Options for Managing Equine Intestinal Pain

Veterinarians can’t manage all colics with NSAIDs alone. Learn about the other medication options they have.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

When your horse’s arthritis is acting up, your veterinarian might recommend a dose of anti-inflammatory. Or if his heaves is worsening, maybe the vet will prescribe a bronchodilator. For mild colic signs, many reach for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

But veterinarians can’t manage all colic pain—especially severe pain—with NSAIDs alone. Fortunately, veterinarians have other options for treating visceral (intestinal) pain. L. Chris Sanchez, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, reviewed these medications at the 2015 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum, held in June in Indianapolis.

Pain Scoring

When evaluating a painful horse, veterinarians often use scoring systems to gauge their pain levels and judge improvement or deterioration following treatment.

“In order to be useful, a pain scoring system should include clearly defined assessment criteria, be suitable for all observers, be simple and quick to use, be sensitive, have identified strengths and weaknesses, and be validated,” said L. Chris Sanchez, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, an associate professor and director of the University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine’s Hofmann Equine Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. “One of the most useful clinical applications of integrated pain scoring systems is the assessment of interventions: Assess pain score, apply treatment, then reassess pain scores at various intervals

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
433 votes · 433 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!