People about to undergo anesthesia are required to refrain from eating or drinking for 8 to 12 hours beforehand to reduce their risk of aspiration pneumonia. A study from Oakridge Equine Hospital in Edmond, Okla., has shown that similar precautions may not be necessary in equines, reports EQUUS magazine.
Researchers studied the records of horses that went under general anesthesia between 2012 and 2014. They focused their study on horses that were over 2 years old that underwent non-emergency, non-abdominal surgeries. None of the horses were fasted.
Because horses don't vomit, aspiration pneumonia is not considered a primary postsurgical complication. The more realistic risk, the researchers discovered, was post-surgical colic.
The scientists found that only 2.5 percent of the horses that had not been fasted prior to the surgery colicked. No correlation was found between risk of postoperative colic and the horse's age, procedure, or length of anesthesia.
The researchers concluded that allowing a horse to eat before it undergoes surgery that doesn't involve the digestive tract may help maintain gut motility and decrease post-operative colic risk.
Read more at EQUUS magazine.
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