Chronic colic typically causes mild to moderate discomfort over days, weeks, or months. | Photo: iStock

“We’ve all seen them, we’ve all dreaded them,” said Michelle Barton, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM. “They’re a different worry—will I be able to find a cause and treatment to prevent another recurrence, versus the situation with an acute colic episode, which is typically determining a single treatment plan.”

Nonetheless, veterinarians unravel complicated intermittent colic cases on a regular basis. At the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Focus on Colic, held July 16-18, 2017, in Lexington, Kentucky, she described the steps veterinarians take in diagnosing chronic colic, along with some of the issues that can cause it. Barton is a professor, director of clinical academic affairs, Fuller E. Callaway Endowed Chair, and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Large Animal Medicine, in Athens.

Background

Barton said chronic colic typically causes mild to moderate discomfort over days, weeks, or months. It’s often owner-treated with veterinarian assistance and an open diagnosis, meaning nothing has been definitively diagnosed