Choke, when its a sign of something more serious

speedycivic said:
Nothing that was more serious than choke itself in two cases
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I know choke is bad enough.

But my point being my horse has had choke about one a year since i have owned him (6 years)
Untill this year he has had it 4 times in one week, about a week or so ok then 3 times in less than a week.

The vet is going to scope him to check if anything else is going on to cause this.

We have tried double netting, he doesnt eat fast and today had about 4 mouthfuls of haylage before he choked.
This is why the concerm something else is going on as its not him being greedy.

Anyone had any experience?
 
mmmmmmm in 40 odd years of horses of working owning loaning and riding I only experinced choke recently and whilst awful at time by the time vet got there i had cleared obstruction but 4 times in week would make me think its a little more than choke BUT BUT BUT you are having the vet to scope him and this may show something ( which allows you to deal with it ) if not then get googling and contacting people - sure this is an organsation dealing with this- it is scary but hey you are dealing with it - sorry my normal rambling way of saying you are taking all right steps and between you vet and good old google you will sort this and hey if need a rant ive got great shoulders so PM me :) xx
 
My lad was regularly getting choke,especially when the grass hadnt been growing and he came in hungry,nothing to do with how much he puts in his mouth he just dosnt chew it properly!Choke is never pleasant but as my vet quite rightly pointed out to me "Most horses will choke at night,and you would never know about it"...would explain some odd marks on the wall ocassionaly,lol!I am sure your boy will be fine,but for peace of mind get him checked over!This yr my boy is on 2 feeds a day and a stonking haylage net at night due to lack of grass growth and he has been fine!
 
We had a pony who wasn't old but we knew had cancer and had been absolutely fine with it for about 7 years-he just looked awful and wouldn't ever put on weight-but was a spritely pony and loved life! He taught a lot or small kids how to ride!
Anyway he got choke one day and vet came out, did the usual-didn't work so he tried sedating him a little to calm him and a relaxant as well to try and let everything go the right way. However after 36hours the pony was still choking, was obviously very uncomfortable. Vet tried to flushing him with water but to no avail. We decided to give him another day to see if he came right but the vet reckoned because he already had cancer that a tumour had grown and caused a blockage. Unfortunately he had to put down.
However he showed no visible signs of choke before, and was clearly unwell before hand with cancer.
Hope you get an answer soon! It's an awful thing to watch a horse choke!
 
Yes. My pony had a series of choke episodes which happened a couple of times a week. This would have been in about 2002. Initially the vet thought she was just bolting her feed and I had to soak everything and give chaff and no carrots and so on. I remember it being absolutely terrifying, her throwing herself around like she had terrible colic, food and mucus pouring out of her nose and I was only 16 and I was absolutely convinced that was it, her stomach had ruptured and she was going to die. The first time she had it was probably one of the worst horse-related nights of my life.

When we scoped her it turned out that her oespohagas was paralysed and she couldn't swallow. It was from a virus. She had a week in hospital getting tube feeds and nil by mouth and vitamin injections while the virus wore off and they gradually reintroduced her to normal food. Insurance paid.

Touch wood she has been completely fine ever since. I feed her absolutely the same as any other horse and she gets apples and carrots and turned out and everything. She is 21 now and has never had another episode. Good luck with yours.
 
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Thanks for your replys.
It's good that anything more serious is uncommon but worrying that if there us something it could be very serious.

There isn't much on the internet about choke when it is a symptom if something else, on night shift and bored so will keep Googleing!
 
I have a mare who has several episodes of choke each year around the time the tree pollen levels start to rise - she is also allergic to the pollen and gets breathing problems.
 
That is interesting MS.
It is only this year started to mildly head shake is hot and humid weather, I have bought him s nose net for when.ridden and the flys have bothered him more than normal thus year, I have bought him a fly rug, they never used to bother him.
This year is different
 
Yes. My horse had what I thought was choke, called the vet, had to be tubed but blockage wouldn't shift and pus came out on the end of the tube when withdrawn. It was evident that he had some kind of soft tissue blockage rather than food.

The long and the short of it is that he was scoped twice to find out what was going on and the problem showed up as chronic ulceration of his soft palate, paralysation of his soft palate and epiglottic entrapment.

His symptoms starting from the day of the choke were chronic coughing whenever he ate anything and a very strange "billowing" sound coming from his throat as he walked along. He was exercise intolerant from that moment on as well as he couldn't get enough air in or out.

He was on antibiotics for months and it was touch and go as to whether he would make it as there was a real risk he would get aspiration pneumonia through food going down into his lungs. I also gave him anything else I thought would help him including vitamin c tablets, manuka honey, garlic - the lot. The good news is that he made a miraculous recovery after 9 months and is very much still with us, though retired for a separate reason.

Nobody knows what caused his problem initially - but I have a theory that he might have eaten a milk thistle (the ones with the really spiky spherical heads) and got it stuck, thus causing an infection.

Phew! Sorry for the essay.
 
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