Module 16 Week 3 Flashcards
(216 cards)
(assessment of the horse with colic)
When taking a history of a portential colicing horse what should you ask?
When first noticed?
Owner intervention?
Any previous medications/therapy attempts?
Any previous veterinary visits?
Any pertinent history?
On physical examiniation of a potential colicing horse what should you look out for?
- Overall habitus and condition
- Pain, cardiovascular status, and abdominal distension
- Response to analgesics, such as flunixin meglumine and/or xylazine
- Rectal examination findings can be helpful if positive, but not if negative
In horses with large colon volvulus what are two marked thinsg to look for?
- pain
- abdominal distension
Why can small intestinal diseases start with severe pain and then the degree of pain decreases?
The horse becomes depressed
If the HR of the colicing horse is greater than 60 what should you do?
Stop taking HR and place nasogastric tube as the horses cannot vomit so this can lead to a ruptured stomach and the tube helps to relieve pressures.
When aus dorsal and venral quadrants on both sides of the horse what ahould you be listening for?
Gut sounds - as if none of this is not good.
When listening for caecal flush what side should you listen on and how often should you hear them every min?
RHS and a few every min.
When a horse is colicing, what should the abdominal shape look like?
Look like they have no waist and are super gas distended
Should you take the temperature when clinically examining a potential colic case?
Yes always - fever is indicative of enteritis/colitis/enterocolitis or other infection.
Should you take a horses temp before or after you rectal?
Before
Why must you always palpate scrotum and inguinal rings in EVERY intact male?
SI can herniate into the scrotum; enlarged cold/ hot feeling
How should you adequately restrain a horse for a rectum palpate?
Restraint
* Twitch
* Crush
* Sedation
+
Butylscopalamine (Buscopan®)
When rectal palpating, what should you be feeling for on LHS?
- Aorta
- Caudal pole of left kidney
- Spleen caudal edge
- Pelvic flexure of colon
- Bladder
When rectal palpating, what should you be feeling for on RHS?
caecal band
What sedation should you NOT use when going to perform a rectal examination of a horse?
Flunixin
What are the positive signs that tube is in esophagus not trachea?
- Negative pressure
- Visualization of tube LHS neck jugular groove
- Slight resistance to advancing
- No cough
- Stomach gas when in the stomach
What can go wrong when placing a nasogastric tube in the horse?
- Passing tube in middle/dorsal meatus
- Epistaxis
- Intubation of trachea
- Difficulty getting into the stomach, trauma to the oesophagus.
How shall you check for reflux after placing nasogastric tube in horsey?
- Pour in water using funnel and jug, use gravity to create a siphon
- Take note of how much fluid goes in
- Reposition tube back and forth and recheck
How should you remove the nasogastric tube from horse?
Blow air then kink, pull smoothly and quickly
What does increased PCV and decreased plasma protein indicate in a horse?
dehydration with protein loss into the intestinal lumen (severe mucosal ischemia or inflammation) or into the peritoneal cavity (peritonitis)
What should you look for in horses’ feaces when assessing for colic?
- Ileus will decrease faecal passage
- Mineral oil passage??
- Check for sand, parasites
- Impaction (large colon, cecum, small colon)
What is abdominocentesis used for?
It is used to collect peritoneal fluid for diagnostic analysis, helping to identify conditions such as peritonitis or ruptured bladder.
What instruments can be used for abdominocentesis?
A long cannula, teat cannula, or needle.
How is the centesis site determined?
By ultrasound or by selecting the most ventral (dependent) point on the right side of the linea alba.