Introduction
Focal eosinophilic enteritis in horses has been described since 1990 as an idiopathic disease that can cause acute abdominal pain (Brosnahan, 2020). It is characterized by infiltration of eosinophils into the equine intestinal tract . This disease has been identified in 6% of horses undergoing exploratory laparotomy due to colic (Bont et al., 2016). Young horses between 0 and 5 years of age are at greatest risk of this disease .
Eosinophilia in horses is uncommon. This may relate to tissue predilection and the short transit time from marrow to target tissue (Sharkey and Overmann, 2015). The principal function of eosinophils is to destroy a target pathogen, commonly the helminth parasite; however, they also have other roles in the gastrointestinal and respiratory disease, skin, and other body systems which are poorly understood .
Intramural hematoma of the small intestine is also a poorly understood disease. It has been described in less than 1% of surgical colic. Horses present with typical signs of intestinal obstruction (Orr et al., 2022).
This case report describes the history, signalment, treatment, diagnosis, and favorable outcome of a thoroughbred mare with eosinophilic enteritis and secondary intramural hematoma obstruction.