PSV-14 Equine colic and winter weather changes.

Abstract

Abstract The high incidence of colic within equine communities is an emotional and economic concern for horse owners and the equine industry. While numerous studies focus on animal management and nutrition, the investigations on environmental effects such as weather are limited. Weather changes may forewarn colic episodes by influencing water intake and resulting in dehydration. Our objectives were to identify potential trends between winter weather changes and colic incidence via colic type, demographics, and blood parameters as reported by equine veterinary clinics. It was hypothesized that due to acute dehydration correlating with temperature fluctuation, clinics would report more colic cases compared to days with constant temperatures. Permission was obtained from equine veterinary hospitals to examine medical files and perform a retrospective survey on colic cases between November 1st, 2021 – April 31st, 2022, and November 1st, 2022 – April 31st, 2023. Qualtrics™ survey software was used to store research data and report frequencies. Sixteen total closed and open-ended questions were employed to obtain demographic, categorical, and quantitative data. Medical records were collected from 8 total equine specialty clinics located in two geographical locations: North-Central Texas (n = 1,043) and Western Montana (n = 201). Frequency of colic cases were split into three seasonal periods: early winter (November and December), late winter (January and February), and early spring (March and April). Weather data was obtained through The Weather Company’s historical data and used to compare the date in which colic cases were reported with regional temperature. The largest percentage of all reported cases occurred in early winter months (November and December) in Texas (38.27%) and Montana (48.22%) in 2021 and 2022. A two-sample t-test was performed to compare the temperature differences in early winter months (November and December) and early spring (March and April) within the state of Texas. There was no significant difference in temperature differences between early winter (M = 20.83; SD = 7.74) and early spring (M = 23.42; SD = 13.56); t =-1.0125, p = 0.157. Impaction (42.36%), spasmodic (25.88%), and displacement (9.16%) colic made up the greatest proportions of colic type reported with similar distributions in both states. It was found that 56% (n = 584) of all colic cases with bloodwork performed (n = 1042) had a Packed Cell Volume (PCV) of ≥ 40% and were considered clinically dehydrated. Increases in dehydration-related colic cases were reported proportional to rapid temperature change; yet significant patterns could not be distinguished. To better understand how acute dehydration impacts a horse’s susceptibility to a colic episode coinciding with weather changes, future prospective studies are encouraged.