Choke - please help if you can I am desperate for possible causes

Z

zoepar

New User
Joined
28 September 2008
Messages
4
Visit site
My 29 year old gelding has been suffering with choke for the last few months, but only when he is fed hard feed. I have tried all manner of things including soaking the feed and making it like sloppy soup, only allowing him small mouth fulls, putting a ball in his bowl to slow him down, spreading the feed out on the floor, the list is endless! Still he chokes after he has been eating for a about 5 mins. I have had his teeth checked and they are fine and I have even had my vet out who did an endoscopic examination which found nothing out of place and no obvious cause for the choke. My vet is at a loss for the cause of the problem. Last night hay for the first time also gave him choke.

I am desperate for any views/things to try or to hear from anyone who has known of a similar problem. Please can anyone shed any light, its soul destroying to see my man suffer every night when he gets fed.

Thanks <font color="red"> </font>
frown.gif
 
My pony had choke back in the summer and now I over moisten her nuts and hi fi and let it soak over night. would haylage be a better option as not so dry. not that helpfull I'm afraid.
Do let me know if you find the right answer though.
smile.gif
 
My horse had choke a fair few times over the past few months. She'd choke on anything - hay, hard feed, chaff, and most worryingly she'd choke on grass. She has stopped doing it now because I've been feeding her more hay so she's not as hungry. It was as simple as she was bolting her food all the time. There was nothing wrong with her when she was 'scoped - vet offered to come back with a longer 'scope to get to her stomach but TBH I don't think he'd find anything! Teeth aren't due until next month (she started choking in September/October).
 
my mare for some mad reason chokes when has hay from small hole hay net!! and also when her feed was very wet. is always hayed from floor loosehas soked or hayledge little and offten to reduce risk of bloting also had big salt lik in feed bowl only needed this a few times seemed to stop her diving into her feed to quickly!! might be worth feeding hard feed before hay so reducing the risk of bolting it?? also i know u said had vet out butwot a bout dentist?? i know of one mare with really bad teeth yet two very gd and nice vets had said there was nothing wrong!! gd luck
 
Ok, as you appear to be off line - and can't answer questions, I will tell you what I did with my horse last year.

He had quite a few episodes of choke last winter - and following on from some really good advice from here I ensured that his feed was fed quite sloppy, and after having been soaked for around 12 hours. I would also put a big swede in his feed bowl. My horse would only choke in the evening - and this was regardless of whether he had had hay before his tea or not.

This year he is getting no hard feed at night - just hay and so far has not choked once.

I also double net his haylage (cruel ma that I am).

Hope this helps.
 
He has lived out 24-7 for the last 2 years as he has arthritis. He is retired. The owner of the land (who also looks after the herds) gives hard feed every morning and every night, she says she has not seen him choke and she spreads the feed out in the fields for all of the herd. I have spread it like she does, he still choked! He therefore has grass at his disposal all day and night and they rotate fields on a regular basis. I feed him every other night when I go to see him and give him hay just for extra warmth and bulk during the colder weather. Due to his age, I like to keep him well fed and I do notice the change in his weight if I don't feed him as I do.
 
Mmm I wonder if the fact that you are only feeding him every other day is the problem.

I would want ad lib hay in front of him 24/7 every day if he's out permanently and if you're going to feed him do it every day - or not at all.

Choke is so often a management issue - rather than a medical one, as I have learnt. And I suspect that the lack or a regular feed is causing him to bolt and then choke.
 
Thank you all so so much for your advice and views. I will post again in due course if no luck with any of your advice.

Thanks again, funny thing to say but its nice to know its not just me that has a horse that chokes like this and that so many of you have overcome it xx
 
A couple of years ago my horse suffered from a several serious choke attacks and had a coupleof stays at the vets as an inpatient. Extensive investigations revealed that she was suffering from delayed gastric emptying.
We adjusted various aspects of her management &amp; worked out that she's best living out 24/7 on good grazing. Although she does need additional hard feed in the winter (she's ridden daily) feeds are kept very small - Max volume 1 round scoop, any more than that and she'll choke. She choked recently when a kindly friend who was doing the horses for me one evening thought I was being mean with the quantity of feed and gave her a bit extra! She's not fed for at least an hour before or after exercise and must always have access to fresh water. ie we follow the basic rules feeding.
It was quite time consuming (and costly) to come to an eventual simple solution which enables me to have a fit healthy horse.
 
Hi Zelda - if you can sort out a routine for your ned so he knows when his feed will be coming but he STILL chokes, I think you're right to be concerned. At 29, he could have other things happening, related to his age and the slow decline of bodily functions x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top