Feeding after choke

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Plonkertonk

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Hi all
My rising 3yr old had a choke epidode last night.
The attending vet (very good & hugely knowledgeable and respected) told me that the majority of his choke calls are to horses that have been fed a quiksoak feed of some variety. He detests it.
Guess what I moved mine to a month ago!
I just wanted a wet feed to carry a general vit&min powder for both with the old girls joint supp/yeast as well, that was low calorie as neither need calorific feeds.
The vet recommended a much more straight type of feed with the rolled peas/maize etc visible as to what it is & not massively over processed.
I have been shaken by the experience after trying hard to do the right thing and understandably will not use a *quick* soak feed again.
I feel a straight chaff is not a great low nutrition feed and is pretty unpalatable.
Please could I have some feed advice taking into account the above please.
Many thanks
 
Which "quick soak"feed were you using? I use a Speedibeet ripoff (Omega, I think it's called) which claims to soak in ten minutes but it does not, not even close. I would advise checking before feeding rather than relying on what the instructions say.

Another thing to watch out for is chaffs with pellets in, my current mare had a slight choke when I first had her, she was having a dengie chaff which included grass & alfalfa pellets left over from my previous pony. It's recommended that grass pellets are soaked if you're feeding much in one go, seems some horses can't cope with just a few. They take a fair while to soak, too.
 
marmalade76 said:
Which "quick soak"feed were you using? I use a Speedibeet ripoff (Omega, I think it's called) which claims to soak in ten minutes but it does not, not even close. I would advise checking before feeding rather than relying on what the instructions say.

Another thing to watch out for is chaffs with pellets in, my current mare had a slight choke when I first had her, she was having a dengie chaff which included grass & alfalfa pellets left over from my previous pony. It's recommended that grass pellets are soaked if you're feeding much in one go, seems some horses can't cope with just a few. They take a fair while to soak, too.
Click to expand...
Thankyou for the reply.
Spillers speedymash. Says 2 mins soak on the bag, I've always always left it at least 5 mins, it's normally closer to 10 anyway.
The pellets have always been completely dissolved into a mush. Once the powders were added I'd mix them in to prevent any being left/sorted by them, & there has never been anything left remotely dry or 'intact'.
The ironic thing being, last night, I put the water in to to soak, then went and had my own tea with the kids! Then added the powders to it, popped in the stables, & then went and got them in, so 40-45 mins before they ate it!
But the way the vet described what happens when they eat it helped me to understand what likely happened with it.
He said the pellets expand a certain amount with cold water and people think they are done. Then the mush hits a warm liquid stomach and expand some more (due to the warm liquid) and that, of course is how it happens.
It makes sense to me, hence why I am feeling rather silly to have inadvertently put my lovely horses at risk (however well intended) and am looking for 'whole' or unprocessed feed ideas.
Thanks again 🙂
 
Plonkertonk said:
He said the pellets expand a certain amount with cold water and people think they are done. Then the mush hits a warm liquid stomach and expand some more (due to the warm liquid) and that, of course is how it happens.
It makes sense to me, hence why I am feeling rather silly to have inadvertently put my lovely horses at risk (however well intended) and am looking for 'whole' or unprocessed feed ideas.
Thanks again 🙂
Click to expand...
But how does food expanding in the stomach cause an obstruction in the oesophagus?
 
I always feed soaked feed. I have an old chest freezer and make the night feed on a morning, and the morning feed the night before. It goes in to the freezer which keeps it cool and pests away. Mine has a history of choke (before I bought him) and *touch wood* I've had no issues since doing this.

I have big trugs so can add a lot of water.
 
Thankyou for the replies.
I've taken them off of it for now, will probably not use it again tbh. I've used sugerbeet pellets for over 20 years and never had a problem, just found it can smell a bit 'fermented' in hot weather, so wanted something quicker soaking for ease, that was still low suger and calorie that could be fed to both.
Sigh.
 
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