Horse Colic Medication
Colic is a term used to describe a painful malfunction in a horse's gut. It comes on as a result of gas trapped in a horse's gut or an impaction, where manure or food block a horse's digestive system. Only the second type is treated with medication.
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Symptoms
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Colic consists of a couple of standard and obvious symptoms. Horses demonstrate obvious discomfort, pace and look back at their stomachs. Many horses will refuse to eat, as colic is akin to a stomach ache. Eventually horses may lay down and thrash as they seek to ease the cramping in their stomach.
Medications
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When a horse colics from impaction, a vet will typically administer some medications via injection. Banamine, Phyelbutazone, Butraphol and Morphine are painkillers that help to relax a horse during colic. As the horse's body relaxes, his pain eases and the blockage may pass. Laxatives and muscle relaxants may join in the cocktail, depending on the cause of the colic.
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Mineral Oil
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The second step in treating colic is not a medication, but is equally important. A vet snakes a tube through the horse's nose, down its throat and into its stomach, then siphons mineral oil from a bucket through the tube and into the horse's digestive tract. The mineral oil lubricates the horse's system and helps ease the impaction through the gut and out of the horse's digestive tract.
Management
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Owners and vets supplement colic medications and treatments with some important physical actions. They walk horses that are suffering from colic to increase circulation and movement in their digestive tract, and encourage them to drink water, which further lubricates their system.
Considerations
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Impaction colic can become a very serious problem, and sometimes leads to loops and knots in the intestines. These results are not treatable, even with the strongest medication, and must be treated surgically. In some cases, surgery is unsuccessful or impossible, in which case colic is fatal.
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References
- Photo Credit horse 8 image by Harvey Hudson from Fotolia.com
