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Colic or heat exhaustion

4K views 27 replies 14 participants last post by  jaydee 
#1 ·
Pistol is acting wierd. His belly is rally distended. Slight gas sounds. Temp is 98.6 he is putting his nose down then slowly swinging his head up and Down. The will look at his belly. Found 2 soft piles of poo. Soft is normal. I hosed and he seems a little happier. Vet is an hour out still. Sitting outside with him. Bugs are biting me. Advice while I wait is appreciated. He does make a few gurgle gas sounds through his nose. He is 28 years old.
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#3 ·
Husband wonders if it is a slight choke. He is out of town. That is his phone geuss. Pistol only has 4 teeth.
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#5 ·
It might be heat stress. Try hosing/scraping/hosing/scraping to see if you can't cool him down a bit. I have a big bay mare that gets heat stress, and it always looks like mild colic, but her temp is normal when it happens.

Please keep us posted, and I wish you luck!
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#6 ·
I hosed. He is actually cool to touch. No mucous or slime. His mouth is dry. The noise is like a pig grunt.
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#9 ·
Well.....

I had tried to give him some oral banamine when I first saw him. I gave him a full dose which he promptly spit out and then tried to give another half dose which he spit out. So I didn't think he got any.

By the time the vet got there he was feeling quite a bit better. Of course the temp had gone from 100 to about 86. She said his temp was normal, gut was normal, respirations normal... His heart murmer has gotten pretty severe she said. She did pull some blood for testing and gave him a shot, I forget what she said it was, kind of like banamine but better on the tummy?

She had never seen Pistol before, she was the on call vet for the evening and I think she may have been irritated that I called her out. He still wasn't normal when she left but she said that his eyes were bright and he did not look anything like a 28 year old horse. She said if it wasn't for the heart murmer and his teeth she wouldn't have realized his age.

She said she thinks the heat got to him and my hosing and the temperature dropping had probably made him feel much better. He definetly wasn't normal when she left but was much happier. I geuss I called the vet too quick. I've had sweetpea for 25 years though...
 
#10 ·
I'm glad he is feeling better:D Don't second guess your decision to call the vet,you did the right thing!:) I would have been on the phone to the vet too:lol: You would have felt much worse if you had held off calling & he ended up getting much worse instead of better.:wink:
 
#11 ·
He is feeling better today. Still not normal. I cut his feed back a little this morning just to be safe but his belly isn't quite has rock hard. I did not see but one tiny splash of poop in his stall but that's normal with him to not poop as much as other the horses...

Thanks for keeping me company last night guys.
 

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#14 ·
Glad Pistol is better! My Thoroughbred suffered a bit of heat stress a couple years ago, and it can initially appear to be like early colic signs. Dehydration pinch. Stomach gurgles is always a good sign when talking colic. But I agree, never second guess your decision to call the vet!
 
#15 ·
Preliminary blood work came back with liver enzyme issues. Sent to state lab fire more :(
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#19 ·
This evening he was mad that I hosed him and he was trotting in hand while I took him from the barn to the round pen to graze and then later when I put him away. He is very alert and energetic. He ate well and chewed his hay into his little hay balls and spit them in the water trough like he always does. I'm hoping the liver issue is something that is treatable and not just an old age thing. He seems so much happier today.

They must not have gotten the results back from the state lab because they haven't called me. I'm hoping tomorrow.
 
#21 ·
The CBC? Or is it CVC? results came back normal. They want to draw blood again next week to test the liver enzymes again.

What does the liver do?
 
#22 ·
CBC complete blood count includes white blood cell count to rule out infection & red blood cell count rules out anemia/bleeding (most commonly)
liver-- detoxifies the body & helps break down proteins..vital organ
glad he is better..I think vet's commonly seem annoyed on a call out..probably more fatigue getting pulled in many directions..but it is their job...trust your intuition always!!
 
#23 ·
Vet came out and drew the blood she wanted today. She said again how great he looks for his age. Fingers crossed....
 
#25 ·
The vet called to say that everything looks much better. Big improvement and that I should have another blood test drawn at his geriatric exam in 2-3 months.

OK. I'm a bad horse owner. They do geriatric exams? At what age do those start? I've only ever done him with the rest of them?

Why do you suppose he had bad numbers on his blood test? Heat related? I should have asked huh?
 
#26 ·
You're NOT a bad horse owner. **hugs** As you may have read, my two darling older horses passed away in 2009, and each was 27yo. Elderly horses accumulate health problems, and you nurse them and live through the problems. Some time in the future, when he's passed on to his great reward, you'll get a younger horse without these problems, like I have done, and they will amaze you with physical antics, like jumping up on all 4's after rolling, instead of struggling. My old guys even affected my 2 dogs. After they struggled to help my elderly QH, who got caste simply bc of a little hole AND his age, NOW they freak when my younger horses roll, and they're SURE that somebody is gonna die! I threaten "basement" and "bad dog", but they HATE to see my 3 roll.
 
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