Choke: 3 days, 2 horses, 3 episodes!

[ParadoxFarm]

Sunday evening I fed my four horses their normal dinners. My 25-year-old App/Trak was eating his half scoop of Hallway Fibrenergy watered down and soupy. After a few minutes my DH called me saying he was choking. I didn’t see it, but he was laying down in his stall and in distress. DH got him up and we monitored him waiting on the vet to call me back. (Sunday night, of course.) By the time he called, my horse cleared it. Vet said to monitor for a while and long story short, he was fine.

The very next morning my 6-year-old OTTB was eating his breakfast (same feed), and HE started choking. His feed is not watered down, as he has not had any problems previously. We immediately removed his grain, and he cleared it, it was mild.

Today, day three, I fed the TB his dinner watered down, since now I’m a bit worried. He was fine for yesterday’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast. At dinner, he was eating his soupy dinner and I heard him start coughing. He again had a mild episode.

Can a certain feed cause this? The TB doesn’t eat fast, and his feed is soupy, so I am at a loss for what is happening with these guys. I understand once they choke, you have to be careful, but I am being careful.

The old horse has choked before years ago with hay cubes, which I haven’t used since. I don’t know why he choked on Sunday eating his soupy dinner.

I talked with my vet who was out yesterday for the TBs abscess (when it rains, it pours). He agreed that I should wet the feed. He said he sees it more with pelletted feeds. This feed is considered textured as opposed to pelleted feed. Seems all textured concentrates still have pellets.

Has anyone had this type of thing happen??

[2tempe]

Never had a choke experience, but have seen a couple where I board. One thought comes to mind: Was this batch of feed a fairly new bag? Could there be something wrong with it? Does it look any different than prior bags? Hope you get it figured out.

[Simkie]

Repeat chokes after the first episode are pretty common, which is why it’s usually advised to pull hay, soak senior feed to soup and treat with anti-inflammatories for a few days. Did you pull hay or put him on banamine or bute?

Little weird to have two choke at the same time. Are they due for teeth? Are they done by a veternary dentist, sedated with a speculum? Problems in the mouth can certainly lead to choke. Or was there something going on at the time that had them both nervous, and bolting feed?

[ParadoxFarm]

The old guy was floated by my vet about 2 weeks prior to this episode. He was sedated and a speculum was used. The younger horse was checked and it was deemed he was not in need of floating.

This may all have been from the same bag. It doesn’t look any different, but I am not going to feed any more from this last batch.

No bolting feed. Nothing strange going on at the barn, which is my own property…very quiet. And it was over a 3-day period.

[Equisis]

Choking can be traumatic to the esophagus, so a second choke within a few days of the first choke is not uncommon. He is likely irritated and swollen, which makes him more prone to choke again imminently. I have a choker and after he has an episode, he is off hay for 4-5 days and gets banamine during that time. His food is also soup- literally- hot water, soak for 10min, then add more water if needed before feeding. Personally, I prefer pelleted to textured feeds for him, because pellets break down in water, whereas some elements of textured feed do not.

Feed off the ground, if you don’t already. Once they are back on hay, make sure they have some hay before they get grain, so they aren’t starving and wanting to eat quickly. Soak the food for 10+ minutes, don’t just pour water on and feed it. You may be doing these things already, but just in case.

Horses can choke for no good reason (except maybe being piggy!) or there are numerous health issues that can contribute. My horse choked so frequently that we did some investigative diagnostics (scoped the esophagus, checked for neurological causes, etc). It may have just been an unfortunate coincidence that it happened all at once. Sorry you are dealing with this.

[4horses]

It seems like some horses are prone to choking while others aren’t. I think too much water on the feed may not help. Maybe try soft soaked, not soupy.

[NaturallyHappy]

If I’m following correctly, you had 3 different horses choke-no repeats. And these horses didn’t have a history of choke, right? The only common denominator appears to be the bag of feed. I would be curious if they changed their recipe, but my nickel bet is that they will not tell you. I don’t have a solution, but I will share I’ve had horses choke on Purina Equine Senior when the feed itself was damp…or warm and sticky/ high humidity. I’m suspicious your feed really is the problem. We do give horses who choke oral Banamine for a couple of days after a choke to help them. If you can assess the stickiness level, it might help. Good luck- I’m sorry I don’t have better information.

[rubygirl1968]

We had a horse at the barn choke several weeks ago and we’re still having to feed her ration balancer as a mush. Soaking overnight in the refrigerator.This was the first time this particular horse choked as well, and she isn’t a food bolter either. She wound up with aspiration pneumonia and was in the hospital for several days. She was on banamine for about 10 days as well as other meds.

I hope all your guys are good and don’t have any more issues. I’m sorry this is happening with several at once.

[stb]

3 different horses choking within a few days would sure make me suspicious of the feed.

[Ruth0552]

Well for starters, a horse that coughs a bit when eating isn’t necessarily a choke. If the horse stops eating and then acts uncomfortable yes- sounds like that’s definitely what happened with the old guy.

Also, it’s allergy season. Where are you located? Totally possible some seasonal allergies are complicating things.

[ParadoxFarm]

Sorry if my post was fuzzy. Two horses. The old guys once, the young TB twice. No, if definitely was not just regular coughing. Thanks for everyone’s response.

[Zu_Zu]

Just … JINGLES & AO

• only experienced one minor choke ONCE … senior horse mare but more than enough fright for me ~

[Helicon]

I have a horse training farm and have not had a choke in about a decade. Now, suddenly, I just had two, with two different horses, about a week apart. They have all been on the same feeding program for about 10 months. My hunch is that they are finally enjoying soft damp spring grass and it’s too much of a contrast with their hard dry feed. Both chokes were pretty severe. One horse had to be hospitalized with fluids and it took two attempts to clear (he choked on his dinner and I caught it at bed check). The other we caught immediately and the vet was able to clear, but then she got a bloody nose and a fever then next day, despite her antibiotics! Sigh, so I am changing my feeding program again.

[carman_liz]

So scary and glad your guys are ok!! One thing my boarding barn did with a mare that would choke is to put her feed, soupy soaked, in a larger feed pan. They also put big river rocks in the pan so she would have to work around them to eat. Oh, the pan was in a tire so she could not flip it over. Basically they created a Kong dog bowl horsey sized lol. It solved the problem though!