Colitis is inflammation of the colon. Acute cases are medical emergencies as the horse rapidly loses fluid, protein, and electrolytes into the gut, leading to severe dehydration which can result in hypovolemic shock and death. Horses generally present with signs of colic before developing profuse, watery, fetid diarrhea.

Both infectious and non-infectious causes for colitis exist. In the adult horse, "Salmonella", "Clostridium difficile", and "Neorickettsia risticii" (the causative agent of Potomac Horse Fever) are common causes of colitis. Antibiotics, which may lead to an altered and unhealthy microbiota, sand, grain overload, and toxins such as arsenic and cantharidin can also lead to colitis. Unfortunately, only 20–30% of acute colitis cases are able to be definitively diagnosed. NSAIDs can cause slower-onset of colitis, usually in the right dorsal colon (see Right dorsal colitis).

Treatment involves administration of large volumes of intravenous fluids, which can become very costly. Antibiotics are often given if deemed appropriate based on the presumed underlying cause and the horse's CBC results. Therapy to help prevent endotoxemia and improve blood protein levels (plasma or synthetic colloid administration) may also be used if budgetary constraints allow. Other therapies include probiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. Horses that are not eating well may also require parenteral nutrition. Horses usually require 3–6 days of treatment before clinical signs improve.

Due to the risk of endotoxemia, laminitis is a potential complication for horses suffering from colitis, and may become the primary cause for euthanasia. Horses are also at increased risk of thrombophlebitis.

Ruminal tympany, also known as bloat, is a disease of ruminant animals, characterized by an excessive volume of gas in the rumen. Ruminal tympany may be primary, known as frothy bloat, or secondary, known as free-gas bloat.

In the rumen, food eaten by the ruminant is fermented by microbes. This fermentation process continually produces gas, the majority of which is expelled from the rumen by eructation (burping). Ruminal tympany occurs when this gas becomes trapped in the rumen.

In frothy bloat (primary ruminal tympany), the gas produced by fermentation is trapped within the fermenting material in the rumen, causing a build up of foam which cannot be released by burping. In cattle, the disease may be triggered after an animal eats a large amount of easily fermenting plants, such the legumes alfalfa, red clover, or white clover. Some legumes, such as sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil and cicer milkvetch are not associated with cause bloat in cattle. In feedlot cattle, a diet containing a high proportion of cereal grain can lead to primary ruminal tympany. The main signs in cattle are distension of the left side of the abdomen, dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and severe distress. If gas continues to accumulate, the right side of the abdomen may also become distended, with death occurring in cattle within 3–4 hours after symptoms begin.

In free-gas bloat (secondary ruminal tympany), gas builds up in the rumen and cannot escape, due to blockage of the esophagus.

Treatment:

1-Removal of gases through Trochor or canula

2-Use Stomach tube and remove the ruminal digesta

3-medi oral (anti foaming agent) 10ml+250ml warm water and drench to the animal

if antifoaming agent not available you can use Vegetable oil 400-500ml per large animal

4-use rexa bicarb

5-Nux vomica

6-Anti histamine is used to avoid lameness*

The incidence of colic can be reduced by restricted access to simple carbohydrates including sugars from feeds with excessive molasses, providing clean feed and drinking water, preventing the ingestion of dirt or sand by using an elevated feeding surface, a regular feeding schedule, regular deworming, regular dental care, a regular diet that does not change substantially in content or proportion and prevention of heatstroke. Horses that bolt their feed are at risk of colic, and several management techniques may be used to slow down the rate of feed consumption.

Supplementing with previously mentioned form of pysllium fiber may reduce risk of sand colic if in a high-risk area. Most supplement forms are given one week per month and available wherever equine feed is purchased.

Turnout is thought to reduce the likelihood of colic, although this has not been proven. It is recommended that a horse receive ideally 18 hours of grazing time each day, as in the wild. However, many times this is difficult to manage with competition horses and those that are boarded, as well as for animals that are easy keepers with access to lush pasture and hence at risk of laminitis. Turnout on a dry lot with lower-quality fodder may have similar beneficial effects.

Immediate treatment is the most important factor in a favorable prognosis. A delay in treatment greater than six hours or the presence of peritonitis, sepsis, hypotension, or disseminated intravascular coagulation are negative prognostic indicators.

Historically, GDV has held a guarded prognosis. Although "early studies showed mortality rates between 33% and 68% for dogs with GDV," studies from 2007 to 2012 "reported mortality rates between 10% and 26.8%". Mortality rates approach 10% to 40% even with treatment. A study determined that with prompt treatment and good preoperative stabilization of the patient, mortality is significantly lessened to 10% overall (in a referral setting). Negative prognostic indicators following surgical intervention include postoperative cardiac arrhythmia, splenectomy, or splenectomy with partial gastric resection. Interestingly, a longer time from presentation to surgery was associated with a lower mortality, presumably because these dogs had received more complete preoperative fluid resuscitation and were thus better cardiovascularly stabilized prior to the procedure.

