Colic Prevention Review Flashcards
Define colic and describe behavioral indications of colic in horses and foals
Colic is a demonstration of symptoms that are interpreted as evidence of abdominal pain. Adults will bite and paw at the flank and may have a flehmans response. Foals will lay down and get into a frog legged position, strain and fail to suckle.
Describe the common epidemiological characteristics of equine colic
- Gas colic is the most common form
- 4/100 horses colic per year
- spring is the most common time for colic cases
- 1.4% of colic cases undergo surgery
- if they’ve colicked before they’re more likely to again
Describe the feeding practices that you should follow in horses
majority of nutrition should come from fiber based diet like hay
- hay should be cut when booted out
- ratio of stem to leaf : 50% leaf ideally more
- dust or mold: best hay has minimal
- soft to the touch: aim to feed hay that does not include plants with briars or thorns or other forms of debris
list some good feeding practices to reduce colic
- avoid switching feeds and/or feeding high amounts of concentrate
- slowly transition from one type of feed to another
- introduce horses to spring pasture slowly and consider adding a grazing muzzle
what are some additional methods for reducing risk of colic in horses?
- clean and easily accessible water
- exercise/activity
- preventative care (deworming, dentistry, vx, biosecurity)
describe the rate of colic progression based on the location and nature of a GI lesion
for small intestinal lesions:
- 2 hours: changes in physical parameters
- 4 hours: changes in peripheral blood
- 6 hours: changes in peritoneal fluid characteristics
- no ponies with small intestinal lesions survived past 24 hours, most were dead by 18 hours
T/F: the window of opportunity for lesions of the small intestine is very narrow
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