Colitis help

[tbtess]

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help or advise.
One of the girls horse's on my yard had very bad diahorrea for several days and originally we put it down to a change of feed, then she was told that eating barren grass can cause diahrroea and so can lack of fibre in the diet, so she put him back on his normal food (gradually) and hoped for change. However, after he started looking drawn she decided enough was enough and rang the vet who was there in 5 minutes, he took a poo sample gave him 2 injections and told her he had colitis and t probably came from the grass. After reading my A-Z of Horse's Health it says that colitis can lead to death in 1-2 days, and can come from E-coli. Has anyone had any experiences with colitis or E-coli or any information on how to help him recover or just simply and advise on the two?
Thanks in advance

[tbtess]

Can anybody help me with this thread???????

[Zingy]

Horses can naturally carry ecoli but I don't know much more about it than that.

Re the colitis, there's a few things you can try. Aloe vera, slippery elm, psyllium or probiotics spring to mind. Feeding dry bran can also help dry things up, but I'd be a bit wary of causing a nutritional imbalance with it long term. It can be a case of trying things to see what works. I'd tend to opt for psyllium or slippery elm as an immediate help with the problem, then things like aloe vera and probiotics as a long term preventative.

A friends horse suffered with this kind of thing for years and the thing that helped most was management routine. He couldn't be kept in for more than about 3 days at a time and when in he had to have ad lib hay - literally ad lib, so he was never without food for more than 20 mins or so. Not an easy thing to deal with, but it did get better.

[Jessey]

I can't really be much help here, as far as I can make out Colitis just describes an inflamation of the colon, and it is very depoendant on what caused that as to the best treatment.

From what I can see on the net Zingy is right that lotsof stock, including horses, often carry E Coli but show no symptoms or illness from it. I also read that symptoms can suddenly appear when the animal becomes stressed.

What treatment has the vet suggested you give?

We have an old horse who has cronic diahorrea all the time in late autum, winter and early spring, it is possible that he has some worm damage to his gut but the main reason for this is the lack of fibre in his system, unfortunatly he has almost no back teeth so finds it hard to chew his food. In the summer when the grass is soft and pleanty he can get enough forage but he is unable to eat hay and struggels to get enough grass etc and just bulking him on grain makes matters worse.

We find that un-mollased sugar beet is good, short chopped dried grass is what we give instead of hay and he has dry bran in his feeds to try and help regulate things (we don't worry to much about this making his nutrients a little unbalanced as he is in his 30's so immediate comfort is the most important thing), these things help treat the symptom of diahorrea so may be of help to you but depending on what the underlying cause is might effect your chioce on that.

Sorry I can't be of any more specific help, I would be interested to hear how you do manage it though.

J x

[tbtess]

I can't really be much help here, as far as I can make out Colitis just describes an inflamation of the colon, and it is very depoendant on what caused that as to the best treatment.

What treatment has the vet suggested you give?

Sorry I can't be of any more specific help, I would be interested to hear how you do manage it though.

J x

Colitis is a bacterial infection of the Large Intestine and apparantly can kill. The vet put him on antibiotics and so far so good, his dung is now solid again and he looks more himself.

Are you interested in how to manage the E-Coli or the Colitis?

Also, the vet came again today to check over and it turned out that he had 30g dead worms and dead eggs in him too (he took a poo sample last week) which was a shock as our yard has a strict worming programme, we mentioned the diet change to him and he said the food he had been changed to contained too many nutrients and it was possible that could also have caused the diahorrea, it was Dodson and Horrell Safe and Sound.

[Jessey]

Wow, I have not heard much about Colitis before (somewhere in my momory banks I seem to remember it being mentioned once apon a time).

What was it that got you to get the vet to check it out? I tend not to worry about a slightly runny tummy this time of year, maybe thats because I have now had two horses like our old man.
What causes the Colitis? I take it is from the E Coli but why all of a sudden has it flared up? did the vet give you any other indication? could it just have been the change in feed caused stress to the digestive system?

At least the antibiotics seem to be doing the job.

I strictly worm my guys but found a massive burden in two of my three when I got a worm count done a month or so ago, its well worth getting counts done regularly, I know heavy worm burdens can cause tummy upsets so maybe it was to do with that aswell.

Sorry to bomb-bard you with all these questions, just interested.

J x

[tbtess]

TBH its not my horse i'm just there for my friend on the yard and she doesn't seem to be having much look at the moment!
No worries about the questions though, i'll answer what i can.

What was it that got you to get the vet to check it out?
It was basically because he felt really (too) warm and his eyes were starting to sink and he'd had the runs for about 5 days.

What causes the Colitis? I take it is from the E Coli but why all of a sudden has it flared up? did the vet give you any other indication? could it just have been the change in feed caused stress to the digestive system?

I'm not sure what causes Colitis but the vet said the food had too many nutrients in it and could have caused a problem but he said something about it starting with the grass, don't know why though, think it comes from eating the roots of new grass, known as barren grass, and he also said Colitis was a bacterial infection of the Large Intestine. And i don't think the E-Coli helps though.

Sorry couldn't help further but am more than happy to try and get some research on Colitis and answer any more questions you may have.
K x

[artemis]

I have heard that feeding natural yoghurt helps.

[Jessey]

Thanks, just intrigued :D

[Zingy]

Colitis is a bacterial infection of the Large Intestine

Colitis is actually just inflammation of the large intestine and has various causes, one of which is bacterial infection (also viral infection/ food intolerences/ dietary change/ lots of other things).

Treatment would basically be a case of removing the cause if that's possible and if you know what it is. In my experience vets normally go for antibiotics first but if that doesn't work tend to run out of ideas! Otherwise you have to treat symptoms by soothing the gut, slowing down the gut contractions and encouraging correct absorption of food.

[tbtess]

Colitis is actually just inflammation of the large intestine and has various causes, one of which is bacterial infection (also viral infection/ food intolerences/ dietary change/ lots of other things).

Thanks for that, it was the vet that said he had a bacterial infection after diagnosing Colitis so i assumed the Colitis was the bacterial infection, unless he had Colitis and a bacterial infection aswell, could that be possible?

He is having natural yoghurt too, we also heard that can help, thanks.