Thursday, August 07, 2014

Oh poop. Or not.

Scout pooped 6 times over the 12 hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday, but has I my pooped 3 times (one of the pretty small) in the last 23 hours.

He is on 2 grams of Bute twice daily, which is a lot, but is not his maximum dose for his over 1220 lb body weight. I don't like giving him that much, but it has been barely controlling his pain, and if he hurts he doesn't want to poop.

I suspect Bute is probably not helping his digestion. Is that correct? Too late to switch. I can't have him in incredible pain during the washout period before meds could be changed.

No x-rays have been done. I think I will do those today, if I have time. Of course our machine won't penetrate his croup area. I may also draw blood to at least check his hydration status. I have my first day off in two weeks tomorrow, and I may take him to a different vet that can put him on IV fluids if necessary. John can take time to take him today if he needs to go sooner.

I am feeding thoroughly soaked hay to keep him hydrated. About 1/8 flake every 2 hours. He gets soaked alfalfa pellets with his Bute, and I added a large scoop of Probios last night and will continue to do so. I think I might give him some ground flax this morning too. Maybe that will make him poop.

He won't drink water when I keep him with me at work all day, even if I bring it from home, so he's going to stay home with John today. That way he can go for regular walks too.

I'll have a post about something other than illness and injury someday, I promise.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If it's just his tail that is injured, would a nerve block work? Or would that make it harder for him to poop? Keeping fingers crossed that he feels better soon.

Keechy said...

Poor Scout. Yes bute can affect tummies. When I had to put our old pony on bute, he would often colic, so I put him on slippery elm powder as well and that seemed to help coat his stomach and keep things moving.

Kara said...

Bute should not affect his actual digestion, but it does interfere with the mucus coat of his stomach wall...that can make him sensitive to stomach acid and at risk for developing an ulcer. If you are concerned about the high dose bute, you could also try giving ulcegard just to prevent ulcers. I think prevention dose would be lower than actual ulcer dose, but check on that.

It would be hard to block the nerves in his tail without also affecting his perineal sensation (and hence urge to push to poop).

Have you thought about trying dexamethasone? That would really hit the inflammation hard and would be my first choice in an acute trauma this painful. With care, of course.