Post-operative management of the colic horse

Colic is potentially a devastating disease process for horses and those horses requiring general anesthesia and exploratory celiotomy for evaluation and correction of the cause of their abdominal discomfort are frequently the most critically patients at a referral hospital. Improevments in anesthesia and surgical techniques has lead to improvements in outcome for horses with surgical causes of colic, but short and long-term success depends in large part on careful and appropriate postoperative monitoring and therapy. This paper discusses the principles and some specifics of postoperative management of the colic patient ...