I hate colic-Round 2, different horse-good update

[goldhorse]

He was ready to be discharged today. Since it's the holidays, I opted to leave him there for the attention and care. He'll be picked up on Wednesday. What a grand and glorious Xmas present!

[StraightForward]

You have really been through the wringer with two separate colics. Jingles for your old guy to keep on the up-and-up!

[Flight]

Fingers crossed he stays ok!

[Quelah]

Not good. He either has a non-lymphoma cancer or an autoimmune colitis. Appetite and energy has returned. The plan is to start him on steroids which should suppress either for awhile until he crashes again.

I'm sorry to hear this what about the sand? Where was he getting it and was it not a factor in the colic?

[goldhorse]

He lives on irrigated pasture in Lodi and eats pellets from a feeder. The Davis vets felt that the xrays didn't show enough sand to account for the severity of the colic and aren't going forward with recommending any psyllium treatments. I've always wondered if he had some kind of auto-immune thing since he has 1) early onset arthritis or juvenile arthritis 2) bad sweet itch 3) sensitivity to NSAIDS 4) sensitive skin.

[fergusnc]

Thank you for loving your animals so much. Big hugs.

[goldhorse]

Tomorrow is our recheck at Davis so we can start tapering him off his steroids. Steroids are wonder drugs. Too bad about the side effects though. Currently, if he didn't have the awful clip job from an abdominal ultrasound, no one would suspect that he had been sick. And I mean an awful clip job. Their clipper blades must have been a hundred years old! He's gained his weight back, he's chipper and energetic, and the poops are normal. Call me weird but god, I love normal horse poop! I will update this thread after I know more. The vets have been dancing around the diagnosis of some kind of cancer but have been reluctant to say so definitively without a biopsy which requires surgery so that is moot.
I always joke that I'm paying for the new wing at the new large animal clinic at Davis. After 2018, it's no longer a joke.

[Moutaineer]

Fingers firmly crossed that all continues to go well!

[goldhorse]

So today was nothing that I expected. His ultrasound was clean. Intestines have healed and NO EVIDENCE OF CANCER!!!! So the vets think it was a one off episode of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Cats are supposed to have 9 lives. I don't know what it is for horses but this one has gone through 3 of them.

[PaulaO]

Yay for no cancer!

[khall]

Yay! That is awesome!!

[Moutaineer]

Such good news!

[goldhorse]

I came across this old thread and an update on the old horse is due.
2 years later and he's a fat, shiny, healthy looking brick sh!thouse horse. He remains on a low daily dose of prednisilone. My 2 tries to completely wean him off of it failed so he's going to stay on it.

[Kyra's Mom]

. That is good news.

Susan

[PaulaO]

Thank you for the update. It's nice to hear good news. What is the pred for?

[goldhorse]

Thank you for the update. It's nice to hear good news. What is the pred for?

Initially, it was to reduce the inflammation in his colon which was a holy mess. Both times thatI tried to wean him off of it, his symptoms came roaring back. So I gave it and am keeping him on 1/4 the maximum dose. I suspect that this horse has some kind of auto immune condition and when allergies or whatever flare up, his immune system attacks his gut. But that is only a theory. Thankfully pred is cheap.

[Srhorselady]

Your experiences sound a little similar to mine. I am so glad you were able to find something that worked for your guy. Mariano is a currently 25 year old Hanoverian gelding. Two and a half years ago in the middle of the summer after losing his long time companion he got real finicky about food. He had always previously been a very good eat anything horse. I blamed grief, the weather, etc. He got quite thin. I had the vet out a couple of times. Then one night he sort of coliced. It wasn’t a typical colic and I ended up hauling him to the closest vet medical center. By then he was doing better. Any way they ultra sounded his digestive system a couple of times and kept him a couple days. Long story short he has a thickened lining to his hind gut with excessive white blood cells. As my regular vet called it the horse equivalent of inflamed bowel disease. Although it was expensive it was worth it to finally have a diagnosis and a method of treating it. He was on a lot of meds and different diets for months until we found what worked for him and weaned him to the least amount of dexamethazone to keep him healthy. He now gets 4cc of dex IM injected three times weekly and I play with his diet. He is sound and in good weight. He is finicky about food and I frequently have to change his supplements and hay. But it is worth it to have him healthy. Good luck with yours!

[Sue B]

Wow! Great information you guys!