Clinical signs of colic are those changes
in behavior or activity that indicate abdominal pain. Although
these signs are relatively universal, individual horses may
exhibit slightly different cues and different intensities to the
same causes of colic. For instance, a colicky foal often rolls
onto its back with its feet in the air. Some older horses and
perhaps certain breeds may be more stoic than others.
Such horses may experience abdominal pain
and show few obvious signs of this pain other than depression or
unwillingness to move. Overall, no one knows when a horse is
behaving abnormally better than an owner who is well acquainted
with his/her horse's normal behavior. Such individuals may pick
up on early or subtle behavioral changes that could indicate a
problem. Changes that owners often recognize early may include
increased recumbency, failure to finish grain or hay, reduced
activity either in the stall or in the pasture, increased time
spent lying down, abnormal stance, increased time required for
feed consumption, reduced fecal production, dry or loose feces,
poor hair coat, and weight loss.
These changes are important to share with
your veterinarian, who does not have the benefit of seeing these
day-to-day changes in your horse. Therefore, the owner serves
as the eyes and ears to the episodes that have prompted
veterinary intervention. Your veterinarian can use this
information to help evaluate your horse. As important as this
information is, you, as the owner, need to realize that these
subtle changes in your horse are not specific to any one
condition. Therefore, these signs do not necessarily mean that
your horse is experiencing colic.
Your veterinarian will perform a complete
examination that may seem to include things that do not focus on
the intestinal system. This is the correct approach since these
signs can indicate problem(s) in areas other than the intestinal
tract. During the examination your veterinarian will also look
for evidence of previous colic episodes such as skin abrasions,
swollen and reddened skin around the eyes and over the hips
(from trauma due to rolling), presence or absence of feces in
the stall, scrapes left in the stall floor bedding (from
pawing), and scrapes or hair found on the walls of the stall
that may be left from a horse that has been cast or otherwise
trying to alleviate discomfort.
Most horses will manifest abdominal pain
clinically with some important signs. Very mild abdominal pain
might only be apparent in the behavioral changes suggested
above. However, horses with mild abdominal pain often show one
or more of the following clinical signs:
• pawing at the ground with a forelimb
• stretching out
• reaching around with the head to the flank
• increased amount of time lying down
• poor appetite
• playing in the water bucket
• continual shifting of weight on the hind limbs
• standing against a wall and moving infrequently
If abdominal pain continues or if the
condition causes more than simply mild abdominal pain, the signs
of more intense (moderate) abdominal pain may become evident.
The signs include the following actions:
• persistent movement (even in the stall)
• frequently pawing at the ground with a forelimb
• repetitively lying down and then getting back up
• rolling after lying down
• grunting
• kicking at the belly
• frequently turning the head to the flank
Clinical manifestations of severe abdominal
pain may include the following signs or behaviors:
• profuse sweating
• continuous rolling
• persistent movement
• getting up and down violently
These lists are only general guidelines for
gauging the severity of pain. Indeed, individual horses might
display other manifestations of pain. Furthermore, the signs of
colic displayed by any horse do not neatly divide into the three
levels of pain presented here. For any colicky horse several
signs from any of the above lists may be present, or there may
be few or none if the horse is particularly stoic.
With more advanced progression of colic or
with certain types of colic, horses might become more depressed
than painful. Depression is generally believed to occur as blood
flow decreases to the intestine and leads to segmental death of
intestinal tissue and endotoxemia, dehydration, and other poor
blood perfusion of the body tissues that can be associated with
poor oxygen delivery to the same tissues. Many types of
inflammatory diseases of the intestine produce more depression
than pain. Anterior enteritis, colitis, and peritonitis may be
more likely to cause greater depression than abdominal pain
without necessarily being associated with death of the
intestine.
Other than in the instances noted above,
greater abdominal pain (colic) is generally associated with more
severe disease. Therefore, strangulation of a segment of
intestine that leads to loss of blood supply and intestinal
death causes more pain than an impaction that causes intestinal
obstruction. However, gas distension of any segment of intestine
can be extremely painful due to continuous stretching and
tension on the intestine and its attachment to the body wall
(the mesentery). If severe abdominal pain that has been evident
gives way to acute relief and comfort, the astute veterinarian
is usually considering the possibility of a rupture of a
distended segment of intestine (stomach or intestinal rupture).