One common recommendation in the past has been to raise the food bowl of the dog when it eats. However, studies have shown that this may actually increase the risk of GDV. Eating only once daily and eating food consisting of particles less than in size also may increase the risk of GDV. One study looking at the ingredients of dry dog food found that while neither grains, soy, nor animal proteins increased risk of bloat, foods containing an increased amount of added oils or fats do increase the risk, possibly due to delayed emptying of the stomach.

"Salmonella" bacteria can survive for some time without a host; thus, they are frequently found in polluted water, with contamination from the excrement of carrier animals being particularly important.

The European Food Safety Authority highly recommends that when handling raw turkey meat, consumers and people involved in the food supply chain should pay attention to personal and food hygiene.

An estimated 142,000 Americans are infected each year with "Salmonella" Enteritidis from chicken eggs, and about 30 die. The shell of the egg may be contaminated with "Salmonella" by feces or environment, or its interior (yolk) may be contaminated by penetration of the bacteria through the porous shell or from a hen whose infected ovaries contaminate the egg during egg formation.

Nevertheless, such interior egg yolk contamination is theoretically unlikely. Even under natural conditions, the rate of infection was very small (0.6% in a study of naturally contaminated eggs and 3.0% among artificially and heavily infected hens).

The FDA has published guidelines to help reduce the chance of food-borne salmonellosis. Food must be cooked to 68–72 °C (145–160 °F), and liquids such as soups or gravies must be boiled. Freezing kills some "Salmonella", but it is not sufficient to reliably reduce them below infectious levels. While "Salmonella" is usually heat-sensitive, it does acquire heat resistance in high-fat environments such as peanut butter.

One reason that poverty produces such high rates of fistula cases is the malnutrition that exists in such areas. Lack of money and access to proper nutrition, as well as vulnerability to diseases that exist in impoverished areas because of limited basic health care and disease prevention methods, cause inhabitants of these regions to experience stunted growth. Sub-Saharan Africa is one such environment where the shortest women have on average lighter babies and more difficulties during birth when compared with full-grown women. This stunted growth causes expectant mothers to have skeletons unequipped for proper birth, such as an underdeveloped pelvis. This weak and underdeveloped bone structure increases the chances that the baby will get stuck in the pelvis during birth, cutting off circulation and leading to tissue necrosis. Because of the correlation between malnutrition, stunted growth, and birthing difficulties, maternal height can at times be used as a measure for expected labor difficulties.

High levels of poverty also lead to low levels of education among impoverished women concerning maternal health. This lack of information in combination with obstacles preventing rural women to easily travel to and from hospitals lead many to arrive at the birthing process without prenatal care. This can cause a development of unplanned complications that may arise during home births, in which traditional techniques are used. These techniques often fail in the event of unplanned emergencies, leading women to go to hospital for care too late, desperately ill, and therefore vulnerable to the risks of anesthesia and surgery that must be used on them. In a study of women who had prenatal care and those who had unbooked emergency births, “the death rate in the booked-healthy group was as good as that in many developed countries, [but] the death rate in the unbooked emergencies was the same as the death rate in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.” In this study, 62 unbooked emergency women were diagnosed with obstetric fistulae out of 7,707 studied, in comparison to three diagnosed booked mothers out of 15,020 studied. In addition, studies find that education is associated with lower desired family size, greater use of contraceptives, and increased use of professional medical services. Educated families are also more likely to be able to afford health care, especially maternal healthcare.

A lack of adequate breastfeeding leads to malnutrition in infants and children, associated with the deaths of an estimated one million children annually. Illegal advertising of breast milk substitutes continues three decades after its 1981 prohibition under the "WHO International Code of Marketing Breast Milk Substitutes".

Deriving too much of one's diet from a single source, such as eating almost exclusively corn or rice, can cause malnutrition. This may either be from a lack of education about proper nutrition, or from only having access to a single food source.

It is not just the total amount of calories that matters but specific nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency or zinc deficiency can also increase risk of death.

Overnutrition caused by overeating is also a form of malnutrition. In the United States, more than half of all adults are now overweight — a condition that, like hunger, increases susceptibility to disease and disability, reduces worker productivity, and lowers life expectancy. Overeating is much more common in the United States, where for the majority of people, access to food is not an issue. Many parts of the world have access to a surplus of non-nutritious food, in addition to increased sedentary lifestyles. Yale psychologist Kelly Brownell calls this a "toxic food environment" where fat and sugar laden foods have taken precedence over healthy nutritious foods.

