[bnttyra]

our 13 yr old pony, Duke, is colicing pretty bad this time. He usually colics every fall regardless of what we do. I keep him on a routine of phsylum every other month and when he starts to colic, we can tell because he starts to lose weight, I give him extra. He will usually have a couple of days not eating or drinking very much but after the phsylum kicks in he is fine and puts the weight back on. Well this time, we noticed him losing the weight gave him the phsylum, nothing much happened, he passed some sand but still was not eating much. I then gave him some more and he passed a little more sand but still would not eat. So, after 2 doses of mineral oil and a trip to the vet for Banamine, he passed out the mineral oil and started to nibble and drink water. All that stopped Saturday afternoon, and now after almost 1 1/2 of eating next to nothing, he is basically skin and bones. I am waiting for a call from the vet who is going out to see him. In the meantime, can anyone think of anything else? His temp is normal , gums were alittle whiter but still pink, has gut sounds, did eat some carrots yesterday, little clear fluid coming out his nostrils. Could he have pheumonia? I am just hoping the vet doesn't say he needs to be put down the kids would be so upset.

**The vet just called and there is poo in the rectum! He may still make it after all. It is an improvement from yesterday and we may not have to put him down afterall. Not out of the woods yet but heading that way.**

[Sue B]

What is his deworming schedule like? My friend had a horse that coliced in the fall and late winter because of changes in deworming. He had to stay on a strict deworming schedule of every 8 weeks...a couple of days beyond and he coliced.

It also sounds like he sets himself up for problems. If he isn't drinking enough, this will cause dehydration and most likely the weight loss that you see. It also contributes to the olic issue.

What is his diet like? How much does he weight and what doees he get to eat?

[ejforrest]

Give him the psyllium for "7" days or if he is full of sand, 14 days. You should be feeding psyllium for 7 days every month from the time they start grazing and until the ground is froze, not every other month. Just dont feed on an every day of the year basis. He could still be full of sand and needs more treatment. My Appy gelding did the same thing this month and colicked for 3 days. After a 14 day treatment of Sand Clear he is back to normal. I have to do this to him every time the temps drop. He is from a warmer state and the cold doesnt agree with him. Psyllium helps to stimulate the bowel and keep fluids in the intestine, helping to move sand along with the water. More than a teaspoon per six fecal balls is considered abnormal.

[bnttyra]

His worming schedule has been the same since we have owned him, 4 years now. He is on a diet of alfafa (10-15# 2 times a day) and when out in the pasture, free grazing of grass. He gets about 1/2 of sweet grain with the phsylum when we feed that to him aver other month. That is for about a week, he doesn't get grain of any kind for anything other than with the phsylum. He is about 500# I think when he is his normal weight. He should have more than enough roughage to keep him regular.

Yes, we have had sand colic issues with this pony since we purchased him. I will put him on grass hay about every 3 months or so and let him have as much as he wants. We had to pull him from the pen he was in because we couldn't tell how much he was drinking and eating due to the donkey being there with him.

The vet didn't think it was his diet but something else that maybe contributing. He is current on all his shots, worming, everything. I really need to get this resolved because the pen he is in is not that far away from the pen with the mare that has pigeon fever. As long as her swelling hasn't burst he is ok but once that goes, I am really concerned that he won't be able to survive any other illnesses.

Thanks for the input, I am still waiting for a call from the vet on what she thinks we should do.

[bnttyra]

Originally Posted by ejforrest

Give him the psyllium for "7" days or if he is full of sand, 14 days. You should be feeding psyllium for 7 days every month from the time they start grazing and until the ground is froze, not every other month. Just dont feed on an every day of the year basis. He could still be full of sand and needs more treatment. My Appy gelding did the same thing this month and colicked for 3 days. After a 14 day treatment of Sand Clear he is back to normal. I have to do this to him every time the temps drop. He is from a warmer state and the cold doesnt agree with him. Psyllium helps to stimulate the bowel and keep fluids in the intestine, helping to move sand along with the water. More than a teaspoon per six fecal balls is considered abnormal.

We do already, he gets it every other month for 7 days. We live in Arizona and he always pulls his hay out of the feeder and on to the ground. Because of that, I do it every other month because he needs to have it year round. If I can't get him to eat the phsyllum, he can't get the sand out and I know he does not have a blockage.

[BettyBootsy]

Yikes! I feel for ya. Me personally I would free feed him a good grass hay from a bunk and not feed him off the ground at all. Theres been lots of studies that suggests that a straight grass hay diet and no psyllium pushes sand thru the gut faster then psyllium alone. Whats his whole diet consist of now? I would put oil to his feed as well if your not already. His diet has too be lacking something I think! Well basicly your not feeding him right now hardly anything but grass or hay!?! Thats what I get for thinkin' What all has your vets done for his colic and what drugs has he been getting? I just spent my lovely day yesterday with a colic myself. Babies think there diein' when they have a slight gas colic and well I thought the lil guy was too . I kept thinkin' OMG he twisted a gut. Not to mention sunday and the on call vets about an hour away. Hang in there!

[CJ]

Does he colic every fall when the weather starts cooling off, esp at night? My horse/s used to colic like that, til I started putting a sheet on at (40sF) night. The fall colics stopped.
Yours could be sand related, but I wonder if PM temps are aggravating it. With him being thin a sheet might do some good.

[wrightdanes]

Is the pony getting enough water? WHen it cools down, one of our mares tends to get colicy because she doesn't drink enough water. We have to give her warm bran mashes.

[bnttyra]

Well after a long afternoon and evening at the vets, he is starting to feel better. They put in about 6 big bags of saline, tubed him again and he wanted to drink this evening. The vet says that in our area, some horses colic because they eat the dirt/sand and thinks that is his problem. She says to keep him on phsyllium all the time and that it won't hurt him. After further searching she did find an impaction in the pelvis region and thinks that if we get him enough fluids it will pass. Neither one of us suspected an impaction because he was still passing gas and still passing some waste plus the gut sounds were good. Hopefully he will pass the rest of the impaction tonight but I am taking him back in the morning. We are gona try to put matting down to prevent him to getting to the sand/ground. Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas and I hope I will be able to say tomorrow that he is all better.

Oh yea, we also discovered that he is probably closer to 20 then 13. I just assumed the people we purchased him from gave us the right age, but I guess not and I never aged him off his teeth.

[bay_blnd jmpr07]

I'd ask to have a blood panel done to check all the levels.

My mini mare coliced early in the summer and dropped weight REAL fast. She ended up passing a little over a week later. But she had a lot of complications due to a horrible life before I got her. Not saying your pony is in the same situation as my mini. But blood panels can be very helpful.

ETA:: Just read your last post. My mare had gut sounds too. She wanted to eat (but it pained her due to what we(vets) thought were bad ulcers). She was tubed and mineral oil came out as did some stool. And there were always gut sounds. She ended up with an impaction all the way to her stomach and her colon burst resulting in her death before the vets at the Emergency clinic could help her. No one ever fully suspected impaction. My vets actually thought it was/could be an entrolith stone stuck in the intestines. It turned out there was a disfunctional nerve in the intestines so nothing was passing.