Colon Cleansing for Horses

According to the Colon Therapist's Network, a professional registry for colon therapists, colon cleansing for humans includes colonic irrigation, colonic hydrotherapy, colon lavage and enemas. Colon lavage and enemas are commonly used veterinary treatments for constipated large and small animals. Newborn puppies, kittens and foals are commonly given enemas if defecation is not seen within 24 hours of birth. Dehydrated cats and dogs may be given a colonic lavage to loosen packed intestinal materials, as are horses experiencing impaction colic. The use of colon cleansing methods in equine veterinary medicine is quite often a life saving procedure.

  1. New Foal Treatment

    • New foals are born with meconium in their intestinal tract. Meconium is the solid waste product that develops when the foal is in utero. After birth, foals should pass this first manure within 12 to 24 hours or risk colon impaction and possible septicemia. Veterinarians often recommend that horse owners administer a water or human infant enema to the foal within that first day to facilitate this defecation.

    Colic Treatment

    • Colic is the common name of any disease that causes abdominal pain in the horse. Because the horse cannot vomit like other animals, any diet change, sudden change in the weather, abnormal parasite load or over exercise can lead to stomach upset and colic. A lack of the proper amount of water can lead to obstruction or food impaction in the colon. Colic is extremely painful and the horse needs immediate veterinary care to avoid surgery and possible death.

      Veterinarians will commonly pass a naso-gastric tube into the horse's stomach to release any gas. They will then pour a gallon of mineral oil into the stomach through the tube to loosen any obstruction and to work as a laxative to facilitate defecation of the obstruction. Vets usually perform a manual examination of the horse's colon and lower intestine to determine if there is impacted material or a twist in the colon. Impacted material, usually feed and hay or large amounts of intestinal worms, can then be removed by a water or mineral oil lavage--a tube placed into the animal's rectum and up into the colon to pump in either water or oil to loosen the obstruction. This kind of lavage is basically a large animal enema.