Equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) is a disease of foals caused by the obligate intracellular organism Lawsonia intracellularis. This emerging disease affects mainly weanling foals and causes fever, lethargy, peripheral oedema, diarrhoea, colic and weight loss. The diagnosis of EPE may be challenging and relies on the presence of hypoproteinaemia, thickening of segments of the small intesti...

BACKGROUND Colic could be accompanied by changes in the morphology and physiology of organs and tissues, such as the intestine. This process might be, at least in part, due to the accumulation of oxidative damage induced by reactive oxygen (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), secondary to intestinal ischemia. Glutathione (GSH), being the major intracellular thiol, provides protection agai...

Gastric mucosal disease is frequently recognised in equine practice, especially, but not exclusively, in actively performing race and competition horses. Although true ulceration is commonly seen in squamous mucosal disease (Figure 1), its subjacent glandular mucosal neighbour is affected more frequently by inflammatory and erosive lesions (Figure 2). Research efforts have helped provide us wit...

Every equine practitioner appreciates the delicate nature of the equine gut. Problems related to the small intestine and large intestine are well understood and routinely treated. What may be surprising to many is how often the stomach is affected. Specifically, the incidence of gastric ulcers is extremely high, particularly in performance horses. This article will review why horses suffer from...

Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) has been recognized as a clinical entity in horses for almost 3 decades. EGUS is common in all types of horses and clinical signs are variable and include inappetence/slowed eating, colic, weight loss, poor hair coat, poor performance and behavior changes. Anatomy of the stomach, low forage diets, intense/increased exercise, high concentrate diets, regular/p...

The study, done on 100 corpses from the dissection rooms of anatomy laboratory, hinted the morphological variability of the colic arteries and their territories. Morphological variability of the colic branches derived from the mesenteric arteries (superior right colic artery -- 98%; middle right colic artery -- 88%; inferior right colic artery -- 100%; middle colic artery - 36%; superior left c...

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY A recent survey of European Colleges (European College of Equine Internal Medicine [ECEIM] and European College of Veterinary Surgeons [ECVS]) revealed the different strategies implemented by, and some of the challenges facing, European clinicians presented with cases of post operative ileus (POI). It was concluded that further comparative analysis of opinions, canv...