Imagine walking into the barn in the morning to discover one of the horses in mild distress. He does not have his head out the stall door and he’s kicking his belly and appearing depressed. You open the door to investigate a bit further and see loose manure in his bedding. This is certainly abnormal for this particular horse, so you decide to call your vet, thinking it might be colic.

When the vet arrives, she completes a physical exam and makes note of the clinical signs the horse is exhibiting. It is noted that the horse did not finish his dinner the previous evening and is acting lethargic. The horse also has an elevated temperature and is looking at his sides. It is suggested to run a blood test and send a fecal sample to the lab to help determine how severe the illness is. The vet makes a tentative diagnosis of colitis, an inflammation of the lining of the large intestine, and starts the horse on some supportive treatments in the form of IV fluids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs).

Colitis in horses can be caused by a multitude of factors including viruses, bacteria, and overuse of NSAIDs. One emerging cause of colitis that horse owners are becoming increasingly aware of is equine coronavirus. Coronaviruses comprise a large group of RNA viruses that can cause both respiratory and enteric signs of disease in various species. The equine enteric coronavirus has been responsible for a number of outbreaks across the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.

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