Colic Surgery with Positive Outcomes

When our 18yearold Thoroughbred gelding Jack began to display symptoms of colic it was immediately worrisome. Over the years we had lost two other horses to more serious colic caused by strangulating tumours wrapped around the intestine. Both horses had to be euthanized. So Jacks restlessness lack of appetite pawing anxiety and his need to roll set off alarm bells. I kept him moving constantly until the vet arrived. Diagnosed with spasmodic colic Jack was given an antiinflammatory medication. A few hours later he had relaxed and had started to eat and drink.

Colic is a condition many horse owners worry about hoping it can be treated quickly and simply should it occur. But some conditions call for surgery and owners are then faced with challenging decisions about surgical outcomes complications postoperative care cost and future performance.
Colic an umbrella term for abdominal pain can have many causes. It can affect anywhere from four to ten percent of horses at some point during their lives and can be mild as in Jacks case or serious and sometimes lifethreatening.
Typical physical signs exhibited by the horse include agitation rolling looking at the flanks kicking at the stomach hunching the back sweating not wanting to eat and being unable to defecate. Often it is a mild bout of gas pain that can be resolved with a single dose of antiinflammatory medication and handwalking. But the exact same symptoms can herald much more sinister conditions which is why colic should always be taken seriously with a visit from the vet for proper diagnosis.
For horses requiring surgery a recent study that followed postoperative colic horses in Finland showed that colic surgery can result in excellent positive outcomes for both horses and their owners.
Many horses encounter colic at some point of their life and fortunately many of the episodes can be treated conservatively with medication and fluids says Dr. Isa Immonen with the University of Helsinki Finland and one of the reports authors. Sometimes however the horse requires surgical treatment which is expensive and a major operation for the horse. This may be a difficult lifeanddeath decision for the owner.
The researchers looked at the longterm outcomes of 236 horses that had colic surgery between 2006 and 2012 and focused on owner satisfaction and patient performance after surgery. The mean average age of the horses at the time of surgery was 8 9 years and warmbloods were the most