The Final Countdown

Today the vet came out for Daisy's colic. Those post includes most of the gory details, as non-gory as I can make them. But let me back up.

Where I left you all, Daisy was doing very well Sunday and I had hopes that by the next morning she would be 100% again.

Well, Monday morning Daisy was rolling and pawing all over again. I was out of oral banamine, so my vet refreshed my memory over the phone on how to give a shot of banamine  in her neck (which she's showed me how to do, but I'd never actually done). I gave Daisy the injection and it went fine. She jumped a little, but overall she was very good for me. Once that set in, I started squirting mineral oil in her mouth with an old dewormer tube... I used up an entire gallon. It was so messy and gross and got absolutely everywhere. 

The banamine wore off, but she still seemed to be doing well, pain wise. She had pretty explosive diarrhea all night long. She drank a lot of water that day though, so she was at least hydrated. 

This morning the vet called to ask if I wanted her out today. . . but Daisy was doing relatively well this morning, so I said no, because she seemed fine. 

This evening around 4, things weren't fine anymore. Daisy was rolling and pawing and in pain all over again. I called the vet and we decided she would come out later tonight. I gave Daisy 5cc's of banamine in her neck again for the pain. 

The vet got here at 8pm. She gave Daisy a physical exam and said that, even though Daisy hadn't pooped all day, she still had diarrhea in her. She sedated her with an injection in the vein in her neck. Once that set in a little, she gave her another 5cc's of banamine in her vein, and drew blood into the same syringe for Daisy's coggins test, so that we could get that out of the way. Then she attempted to get the tube up Daisy's nose to give her oil and water, but Daisy was jerking her head too much. She twitched her, and when that didn't work, gave her another dose of sedation. With the double dose of sedation and me twitching her, Daisy was still enough for the vet to pass the clear plastic tube up Daisy's left nostril, down to her stomach. She put some water into it, and then waited to see if anything came back out from Daisy's stomach. She said if it did, it would be a very bad sign. Luckily nothing came up. She pumped a gallon of mineral oil and half a gallon of water into Daisy's stomach, and removed the tube again. I held Daisy's head on my knee, and held the tube still the whole time. 

Then we opened the top half of Daisy's dutch door and backed her up to it. The vet went to the outside of the door and stood behind it, so that Daisy couldn't kick her. She put a plastic glove that went up to her shoulder on her arm and stuck her hand in Daisy's butt. She fished manure out of Daisy for a half hour, and had to go all the way into Daisy up to her shoulder. Daisy, as it turns out, was harboring a bad impaction within her. I held Daisy's sleepy, heavy, sedated head in my arms the whole time. The vet thinks she got most of it out, and with the oil and all that room in her now, it should be resolved in the morning. 

Boy, am I glad! I'll be so happy to have a healthy horse back. It's so easy to take little things in life for granted (your horse's daily health and ability to poop.... ), until they're gone. ;)

I posted about Daisy's colic issues and proneness to Lisa Huhn's facebook group. Lisa is the founder of Equinextion (see here: http://equinextion.homestead.com/ ), where I will be going for two weeks in May to study natural horse hoof trimming. She is into everything natural, so I thought she would be a good person to ask about how I could prevent Daisy's colics in the future. She directed me to her facebook group. I had quick, helpful answers right away! People brought up flax, bran, and probios as being good things to give Daisy on a regular basis to prevent her colic, besides her regular apple cider vinegar that I give her anyway.  I will be putting Daisy on ground flaxseed and probios, along with her ACV. Hopefully, we can avoid this situation altogether in the future. 

And so, this is the final countdown. The final evening. *Fingers crossed*, prayers said, that Daisy will be back to being my grumpy horse in the morning.