Choke After Care And Prevention

[kaya842]

My mare choked last night, and it was caught early this morning. By the time the vet was out we estimate she had been choking for 12-16 hours. :no: The vet tubed her and removed/ broke up 2 different blockages. She also pumped 2 gallons of water into her stomach that were mixed with electrolytes as she was slightly dehydrated (understandably). She left SMZs and bute to be administered for the next 7-8 days (less for the bute). She said she could have her hay back and she wanted her to have a very small amount of soaked beet pulp (her feed) to see how things were moving. The horse was already getting all meals soaked 30-60 minutes prior to feeding and will continue to do so. I am also picking up a ground feeder pan tonight on my way to the barn. Her hay is in a slow feeder as well. The vet was not concerned about any type of colic, and could not discern whether she choked on the hay or the beet pulp.

Last night we switched her feed. She was originally getting Kalm N Ez (Tribute) and beet pulp shreds. She has been on that diet for over 3 months with varying amounts of beet pulp. We “switched” her feed from that to just beet pulp pellets and a handful of the shreds (since I still have some left). She also gets a powdered supplement and oil (and has been on those for months as well). When I left the barn last night she was eating the mash of pellets, shreds, oil, and supplements. As of right now she is eating her hay, but won’t even look at the little bit of soaked pellets we have offered her. We are going to try to see if she will eat some of the barn’s feed (sweet feed) just to see if she will eat SOMETHING.

What else besides putting her feed on the floor can I do? I am looking at getting a large pan or muck bucket if needed, as her beet pulp (when soaked) is a large volume at about 3 gallons (it’s 1.5lbs dry per meal). I think soaking hay may alleviate any concerns with choking on that, however I board and I am not sure that they would soak it and I have already asked a lot from them (IMO).

[mmeqcenter]

I would get hay cubes to soak and forgo the dry hay for a few days. Any time I’ve known a horse to choke, they’ve only been allowed to graze on grass for the first 48 hours after, and then I could slowly introduce small quantities of hay and soaked feed.

Are you putting the bute and SMZs in the soaked pellets/beet pulp? If so, that may be why she won’t touch the pellets now, meds can easily put them off feed. I orally dose SMZs because the quantity required is so large.

[Simkie]

Agree with mmeq–no vet I’ve ever used has allowed dry hay after a choke. Mine always want them on soaked to soup senior feed for at least several days, then slowly allowing hay again. If the bute is mixed in with her soaked meal, that could also be turning her off. Her throat hurts, and is swollen. Can you give her banamine? Use the paste bute? Getting pain meds on board might help. Treating for ulcers could also be wise as she’s sure been through a lot and will be at risk with the NSAID. Are you taking her temperature a few times a day? Might be a good idea as she’s at huge risk of aspiration pneumonia.

Did you confirm that her meal was soaked through entirely last night? It can often be those wet but not broken down bits that cause a choke. They’re like little sponges. Important to soak to soup and make sure it’s all really sloppy.

And, because I’ve been there, done that–if this becomes a thing with her, get her scoped. I have a horse that choked when she was young. I thought she was just a greedy eater (she was, and still is.) But when she choked BADLY, like what your horse just did, I had her scoped and we found an internal abscess deep in her chest. It was pressing on her esophagus, narrowing it, and causing the chokes. It took a lot of antibiotics to resolve, and did finally. But if we’d not paid attention to the choking and done further investigation, there’s a very good chance she could have died as it grew. Choking was really a blessing that alerted us to the much more serious problem.

[kaya842]

She was given bamamine IV by the vet around 10:00 AM (so 4 hours ago) and I have instructions to give her bute tonight. There was nothing mixed with the pellets (no supplements, meds, oil, nothing just water and pellets).I was also concerned about the dry hay. Ours is a orchard grass mix and isn’t the softest. Normally she gets turned out for 8 hours on grass, but today they were all in due to rain storms. I will see if I can work out something about the hay with my BM. I plan on syringing her meds tonight, but I will have to mix them with the feed at some point. I can grab a thermometer tonight when I get some other stuff to take her temp, however I won’t be able to do it several times a day since I work 9-5 M-F and she is 30+ minutes away. I was looking into what I can do for ulcers as that crossed my mind. I was thinking about grabbing Nexium but I know it has to be dry so I can’t just throw it into her feed. I was actually the one who fed her last night, and I believe that was the issue. The barn staff typically makes grain, then hays everyone and does a few other things before dumping grain in the AM and at night they make grain, throw hay, fill waters before bringing them in (so typically 60+ min soaking time). I only let it soak for about 20 min last night and did not hand check it before I put it in the stall. She has choked 2 other times in the past but they were years apart and I believe both of the other incidents were caused by bolting because she was worried others would eat her food (not the case at all now she gets fed in a stall with solid walls). She is generally a slow eater, but last night she was fed later than everyone else because I had to pick up grain after work. I believe that + the fact that I didn’t let it soak long enough may have been the trigger, but I am definitely keeping an eye on her as the first thing that crossed my mind was an internal melanoma (she is grey).