We are what we eat! This hits home when we examine the broad range of diseases and disorders linked to nutrition. Some conditions are caused by nutritional imbalances; others have their root cause elsewhere but can be addressed with specialized nutrition. Here, we'll take a look at enteroliths.
Enteroliths are curious stony formations (think of an equine "pearl") that can block your horse’s intestinal tract and trigger signs of colic and can form when a foreign object of some kind ends up in the gastrointestinal tract. That foreign object can be as insignificant as a sliver of wood or a piece of binder twine that didn’t get sorted out from the hay. In the rare instance that the body fails to expel the indigestible particle, it tries to protect the gut instead, by encasing the object in layers of mineral deposits. The result is a rocky concretion that can be smooth and spherical, irregular and bumpy, or even polyhedral. Enteroliths can range from pea sized to ones larger than your fist. Small ones are generally passed in the manure (eventually), but larger ones can be responsible for mysterious, recurrent colic and need to be removed surgically before they cause a fatal intestinal rupture.
Enteroliths seem to be common in the southwestern United States, but can occur anywhere and can strike any breed or age of horse.
Diagnosing enteroliths is usually done by a combination of radiographs and surgical exploration. The chances of detecting an enterolith by X ray, but recent studies suggest that abdominal radiographs have a 90% enterolith detection rate in fasted horses. Fortunately, the success rate for removing the stones is upward of 90%—but, of course, abdominal surgery is always risky.