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"Tubing" a horse backwards

From: Renee

Dear Jessica, thank you so much for helping all of us. I have a question about "tubing" horses. Two days ago one of the horses at my boarding stable was showing signs of colic and the vet came out. I was the only other person there besides the horse's owner because it was so late at night. I stay late because I just brought my horse here last week and my Mom said I can stay until nine at night for the first ten days to help Rainbow "settle in". The horse with colic is a nice horse named Kelly that has the stall across the hall from Rainbow. Arlene is his owner and she is nice. She called her vet and he came right out. The vet checked all of Kelly's "vital signs" and said he was having gastric and breathing problems and he thought it would be a good idea to use a tube. I know that this is a colic treatment and that it is used to put oil into the horse's stomach. I read about that in a magazine article and in one of my horse books, but I haven't ever seen a vet do this so I thought I would stay and watch.

In the article and my book the vet put the tube down the horse and pumped oil in to the horse's stomach through the tube so that the colic would stop. But this vet didn't put any oil in it. He tubed the horse backwards is the best way I can explain what he did. He put water in it (not oil, just regular water out of the barn hose) and then he held the end of the tube very low to the ground, and a lot of stuff came out of it. He said that this was to make Kelly more comfortable, but he didn't look comfortable to me. He was all sweaty and puffing his nose out. I think the tube was making it hard for him to breathe. I didn't want to say anything because this was Kelly's regular vet, but I have to wonder if he really knew what he was doing.

Why would he do something that would make it harder for Kelly to breathe? Since he was already sick. And why wouldn't he put oil into Kelly's stomach when he was sick and needed it for the colic? Why did he use water not oil, and why did all this stinky stuff come out the tube? I don't know everything about horses yet but I could tell that Kelly was really sick, he was all sweating and puffing and wanting to lie down all the time. I was going to put my horse on this vet's list next month (we have two vets to choose from, they both of them come out to the barn in the spring and fall), but now I don't know if I want to. Kelly is okay now but I have to think what I would do if it happened to Rainbow. I might want to be a vet someday and I would always want to do the right thing for horses. What do you think about his actions?

Renee


Hi Renee! Lucky you - it's always very interesting and useful to watch a veterinarian working on a horse that isn't yours. When it IS your horse, you're usually too emotionally involved to be entirely clear about what's going on. When it's someone else's horse, you can watch everything - and if the vet is willing and the horse's owner doesn't mind, you may even be able to ask questions.

I'm glad that you had the good manners to stand back out of the way and not interfere - and I'm sure that Arlene was grateful. But the next time something like this happens, why not ask the horse's owner and the vet if you can watch and learn about what the vet is doing and why he is doing it? If they don't think this is appropriate, they can say so (and they will), but if they don't mind, you may have a great opportunity to learn a lot in a short time. Many vets and horse-owners don't mind at all, as long as you stay out of the way and don't interfere with their conversation or with the horse's treatment. A lot of vets are quite happy to provide a running commentary as they work, explaining what they are doing and why. Even the horse's owner may learn something she didn't already know. ;-)

I'm not a vet, and even if I were, I couldn't tell you exactly what this vet was thinking, but I can give you some information about "tubing" horses, and then you can discuss the topic with your vet. Will that do?

The vet wasn't "tubing the horse backwards' - that nasogastric tube you saw has several functions, and can be used to move fluids in either direction, into the horse's stomach or out of it!

You were right: One of those functions is to enable the vet to put oil, water, or a mixture of the two directly into the horse's stomach. That's what you saw illustrated in your magazine and book. But a nasogastric tube can also be a diagnostic tool - and sometimes it can also be a therapeutic tool. I expect that's how this vet was using it. When a horse is showing signs of abdominal pain - the sort of pain associated with colic - it can be very useful for the vet to pass a nasogastric tube. The vet can tell something about the horse's problem by what he hears at the other end of the tube, and also by what he smells through the tube!

I know that it must have looked very unkind to put the tube into a horse that was so obviously in pain, but the vet was probably doing exactly the right thing. The stronger the signs of pain, the more urgent it is to get the tube into the horse. Sometimes the right thing to do is to add oil and water to help the stomach contents on their way via the normal route through the horse's digestive system, but sometimes adding oil is exactly the WRONG thing to do, and the vet has to decide what's appropriate. Sometimes, for instance - not in Kelly's case, thank heavens, but sometimes - a colic is so serious that the vet thinks the horse may need surgery, and if the horse is going to have surgery in an hour or two, adding oil could be the WRONG thing to do, because the presence of the oil could make the surgery more difficult.

There are occasions when in the vet's best judgement, the correct thing to do is not to ADD fluid to the contents of the horse's stomach, but to REMOVE fluid and gas from the horse's stomach as quickly and directly as possible. Too much fluid and gas in a horse's stomach can cause a lot of pain, and extreme amounts can even cause the stomach to burst like an overfilled balloon. Humans can burp and vomit, but horse's can't, so if a horse is in a lot of pain because it has too much fluid and gas in its stomach, the vet may decide to use a nasogastric tube to help remove some of that fluid and gas. From your description of the vet's actions, it sounds as though this is exactly what he was doing. By putting some water into the tube and then holding the end of the tube low, he created a siphoning action - this got the fluid IN the horse's stomach to begin moving OUT of the horse's stomach, down the tube, and onto the ground. Some gas probably went with it too, but you might not have noticed this unless you were standing very close to the tube.

Think about this - there's a horse in pain from pressure in its stomach created by excess fluid and gas. The vet passes a tube so that the fluid and gas can drain away. The less fluid and the less gas in the horse's stomach, the less pressure it experiences - and the less pain it feels. It may not have looked as if the vet was doing much of anything by putting a little water into the tube and then holding the tube low, but I'm sure that Kelly was greatly relieved by the vet's actions. And think about it: Kelly DID feel better, recovered from his colic, and didn't require surgery. That's all good. You said it yourself: "Kelly is okay now."

If you're curious about the specific treatment that you saw the vet give Kelly, or about the vet's reasons for choosing that treatment, why not ask Arlene about it, since Kelly is her horse and she has probably discussed the matter thoroughly with the vet? Then, if you're still curious about how the vet determined that this was the best treatment at the time, you can ask the vet when he comes out to give spring shots, etc.

I can't tell you which vet to choose for your own horse, but from your description of the situation and the treatment, it sounds to me as though this one had the situation well in hand. When your horse is getting his shots, you'll have your chance to talk to the vet. Tell him that you would like him to explain every single thing he is doing while he's doing it, because you're very interested and want to learn as much as possible and understand as much as possible. All of the good vets I've known have been very glad to deal with people who really wanted to learn more about all aspects of horse care. Good luck!

Jessica

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