DAN: "How many types of colic are there?"
So we answer all kinds of questions on colic.
So we'll definitely put the link in the description
here and at the end of this video for you.
But this is a great question because I
think that's one people get hung up on a little bit.
DR LYDIA GRAY: They do, and there's
a number of ways to look at this.
Do you think we should define colic,
or is that in other videos and they should--
DAN: That is in other videos, but I
think it might be a good way to anchor us here a little bit.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, OK, good.
So colic, plain and simple, is defined
as abdominal pain in horses.
So it's not associated with any--
it's not associated even with the GI tract and for sure
not in any particular segment of the GI tract.
So it's just pain in horses, and it manifests as--
and I think one of the other videos
has like a rolling list of pawing and rolling and looking
at the flank and maybe going up and down
and sweating and high heart rate and--
DAN: Well, I think people think sometimes
colic has to be this huge episode or scene.
It literally could just be pain in the stomach
and biting at the stomach.
It doesn't have to be--
DR LYDIA GRAY: And I suspect we don't
know of a lot of colics that happen in our horses that
are overnight or out in the pasture where nobody's watching
them.
DAN: I totally agree with that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: You know?
So we've covered all the signs and symptoms.
And the risk factors, I think, are in the video, too.
We also cover what to do and what not to, do like hand
walk them for hours and hours and hours.
There's no benefit in that.
You can look at colic, as you mentioned, mild--
so medical colics that are treated--
even not treated because they were that mild,
they went away on their own, or they were treated on the farm--
one visit from the vet, some banamine,
and maybe they tube the horse and it was all fine.
Or the ones that the vet comes to the farm
and treats the horse, and they are
able to stop the pain for a while.
And then like in 30 minutes, it comes back.
And those are the ones that, particularly
if you have ColiCare, the colic surgery reimbursement program,
you get referred to a surgical facility.
And surgery might be--
DAN: Which is the worst when they're like,
"Is your trailer hooked up?"
You're like OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Is there gas in the tank?
DAN: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
So medical and surgical are two types.
But I think what the person was asking was what causes colic.
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So the AAEP has a wonderful PowerPoint
presentation and a brochure on their website.
And they classify colic three ways--
intestinal dysfunction, which would be the most common one,
and those are the mild medical ones.
Then intestinal accidents, and those
are things that can only be corrected by surgery.
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So those are more severe.
DAN: Twists and things like that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yep.
And then inflammation, ulceration, and those
are named by the segment that is affected.
So--
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: If you have diarrhea
of like the large intestine, it might be a colitis.
Or of the small intestine, it would be enteritis.
So in there would be stress, medication, parasites, sand,
and infections.
Back to the intestinal dysfunction, those mild ones,
those are your spasms--
so gas, like a gas colic.
DAN: Yeah, you hear that one a lot.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah?
Impactions fall under that because those
might be able to be resolved with mineral oil or less--
that's less favorable now.
Just putting fluids into the gut with a stomach tube
has been shown to be better at resolving impactions
than mineral-- we used to think that oil
would go around the impaction and sort of soften
and smooth out.
DAN: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It's better to put fluids in and make it
into the impaction and soften it from the inside out.
And then it just dissolves.
It breaks up, and then it passes.
DAN: A little new tip for all of us there.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Intestinal accidents--
so those are the surgical ones-- can be things you mentioned--
twists and entrapments.
There's one where entrapment--
where the right dorsal colon flips and displaces it.
It goes over the ligament between the spleen
and the kidney.
And it gets stuck there.
DAN: The horse's anatomy really can do some crazy things.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know.
It was designed by committee.
So that's really great.
There's also one intussusception,
and it has as many S's in it as you think.
And that's a telescoping so that a segment of bowel
telescopes into another one.
And once it does that, it doesn't usually come back out.
So that's also surgical.
That's not as common.
DAN: These are quite scary.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: But these are things that unfortunately, we have
to deal with as horse owners.
And there's all kinds of things that can happen with them.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Right.
DAN: And colic, unfortunately, is
non-discriminatory towards horses.
It can really unfortunately happen to any of them.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yep.
DAN: And that's why we do have programs like ColiCare
to give people a little bit of reassurance of--
peace of mind that if they do have to make a decision--
DR LYDIA GRAY: We're behind you.
DAN: --have some options there for sure.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: So hopefully, that helps you out
and did not scare you too much.