Close Call Tonight - Choke

[Spudsmyguy]

My boy Odin (horse in avatar), had a serious episode of choke tonight. I just got back from dinner out when my phone went off and was told he was choking and the vet had been called. Luckily I live 8 minutes from the barn and busted over there. There were about 6 boarders there (lesson night) and they had been trying to keep him from laying down and spent about an hour rubbing his throat trying to loosen it up. You could feel a big lump and we couldn’t get it to move. At one point I was told he had stopped breathing and then he coughed up a bunch of grain and started breathing again. He was drooling grain out of his nose and mouth and looking very woebegone.

Vet showed shortly after I arrived and did a gastric tube; as soon as the tube went in, a ton of chewed grain came out. He found the lump and asked if we had fed him an apple or a potato as it was very dense and hard. Nope. Finally with enough water it loosened and went through. We thought it had to just be a wad of soaked grain that got balled up. Then there was the bloody nose to deal with after he pulled the tube. Odin was so doped up that two of boarders had to hold him up, he looked like he was about to fall down, kept crossing his hind legs and not standing balanced.

He’s on a diet of very wet hay and small amount of very wet grain, more like a gruel for the next couple of days. So glad there were people there who saw it immediately and took action and the vet for coming out so quickly. He’ll be taking the next couple of days off to recover but he seems to be out of the woods. BO is going to check him at midnight to make sure. Dodged a bullet for sure.

[Maythehorsebewithme]

So glad of Odin’s outcome. Choke is so terrifying.

[FjordBCRF]

Glad it was caught early and he is all clear now! Very scary

[walktrot]

I took my 28 y.o. gelding off raw apples entirely. He took a bite out of one in my hand. It didn’t sound right and he didn’t chew very long. I found the perfect substitute: Freeze dried apples! They come in small bags and a sample showed up with something I ordered. I couldn’t get a link to open. I got them off Amazon but couldn’t get a link to work. The farrier also likes them. They aren’t cheap, but they can muuush them with their tongue.

Brother’s freeze dried apple slices.

He was still okay with carrots as long as they were in small pieces.

[atr]

My old man did this a few weeks ago. Very scary and ended up at the vet’s for the evening. He felt a bit woebegone for a couple of days, but he’s snapped out of it and is doing very well now. Soaked grain forevermore.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Glad it turned out well. Prayers for quick healing

[Spudsmyguy]

He seems to be back to his old self today. Not happy with the wet hay but loves to eat.

[4horses]

My colt choked yesterday. I went to call the vet and grabbed my cellphone from the house. Came back outside and rubbed his neck/throat with my hands. He coughed up a chunk of grain… Then started nursing. Seemed to feel fine after that…

Scary thing to see. I am sticking to soaked feed from here on out.

[danhelm441]

My understanding is horses don’t aspirate when they choke because their windpipe and esophagus don’t overlap the way humans do, which is a vulnerability we’re stuck with in exchange for the ability to speak. But…. I’ve never actually experienced a real choking fit in a horse that didn’t resolve in a couple minutes. Can they really asphyxiate from choking like people do?

[Spudsmyguy]

I think I heard that horses who have an episode of choke have a propensity for it to happen again. Well soaked food from now on!

[ASB_Stars]

I am still dealing with the repercussions of a really serious choke on one of my rescues. Interesting thing that I have learned that I want to share- my Vet, who was the State Vet for a period of time, but is simply brilliant and awesome treats choke with oxytocin. Apparently, that’s the new thing. Being as it is a smooth muscle relaxant, it helps the horse loosen up, and pass the mass down their esophagus. You do 1cc per hour until is resolves. Obviously, if you can also massage the mass, that is helpful.

The interesting thing to note is that since you do not have to pass a tube, you take away the possibility of the tube scarring the esophagus, which is believed to cause the additional episodes of choke incidents.

My boy ended up with additional issues that we are working through. I’m hoping we are coming out of this mess.

[NaturallyHappy]

Thank you for this information.

[atr]

At a vet visit after my old man’s choke incident, I heard one of the other boarders, prompted by my horse’s experience, ask the vet (not the one who treated him at the time) about choke as she hadn’t experienced it before.

He said that in his experience it’s usually precipitated by sudden stress of some kind while they are eating. I’ve never heard that before–I had my hands full with something else, and so I didn’t have the chance to question him about it, but I thought it was an interesting concept (not sure I entirely agree.)

[carman_liz]

One of my friend’s horses choked once. After she was in the clear, they started soaking her food and fed it in a big feed pan, with large river rocks in it to slow her down even more. Turned it into a horse type ‘Kong Bowl’ like they make for dogs who inhale their food. So glad your guy is ok! Are you/can you put a sign on his stall that says something along the lines of ‘No treats, I may choke!!’ ? Huge jingles it was a random one time thing!

[Spudsmyguy]

It was pretty scary. Now he gets grain “soup” which, it turns out, he loves. A long time ago a friend had a horse that had a condition called choke and all food had to be really wet but he would still choke on his pellets, it would be coming out his nose as he ate.

[starrunner]

I’m sorry

My old lady mare is a chronic choker and has had soaked feed for years now and has had aspiration pneumonia twice. Once was after a wicked choke that the barn staff didn’t notice for 10 hours and the other was a fairly mild choke.

I take the temp and hr on all my horse for several days post choke to try and stay on top of pneumonia now. It’s not good and really expensive if not caught early in my experience.

As others have said, once they choke I think they are more prone. My mare is also grey and has a number of melanomas on her neck so I think those are also causing some compression.

[SusanO]

That is how my mare choked. She has her stall door open and 24/7 access to her pasture. Which has birds, insects and (gasp) deer in it. I had fed her the cup of ration balancer she gets and then gave her a cup of alfalfa pellets. She saw some horrifying out the door (probably a bird) and she wheeled to run outside. Of course she couldn’t do that without having a mouthful of food. So she grabbed a mouthful of alfalfa pellets and ran out. Choking on the pellets. I was pretty pissed at her since it is an hour and a half to the vet.

An old country vet used to say if you caught the choke early enough before the horse started struggling you could try 5cc of banamine. This would relax the horse and sometimes the choke would clear this way. So I gave banamine which put her into lala land, she dropped her neck and I gently stroked her neck. I don’t think this would work with hay cubes or a carrot chunk but I figured a few pellets might dislodge this way. It worked! I shut her in the stall with no food and hay and locked her out of the pasture so she couldn’t eat grass. She was pretty mad at me the next morning. Then she ate soaked slop for the next week or so. She has been fine since. No more alfalfa pellets unless soaked. They are bigger than the ration balancer tiny pellets which she eats out of a pan on the ground. It was a bad series of events but I think the bigger pellets contributed to the choke.

[TWH_Girl]

Choke is so scary! Both of mine have had minor episodes of it; only had to tube once. Glad horse is at a barn with lots of other helping hands. I had no further issues going forward and did not have to make any long term change. Hope the same for your guy!