The grass is starting to grow. Some of you may decide soon to bring your horses off the grass onto a hay diet to avoid the Autumn flush. You may decide this either to prevent weight gain, or to prevent any behavioral change.
Please always remember that changing from a grass to a hay-based diet results in a very different total water volume to the gastrointestinal tract.
Last week we saw a patient that had become impacted causing severe colic. The faeces had formed a dry mass in the large bowel and had caused it to obstruct. As the horse continues to eat, the impaction becomes longer towards the mouth end as no faeces is passed.
This is an emergency situation which needs intensive care with IV fluids and oral fluids to over hydrate the bowel. This will prevent the faeces from distending and rupturing the bowel which would be fatal.
Luckily, we saved our patient this week.
Tips:
Use molasses water or electrolytes when bringing horse from a grass to a hay diet.
Soak 50% of the hay for the first week.
Heavily wet the hard feed.
Monitor faecal output.
If there are any signs of abdominal comfort do not give pain relief without calling your vet first.