MatthewBruns.comAnimals
Animals, what a pain in the rump they are, but so cute and nice. 

december 20, 2008
    Nothing much to be said about the animals this week. The horses are better and we just let them back on to the pasture earlier this week. We hate to keep them trapped in thier padock, they seem to get bored and depressed without having space to roam around and grass to nibble on.
    In other animal news: It's almost Christmas and the cats are excited!! All of the decorations thrill them, especially the tree and any sort of ribbon. When we return from shopping the cats eagerly explore our packages, sure an adventure for them, but must everyone get cat hair with their gifts.


december 10, 2008
    Well, everyone seems to be better now. Spike came through with flying colors. Honey May is doing well but still has had some loose poo. Keli has been giving her probiotics and she is improving. We have obviosly been concerned about what caused two out of our three horses to colic.  Our hay and grain seem fine so we took them off pasture in order to find out if it something they are getting into out there. Aparently colic can be caused by many things including but not limited to:

too much food eaten too quickly               
drinking a large amount of cold water
changes in tempature
grain and hay changes
accumulation of sand and dirt in the intestines
ingesting fungus or foreign objects
and a billion other things

Found this on the wikipedia horse colic page:


Spasmodic colic

Spasmodic colic is the result of increased contractions in the horse's gastrointestinal tract. It can be the result of a mild gas buildup within the horse's digestive tract. The signs of colic are generally mild and respond well to spasmolytic and analgesic medication.

This seems like a good non professional diagnosis to me.

The important thing is that everyone is fine now!!!!


december 07, 2008 
    What a lousy weekend to be a horse owner. Spike our young gelding had colic yesterday afternoon. We noticed him moving oddly and before long it became obvious what was happening. We called the vet and she was here within a couple of hours. It was really interesting; after giving him a sedative, she shoved a tube through his nose, down his throat, and into his stomach. The tube allowed excess gas to escape and then she pumped a gallon of mineral oil into his stomach to help move his digestive system.
    It worked wonderfully, immediately his pain subsided and as soon as the sedative wore off he we his old self. Fortunately this was a mild colic so no serious actions were required. Apparently when a horse colics they try and roll to alleviate the pain and can twist their intestines which requires immediate surgery.
    Last night until midnight we kept checking on Spike and he stayed fine. However this afternoon our mare Honey May started showing colic signs and we have been trying to get here through it without calling the vet. Her case also seems mild and we have given her Banamine and mint tea with a small amount of beat pulp. We just checked her an hour ago and gave her a second dose of the Banamine, we’ll check on her again soon and hope for the best.

    What’s the moral of the story? Don’t buy a horse unless you have ridiculous amounts of money and enjoy wasting it.