Clinical and Haemato-biochemical Studies on Gastro-intestinal Colic in Horses

Abstract

Background: Colic is an important disease of horses. It is a multifactorial and complex disorder. Colic remains one of the common causes of death in horses therefore in present investigation, clinical and haemato-biochemical changes associated with GI colic in horses were studied. Methods: Total 105 horses were examined to study the clinical and haemato-biochemical parameters in colicky horses in southern part of Rajasthan. Result: Mean respiration rate, pulse rate and capillary refill time was found to be significantly increased in horses affected with colic than healthy control animals (P<0.05). In haematological indices, mean packed cell volume was significantly increased in colic affected horses (P<0.05) whereas mean total platelet count and mean lymphocyte count was found to be significantly decreased (P<0.05). In serum biochemical indices, serum aspartate amino transferase, serum alanine amino transferase, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, serum glucose, serum albumin, serum total protein, serum alkaline phosphate and blood lactate were found to be significantly increased in horses affected with colic than healthy control group (P<0.05).