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Dear Fellow listers:

Jack wrote:  I am taking the liberty of replying to the list as I am
>interested in the seeming similarity between celiac in humans and colic in
>horses.  I hope there may be some DVM's on the list who can comment.  Colic is
>an intestinal bloating and intestinal paralysis that typically occurs when the
>horse gets into the oats and over eats.  The cure is to walk the animal and
>hope that the intestine will resume function.

As a veterinarian, I will comment (briefly). Colic is more than just
intestinal bloating and "paralysis". Colic is merely a layman's term for
abdominal pain in the horse. While grain overload can be one cause (It
changes to normal bacterial balance in the gut) so can certain drugs or
plant toxins, twists in the gut, excess sand intake, and at least 30 or so
other things. The main reson to walk the horse is to keep him from rolling
and thus creating an intestinal torsion, and to give the owner something to
do until the veterinarian arrives to treat the colic. Horses are designed
for an herbivorous diet...grains and grasses. Their intestinal tract is
very different from ours.  Celiac does not occur in horses. As always, I
remind all of us that one cannot extrapolate from human to veterinary
medicine, and the reverse.

Enough said!

BEst wishes to all!
Marne L. Platt, VMD
New JErsey