Choke

Aragon56

Aragon56

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My horse has recently started suffering from choke, and its happened 3 times in the last couple of months now. I've owned her for 7 years but never known her to suffer from it before. The first time it happened was because someone fed her a carrot that was too big, luckily a vet happened to be at the yard, and told us to give her a bit of feed to help the blockage pass. I've since read that you're meant to withhold water and food when a horse has choke though? Anyway it did the trick and she was fine after that.

On Saturday she had a bit of a funny moment whilst eating her haynet, she coughed a couple of times and I massaged her throat which seemed to work. Last night she managed to pick up some scrap of hay off the floor and again started choking badly. This time as she wouldn't stop the vet was called who gave her a muscle relaxant injection.

What could be causing this? And is there anything I can do to prevent it? My mare is very greedy which I think might be the problem, her hay is soaked as she is on a diet at the moment. I already use 2 haynets inside each other but think I will buy a small holed haynet to stop her rushing so much. She is not currently on any hard feed because she's only in very light work so its not that. Only thing I can think of is that her teeth are due for a check up this month, I'm going to book the dentist today.
 
dentist first, definitely.
my 3yr old had choke 3 weeks running last summer, i had to get the vet every time because she couldn't clear it herself. she's an utter pig and i had to feed her totally soupy feed for months, but she hasn't had it since. on the third visit the vet mentioned that there is something that can cause it, some kind of problem in the throat i guess, and that if she got it again he'd want to 'scope her to check it out, so if the dentist visit and smaller holed haynets don't help, i'd talk to your vet about a 'scope.
 
A number of factors can lead to a choke.

Horse not chewing feed completely, due to dental problems, such as missing or painful teeth, sharp points, etc.
Horse eating too quickly and swallowing before food is chewed properly.
Horse not producing enough saliva to wet food properly when eating.
Partial obstruction of the esophagus due to tumor, or scarring from old injuries etc
if nun of those i surgest you get a vet to do a scope
 
My mare had a choke a couple of months ago she has never had it before in the 18 years i owned her .
The vet said he should check her teeth and found several hooks and filed them down .
She has her teeth check every year this was about 10 months after the last check .As she is older the vet thought it worth getting them checked every 6 months .
She has been fine ever since .
 
I always make damp feeds because of the risk of choke. Not sure of the exact time frames but it could be that the first episode with the carrot (tell your pals, always, always julienne) left her with a bit of a sore/damaged throat. So future episodes would be more likely until that is completely healed. Didn't the vet offer any opinions? I think your plan with the haynet is good and another trick is to put a brick in her feed bowl so she has to slow down to eat round it.
 
mine suffered from choke last summer, the first two times we put it down to greediness. when it happened a third time we took him and scoped him - and found nothing! to this day we still dont know what caused it but now he is only fed really soft soup like food (and he loves it!!!)
 
The dentist is calling me back tonight to arrange a time to come out and do her teeth. I wonder if I need to start getting them done every 6 months now that she's 14? I'm also going to buy one of those 'wee pony' haynets as the holes look tiny and it will certainly slow her down. If she has another bout after this I'll definitely get the vet to scope her.

Box of Frogs I hadn't thought of that, about the carrot potentially leaving her with a damaged throat. I was really quite annoyed at the time as the person who fed it (my cousin) should really have known better. I wasn't actually there last night when it happened, but was on Saturday during her previous slight choke. My sister talked to the vet but unfortunately isn't very assertive about these things and didn't ask how to prevent it in future. I'm sure the vet would have given the same advice as everyone on here though. She's only fed hard food in the winter, and I've always put water in her dinner but will make sure its even wetter when I do start to feed her again.

Thanks everyone.
 
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