Choking and collapsing??

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TequilaMist

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A friends horse has started to randomly choke ,he is a 21yr old 17hh sports horse type.He has had a bit of a problem keeping his weight on last few months,randomly chokes on his hard feed (senior mix/chaff/sugarbeet made sloppy)appears no consistant thing to pin it on,he doesn't snatch at his food eats it slowly and he is reluctant to eat haylage/hay sort of chews it half heartedly then no no more.He has also collapsed a couple of time on her -he is not being ridden at moment.
She has been to vets and had him scoped and they found clear throat and stomach and say just manage him and see how it goes but he is still doing this.We thought he was getting better as looked much better with grass arriving and playing some with pals then he collapsed again at weekend.
Friend is at a loss and obviously very worried.Anyone any suggestions?
 
Please don't ride him again until this is fully sorted. I would suggest a full vet work up to get to the bottom of this but I would also prepare myself for the worse as you would never be safe handling him if this is so random, she could be pinned underneath him very quickly and honestly, no horse is worth being hurt for.
 
If he is insured for vet fees, she can obviously send him to horspital to be properly checked out. If this is not the case, then I can only say the best and safest option is to have him pts. You cannot have a big horse collapsing randomly. He could fall on her. He could fall in the field and end up with a broken leg, and then she will have to face the prospect of dealing with that horrible scenario.
 
He is not being ridden due to this issues.He is being handled by owner to feed etc.usually in field.
Must admit am baffled by the vets just leave it and see attitude as its not 'normal' that horse collapses -which happens not nescessarily in conjunction with the choke tho ?must be a connection.
Getting further investigation is not an issue with the owner as far as I am aware its the vets that said as throat and stomach clear just leave.Owner just worried about horse and confused as where to go.No body seems to have anything similiar so thought if we widened area someone may have had similiar
Thank for replies
 
To hear of the symptoms you would think that there is a blockage in the throat area, but since the vet has said it is all clear this is strange. I think if I was the owner I would ask for a second opinion.
 
We had a Border Terrier which used to do this! Vets used to think that by choking she swallowed her tongue and cut off air flow (to the brain?) One minute she'd be with you, next you'd hear a cough and she'd be spark out for a few minutes then jump up almost as if nothing had happened. It never did go completely but we got used to waiting for her quietly and there was nothing they could do for her. Whether this is what's happening to this boy I haven't a clue but I really would be prepared to put down sooner than later if it was me. The vets have a very funny attitude I think, could she get a second opinion?
 
Horses can breath as well as choke so to speak so I doubt its lack of air. they have 2 different tubes. Sounds like mini seizures to me. :(
 
My horse (17hh warmblood) has suffered with choke twice since I have had him - both times on dry hay. The first time, he also collapsed, just like he had fainted! He wasn't on the ground for long, maybe 2 minutes but enough to worry everyone:eek:
Second time he had choke, I was there so I walked him round whilst stroking his throat and under his neck.
Just thought I would let you know so you know that a horse can collapse with choke. Hope things get better for your friend's horse.
 
Could it be some kind of nerve damage? The reason I ask is that my horse acquired a very unusual choking problem back in April 2006. It presented as a normal choke to start with, he was tubed and was found to have a soft tissue obstruction and the endoscope came out with pus on it.

We thought it would get better with antibiotics, but he choked consistently for several months and had to be managed very carefully. Subsequent endoscopies revealed that he had an entrapped epiglottis and a persistently displaced soft palate which meant that it was very difficult to stop food going down the wrong way i.e. into his lungs instead of his stomach, and he couldn't breathe efficiently/made a bizarre "billowing" noise, even at walk (and I don't mean ridden, just leading).

Incredibly he survived, although it took nine months. He never collapsed, although several months in he developed quite a severe headshaking complex which presented when the weather was overcast, when there were midges etc. I took this to imply that he had suffered some sort of nerve damage from the problems in his throat region.

He actually recovered from his problems nine months later, having been treated with a combination of antibiotics, garlic and Vitamin C for months and months and months.

This is a very long winded way of saying that perhaps this horse's choking problem, or whatever is causing it, has caused some nerve damage which is making him "faint". Or perhaps the very act of him choking makes him think he can't breathe and then he collapses?

If I were the owner, I wouldn't give up. I would continue to handle him in the field with the minimum risk of collapse and would research the condition to the best of my ability.

When you are faced with some obscure problem which the vets don't seem to hold out much hope for, there is no harm in trying alternative herbs/remedies etc. You can't do much harm and it certainly worked for me.

I have always wondered what caused my horse's problem in the first place, and came to the conclusion that he may have swallowed one of those horrendous spherical spiky thistles and ended up with a spike lodged in his throat. Needless to say, there are no more spherical thistles in his paddock now!
 
Dense suggestion I guess but has she had his teeth checked? I don't think it could cause collapse but it may be relevant to the choke. I would warn the dentist first though, don't fancy being up to my elbow in a 17hh horses mouth when the beastie faints.

Other than that as previously suggested nerve damage in the throat area could cause reduced oxygen uptake leading to collapse and choke. Or have you considered a brain issue? I'm not sure if they can brain scan horses considering all the sinus in the way but a tumour could cause collapses/fits and swallowing issues I think.
 
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I had a lovely gelding in my care for 8 months - who started collapsing for no apparent reason.

We never really got to the bottom of it - but as he was a horse with a few other problems anyway, and aged, it wasn't thoroughly investigated. Our biggest fear was that he would do it in the stable, so had him out as much as possible.

He was in tip top condition, and never experienced episodes of choke.

My own opinion is that his blood pressure simply dropped to the point of collapse. Which made sense in some ways as he was an ex-hurdler, who had some heart problems.
 
TheBlack said:
Horses can breath as well as choke so to speak so I doubt its lack of air. they have 2 different tubes. Sounds like mini seizures to me. :(
Click to expand...

ditto above

I don't personally don't think the two will be connected, although like someone else said, when dogs cholk, they can pass out (our pug has done this before, she never chews stuff so we have to watch her eat every mouthfull so we can be on hand if she ever cholks, many a time we had had to stick our fingers down her throat ....on soft tinned dog food, we have nearly lost her few times, very scary.

But in my experiance with horses with cholk (one extreme case) the other where horse was bracing back, laying down and doing strange things, neither collapsed.

You could put large pebbles in the hard feed, this then stops them to rush the food, as they have to nudge the way round the stones to eat the feed so they can't get huge amounts into mouth at one time.

I would get another vet in connection the seizures, without a good explanation from the vets so you know exactly what is causing them so try and prevent them, then I personally would have to think about having him PTS, specially a horse of that size.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking heart condition too. A big elderly horse could very well have developed a problem there. Are you able to describe the collapses in detail? My horse has epilepsy but at first glance this doesn't sound the same - PM me if you want. It could be neurological as in humans, a stroke victim often has trouble swallowing after.
 
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