Acute postoperative diarrhoea in colic horses

A retrospective study on surgical cases of colic in horses (n = 216) revealed that 42 (19.4%) developed post-surgical diarrhoea. Salmonella spp. were isolated in 6 (16.2%) of the cases (n = 37) exhibiting diarrhoea. In 35.7% of the cases (n = 42) recovery from surgery was disturbed by other complications; 23.8% (10/42) died, 2 of which from primary acute diarrhoea due to salmonellosis. Most of the outbreaks of diarrhoea occurred in winter and spring. From the associated variables examined, the duration of colic signs revealed a significant difference between the cases which developed acute postoperative diarrhoea and the other surgical cases.