Surgeons of Veterinary College and Research Institute (VCRI) Hospital, Orathanadu, successfully performed a surgery on a six-year-old pony stallion to remove an intestinal obstruction.
Vijayakumar, a farmer from Thirukadaiyur, brought the stallion to the hospital with signs of colic pain and anorexia on April 9. After a thorough clinical examination, it was found that there was intestinal obstruction due to enterolith and the prognosis was explained to the farmer.
Later, under the guidance of T. Sivakumar, Dean, VCRI, a team of surgeons led by S. Senthil Kumar, A. Kumaresan, and P. Tamilmahan performed the surgery and successfully removed the enterolith. The five-inch long enterolith causing the colonic obstruction was relieved through enterotomy on April 10. Accidentally ingested plastic debris from the feed acted as a nidus for the enterolith formation, a press release from VCRI said.
The animal made an uneventful recovery from anaesthesia in two hours post-surgery and was provided with intensive monitoring and care after surgery. The pony gradually improved in the post-operative period and regained its normal feeding and enteric functions 72 hours post-surgery.
Dr. Sivakumar said colic surgery was horses is extremely difficult and the current case was the first of its kind where successful surgical intervention was performed at Orathanadu.
He also urged horse owners to exercise extreme caution when feeding their horses and be on the lookout for accidental ingestion of foreign plastic bodies.