Post-mortem Diagnosis of Small Colon Polythene-fecalith Impaction-induced Colic in a 5-year-old Local Stallion (Equus ferus caballus)

Abstract

A necropsy was performed on a 5-year-old local stallion (Equus ferus caballus) weighing about 290 kg stabled adjacent to a household waste dump site. The horse was reportedly restless and anorexic with constipation some 72 hours before death. Other signs before death included pyrexia, bruxism, hyperpnoea, congested mucous membranes, and enlarged abdomen. The stallion had hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and congested lungs with ecchymotic haemorrhage on the coronary fat of the heart. There was congestion of the serosal surface of the anterior one-third of the small intestine with enlarged caecum containing granular semi-solid materials. Also, the small colon was progressively ballooned until it became wholly obstructed by an oval-shaped polythene-fecalith mass weighing about 300 g and at a point about 35 cm to the anal opening. The finding led to a definitive diagnosis of polythene-fecalith impaction of the small colon-induced colic in the horse. This has highlighted the dangers associated with inadequate nutrition, unsanitary stabling of horses and lack of exercise in the pathogenesis of some colic conditions in horses.