Stomach Rupture
The symptoms can be nothing to full thrashing colic symptoms. The reason I'm brining this to my blog is because this happened to us, but not in a normal way. No ulcers, now colic, no grain, just pasture living with pleasure rides and lots of love. I'll start with what is normal. I'll also include some autopsy photos so WARNING graphic photos to follow.
The most common cause are gas or feed back up from the small intestines causing distension of the stomach and eventual rupture. Diagnosis and treatment for this would be along the lines of colic, passing a stomach tube to evaluate the horse. Tubing a horse is a very common practice in a colic exam.
The other common cause is ulceration of the stomach that eventually leads to the ulcers and the weak tissue of the stomach ripping open. Ulcers can be caused by many things; stress, excessive exercise, lack of exercise, high starch feeds, a lot of grains and sugars in the diet, rescue horses that have an un known past. Ulcer guards and treatments are recommended there are several supplements out there that treat ulcers. I could go into all the symptoms of ulcers but that would have to be a whole post. But bucking, irritation, poor personality, lethargy, not wanting to do normal activities are all signs of ulcers, but there are more. I should also add that some horses show no signs of ulcers till autopsy. So be aware of the stress your horse is under and try to keep their life as natural as possible. If you can't, then consider supplementation as a prevention.
Well what if your horse lived on pasture with their friends never had grains or sugars in their diet. They were not hauled around for shows. They were just home being loved and ridden from time to time. That horse seems lethargic, not a lot of moving around the pasture. Followed by laying down and having to be forced to stand. She lay on her belly legs folded, no thrashing or rolling, almost like a nap but she was drooling. Horses DO NOT drool. She was not exhibiting any normal colic symptoms, so choke was suspected. Obviously the vet was called and a tube passed all the way to the stomach, so not choke. The vet extracted 20 liters of saliva from the horse. The stomach was not emptying. The small intestines were moving and manure was being passed appropriately... what was going on? The valve at the base of the stomach that goes to the small intestines was not passing appropriately. It was probably a degenerative situation where just enough got by and the horse could graze all day so eat at a pace that didn't over strain the stomach. But it got to the point that fluid was not passing and the back up of saliva was voluminous. The horse was treated on fluids in the hospital but ultimately 3 weeks later her stomach ruptured. The autopsy showed a ruptured stomach. Small intestines were fine, no abnormal gas or feed. All other organs were normal. There was less feed in the stomach than we would have expected to cause a rupture but the saliva volume can put equal pressure on the tissue. There was obvious irritation of the tissue area near where the tear was, but the vet suspected that because we managed to keep her alive an additional 3 weeks that we were looking at fresh damage to the tissue and not ulcers or long term trauma to the stomach. It was decided that the valve emptying the stomach to the intestines was abnormal and ultimately non functioning.
During an autopsy the first indication of a stomach rupture is food debris up near the heart area or girth area when the body cavity is opened. If the intestines had ruptured it's usually further back in the body cavity.
This autopsy was done on a rescue horse that had bad ulcers that went necrotic causing the stomach tissue to tear. In her adopted home she lived a year longer than anyone had ever expected. She was loved in her last year by many and was given appropriate care prior to death, so please no harsh comments, they were kind enough to share the autopsy photos for education. She exhibited no signs of colic leading up to her death, was eating dinner normally and interacting with other horses normally. She was found in the morning with no signs of struggle. She did have a worn spot on her sternum/girth area as if she had been laying like the above horse, so please add that as something to watch. Horses do sleep, but not to the point of having sores on their sternum/girth area, so please check for that on your horse.
Sadly the stomach is not an organ that they can operate on. Sometimes even when you do what every Vet would consider the dream horse life and most natural life, sometimes it still can happen. But be aware of the life your horse is living. Their natural life is not a box stall with corn and sugar and limited exercise, so please take the precautions and preventative measures for your beloved beauty.
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