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Discussion on A look at the diarrhea prior to sand colic
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Member:
tdiana
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 6, 2010 - 7:45 am:
I am just curious about this. My local vet says manure from a horse that is about to have a sand colic will look like regular manure but slightly looser with the individual pebbles covered with mucus. When a horse has "regular" diarrhea such as for example would be the consistency of cow manure he automatically rules out a problem with sand. Has anyone else been told this?
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Member:
juliem
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 6, 2010 - 11:18 am:
My vet explained that (here I'm not sure I got the right part of the Ailamentary Canal) the colon secretes mucus as the manure moves along through it which gives it that shiny appearance when it exits. If it's coated with excess mucus, it been too long in transit and could mean an impaction or some other issue has slowed the gut transit time. It can also mean the horse has ingested some sort of toxin. He'd treat this as a red flag. I've had several horses with a buildup of sand come to me and each had loose stools. None had mucus. I treat with a sand removal product, make sure they aren't in a sandy enviornment and feed lots of grass hay and have always had success firming up the manure. You can test for sand easily at home or your vet can and I'm not sure why your vet would use mucus as a rule out?? That doesn't make sense to me. Is he an equine vet?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Mar 8, 2010 - 7:25 am:
Hello Diana,
Since I do not practice in a sandy area I do not get to see sand colics so can only relay my understanding of the problem as I have read it. Diarrhea is commonly described but I have not read about a particularly mucusy diarrhea with a sand colic.
DrO
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Monday, Mar 8, 2010 - 12:31 pm:
I live in a sandy area and practice sand control.
Some of the other horses that I have observed who had a large sand load had loose stools with plenty of sand readily visible (without testing) in their manure, but not mucous.
I have personally witnessed the presence of mucous with extreme irritation due to impaction colics from other causes.
This is not to say mucous is never present with an extremely large sand load but I have certainly seen horrible cases without the presence of mucous.
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