have very little food (mush) and 10 minutes of green grass periodically throughout the day and only if he had a bm after each feeding. After being fed, he would have a bm. He recovered just fine after very gradually returning him to his original feeding regimen and I added a water bucket to his stall in addition to the automatic waterer.
Now that he is home with me, I have a sincere distaste for automatic waterers ... lol ... and I relish cleaning and filling the 70 gallon tubs every three days.
There have been times over the years when my horse has colicked, never thrashing, just not eating all his food and laying down a lot and looking at his belly. Plenty of bms, vitals normal, etc.
Another time, I had called three vets because I wasn't getting response. One vet said to not feed at all because it could severely worsen the impaction if he had one.
Another vet then called and said after I told him of the previous vets recommendations, if he has nothing in his system, how can he have bms?
I did not know what to do so I incorporated both by doing what I did for my horse when he had the severe impaction but on a more limited basis of letting him eat green grass for 5 minutes, wait for bm, small amount of mush, wait for bm, etc. Horse ended up just fine.
Another situation:
Boarder's horse was colicky, called the vet and the vet stated to give banamine, 1/4 of normal hay ration that night, then 1/2 ration next morning. Upon further discussion, oks mushy hay pellets/cubes given first, then a small ration of his normal hay. I agree with the feeding regimen, with constant eye on the horse and his actions or non actions. He was under a watchful eye for three days, no further action was necessary and was gradually brought back to normal hay rations.
Another question is feeding mush instead of hay.
For my horse, realizing that my horse is definately not the standard! lol... not having colic, necessarily, just uncomfortable - vitals ok, etc. stemmy hay made it difficult for him to digest, eliminating stemmy hay and his symptoms went away. He was switched to hay cubes so I can just water them down when there is a question.
But for those who eat hay on a regular basis, why wouldn't feeding mush work for other horses as it did for mine and my boarder?
Yet another question  :
Are hay cubes considered forage? What about chaff hay? Would these watered down still provide the forage the horse needs to keep his digestive system working properly in a colic case or on a regular basis?
I obviously eventually went with the feeding mush after each bm and continue to do so with vet's ok and as long as vitals, etc are in the normal range and the horse is not in distress.
One last thing, I am lucky to now live with my horse so I am able to pick up on the little things and have been successful in catching colics before they get too bad. I also board horses and have caught them before a colic turned bad as well, over the years. I think the key is to be aware of each horses' behavior or change of behavior, know each horses' normal vitals so we can know if anything is elevated (learned that here... ;)), and catch it before it gets bad.
If you've made it through my ramblings, thank you ... lol... Understanding each horse and circumstance is different, I wish this to be a discussion of hypothetical circumstances and for learning to better take care of our strong and noble horses who have the most delicate insides! |
Erika L
Member
Username: erika
Post Number: 1945
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 - 1:09 pm: | |
Aileen, its nice that you have found what helps your horse when he gets out of sorts, but I can't help but wonder why he has mild colic so often? Does your vet have any thoughts on why it keeps recurring?
Colic is a rare to almost never occurrence here, and the last episode we had was the end for my 35 year old gelding. I would be very keen on trying to find out the cause, as even the thought of it is terrifying to me.
Erika |
DianE
Member
Username: scooter
Post Number: 4948
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 - 1:34 pm: | |
I haven't had many colics either, but when I did the horse didn't want to eat . My main stay has been banamine watch carefully and if they are back to normal when the banamine wears off (Bm's , appetite ect,) they get their normal rations. They don't get grain tho and if they did I would not include that for 24 hrs.
If improvement isn't seen the vet is called. the few colics I have had have been mild gas colics tho and pass easily. The last impaction colic was about 15 yrs. ago, the vet tubed, gave banamine and said 1/2 normal rations and no grain. Until Bm's return to "normal"
I think every situation is probably different depending on the severity of the colic, whether it is a gas or impaction colic, and the cause of it...if known.
I would not change my horses feed during or after a colic, but if they were getting alfalfa pellets/cubes already I don't think it would harm anything to make them into mush, not really a change in feed, but a change in consistency.
colic and founder are 2 thing that strike fear in me and unless it is very, very mild the vet is called. Mine get the carrot test and if they don't want a piece of carrot it's serious! |
Aileen
Member
Username: sunny66
Post Number: 2255
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 - 2:20 pm: | |
Hi Erika, first vet thought ulcers, treated for three years, then the ulcer meds stopped helping. When asked my vet defers to a colon issue which I was told by someone that too much ulcer meds can lead to colonic ulcers (Dr. O?), if so, that would make sense.
I also have a feeling he thinks his cancer could be metasticizing... would need to have an mri done to determine which I can't afford, so I keep him as comfortable as I can. He won't say that, because he knows it would freak me out ... lol ... but his bloodwork doesn't show any signs of it, neither is he losing weight at a rapid pace.
That said, I am now working on getting his bacterial base in his intestines back to normal with digestive enzymes, etc. Just to see... Also, he's been having problems with distended intestines, I recently was told that the lack of folic acid can prohibit digestion of protein in the small intestine. Folic acid is found in green grass, which we do not have at the moment. So I'm going to test that theory and see if it helps.
I also think a big part of the issue is that he's not able to be "a horse." No acres of pasture to just roam about and graze. He just has a 3/4 acre pasture that dries up in the spring. Plus I live on a fairly busy road with loud trucks, motorcycles going by, etc. I think that also adds to it.
Last but not least, he's very sensitive to barametric changes and he internalizes everything.
The original post is over an 8-year period, so it's not quite as often as it seems However, it could be all of these reasons, it could be none of these, so I just keep on keepin' on and do as much research into new things as I can.
Great input Diane, thank you |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: dro
Post Number: 23810
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Monday, Sep 28, 2009 - 9:24 am: | |
Aileen, I am NOT aware that: - Too much ulcer medicine causes ulcers.
- Supplementing digestive enzymes beneficial to intestinal bacteria or the horse in general.
- Folate deficiency occurs in horses, other than those on antibiotics, starved, or perhaps with severe liver disease.
Then again too much of anything including oxygen and water is toxic. Microbial digestion in the cecum insures minimum amounts of the B vitamins so B vitamin deficiency is not reported in the horse other than as described above.
All these topics are discussed in the nutrition or medication secontions of this site.
DrO |
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