The issue in these developed countries is choosing the right kind of food. More fast food is consumed per capita in the United States than in any other country. The reason for this mass consumption of fast food is its affordability and accessibility. Often fast food, low in cost and nutrition, is high in calories and heavily promoted. When these eating habits are combined with increasingly urbanized, automated, and more sedentary lifestyles, it becomes clear why weight gain is difficult to avoid.

Not only does obesity occur in developed countries, problems are also occurring in developing countries in areas where income is on the rise. Overeating is also a problem in countries where hunger and poverty persist. In China, consumption of high-fat foods has increased while consumption of rice and other goods has decreased.

Overeating leads to many diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, that may result in death.

Thomas Hardy's novel "Far from the Madding Crowd" depicts a flock of sheep suffering from bloat, who are treated by Gabriel Oak with a trocar to release the gas.

Incidence of hiatal hernias increases with age; approximately 60% of individuals aged 50 or older have a hiatal hernia. Of these, 9% are symptomatic, depending on the competence of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). 95% of these are "sliding" hiatus hernias, in which the LES protrudes above the diaphragm along with the stomach, and only 5% are the "rolling" type (paraesophageal), in which the LES remains stationary, but the stomach protrudes above the diaphragm.

Hiatus hernia are most common in North America and Western Europe and rare in rural African communities. Some have proposed that insufficient dietary fiber and the use of a high sitting position for defecation may increase the risk.

GERD may lead to Barrett's esophagus, a type of intestinal metaplasia, which is in turn a precursor condition for esophageal cancer. The risk of progression from Barrett's to dysplasia is uncertain, but is estimated at about 20% of cases. Due to the risk of chronic heartburn progressing to Barrett's, EGD every five years is recommended for people with chronic heartburn, or who take drugs for chronic GERD.

GERD is caused by a failure of the lower esophageal sphincter. In healthy patients, the "Angle of His"—the angle at which the esophagus enters the stomach—creates a valve that prevents duodenal bile, enzymes, and stomach acid from traveling back into the esophagus where they can cause burning and inflammation of sensitive esophageal tissue.

Factors that can contribute to GERD:

- Hiatal hernia, which increases the likelihood of GERD due to mechanical and motility factors.

- Obesity: increasing body mass index is associated with more severe GERD. In a large series of 2,000 patients with symptomatic reflux disease, it has been shown that 13% of changes in esophageal acid exposure is attributable to changes in body mass index.

- Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, which can be present with increased gastric acidity due to gastrin production.

- A high blood calcium level, which can increase gastrin production, leading to increased acidity.

- Scleroderma and systemic sclerosis, which can feature esophageal dysmotility.

- The use of medicines such as prednisolone.

- Visceroptosis or Glénard syndrome, in which the stomach has sunk in the abdomen upsetting the motility and acid secretion of the stomach.

GERD has been linked to a variety of respiratory and laryngeal complaints such as laryngitis, chronic cough, pulmonary fibrosis, earache, and asthma, even when not clinically apparent. These atypical manifestations of GERD are commonly referred to as laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) or as extraesophageal reflux disease (EERD).

Factors that have been linked with GERD, but not conclusively:

- Obstructive sleep apnea

- Gallstones, which can impede the flow of bile into the duodenum, which can affect the ability to neutralize gastric acid

In 1999, a review of existing studies found that, on average, 40% of GERD patients also had "H. pylori" infection. The eradication of "H. pylori" can lead to an increase in acid secretion, leading to the question of whether "H. pylori"-infected GERD patients are any different than non-infected GERD patients. A double-blind study, reported in 2004, found no clinically significant difference between these two types of patients with regard to the subjective or objective measures of disease severity.

During the dry period (late gestation, non-lactating), dairy cattle have relatively low calcium requirements, with a need to replace approximately 30 g of calcium per day due to utilization for fetal growth and fecal and urinary losses. At parturition, the requirement for calcium is greatly increased due to initiation of lactation, when mammary drainage of calcium may exceed 50g per day. Due to this large increase in demand for calcium, most cows will experience some degree of hypocalcemia for a short period following parturition as the metabolism adjusts to the increased demand. When the mammary drain of plasma calcium causes hypocalcemia severe enough to compromise neuromuscular function, the cow is considered to have clinical milk fever.

In normal calcium regulation, a decrease in plasma calcium levels causes the parathyroid glands to secrete parathyroid hormone (PTH), which regulates the activation of Vitamin D in the kidney. These two compounds act to increase blood calcium levels by increasing absorption of dietary calcium from the intestine, increasing renal tubular reabsorption of calcium in the kidney, and increasing resorption of calcium from bones.

It has been found that tissue is less responsive to parathyroid hormone prepartum, compared to postpartum. It is believed that hypocalcemia causing milk fever is due to a lower level of responsiveness of the cow's tissues to circulating parathyroid hormone.

The resultant decreased plasma calcium causes hyperexcitability of the nervous system and weakened muscle contractions, which result in both tetany and paresis.