horse choke... what did u do.

My vet wouldn't come to my 32 year old mare with choke, he advised me to massage her gullet, walk her then rest her then walk her so she didn't tire and turn her head one sid e to the other repeatedly. It works every time 0 she does choke form time ot time and no her teeth are great she still has them all in good condition and regular dentist (5 - 7 months)
 
I found one of my friend's ponies with choke a few years ago. Greedy ****** had eaten half a bag of chaff. He had his head head down and was heaving and coughing/sneezing green slime out of his nostrils. I panicked and called my friend, she called vet and came over. Vet said to get a bottle of something fizzy and draught him with it - this sometimes helps to clear blockage so vet doesn't have to come out. It didn't work (bless the pony's heart - he just let us manhandle a bottle of lemonade down him without even a peep!) so vet had to come out and sedate and tube him. Right as rain after that. I don't know how much it cost.
 
Sorry if this has already been said but my vet always tells us not to give the horse hard feed for 2 weeks after an episode of choke and to not feed dry pony nuts as they swell once eaten (my boy is greedy and just shoves them in!). I feed a mix instead which is better for him.

My poor boy had three bouts of choke and ended up only being allowed grass for at least three months because the first time caused an ulcer. When he had it we just let him work it out as he's a calm beast and it didn't stress him too much, I brushed the area gently too.
 
Lothmorwel said:
I found one of my friend's ponies with choke a few years ago. Greedy ****** had eaten half a bag of chaff. He had his head head down and was heaving and coughing/sneezing green slime out of his nostrils. I panicked and called my friend, she called vet and came over. Vet said to get a bottle of something fizzy and draught him with it - this sometimes helps to clear blockage so vet doesn't have to come out. It didn't work (bless the pony's heart - he just let us manhandle a bottle of lemonade down him without even a peep!) so vet had to come out and sedate and tube him. Right as rain after that. I don't know how much it cost.
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This is so dangerous - you're just asking to put liquid into the horse's lungs and cause pneumonia. Draughting a horse (or any animal) is a skill you need to really know as it's very easy to put it down the wrong tube and into the lungs not the stomach, plus the fact that the horse is choking and the osephagus is blocked, adding more liquid is just going to increase the chance of having foreign material getting into the lungs.

Standard vet advice is to remove all food and liquid from the horse's reach until the choke has cleared.
 
I had a horrendous experience when managing a yard abroad. I had fed the horses and nipped to get some dinner myself - when I arrived back I could see one of them had not eaten his feed from under his door. I went straight to investigate and one of the elderly horses was in full choke. He had green phlegm pouring out of his nose, his body looked like he was in spasm and was very distressed looking colic-y. I called the vet straight away who came out but was 4 hours away!! The vet told me to try not to let him lie down and remove all feed etc - which I had already done. I sat with the horse who was getting increasingly colic-y and called the vet again after about an hour as I couldn't keep him from lying down (he was approx 17hh and a heavy type). The vet told me to let him do whatever made him comfortable. For the whole 4 hours waiting for the vet the horse was an angel and obviously in agony - he kept coming to me to have his nose wiped. After a while he lay down and didn't move and I honestly thought he had gone but not long after this he got back up for me and seemed to know I was helping him. The vet arrived and sedated him and tubed him. At the time he said it was touch and go whether he would survive the night. I stayed at the yard all night and by morning he was almost back to his normal self. On the vets advice for the next week he was kept in and walked out gently and only given 'horse soup' to eat.

This was honestly one of the most distressing horse experiences I have ever had and even though I always wet my horses feeds I now make the older horses so wet they are almost soup like. I would do anything to prevent this happening again.
 
Rosesandhorses said:
This was honestly one of the most distressing horse experiences I have ever had and even though I always wet my horses feeds I now make the older horses so wet they are almost soup like. I would do anything to prevent this happening again.
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Absolutly - I had a good 24 hours where I honestly thought I was going to lose my mare.
We did have a good outcome in the end in that she survived with few after effects other than a little bit of scaring to her lungs that means she now has a bit of a dust allergy. Somehow she kept the foal she was carrying (she was only 20 days pregnant) tho :D
 
Ive seen it only once in a neighbours horse- it had got into the feed room which hadnt been shut properly and scoffed any amount of un-soaked sugar beet. Ive never seen a state like it by the time I got over there having had a panicked phone call from one of the kids. Lungs and tubes all blocked up as the beat expanded and tried to find somewhere to go and the more she coughed the more got into the lungs, sounded like she was bubbling as she fought for breath. Only thing to do was to keep her head low so as much as possible came out the nose and get the vet ASAP. Then get the owner. Aparently the vet needed to come back about 3 am and do the whole performance again.
Moral of the story- sugar beet is dangerous always shut the door AND have it in horse proof containers.
 
After choke, particularly where the neck goes into spasm, food coming back out etc. the horses throat and oesophagus (sp.) will be incredibly tender and sore and can take about a week to pick up back to normal, sometimes longer.
 
My boy has a tendency to choke, despite teeth regularly checked/done and fed sloppy feeds. The first time was the worst, put the sod in his stable, he grabbed a mouthful of hay and then decided to roll... Came up choking!! It cleared but was horrific. Spoke to vet and their advice was give it 20 mins and if no better they would come out.

He's choked multiple times since, I can tell as soon as its starting before he starts coughing as he adopts a particular stance, and so now fill a bladder syringe with water or oil and squirt up into mouth holding head up. 9 times out of 10 this does the trick with him and washes it down. Never nice though and we have no idea why it happens - he's been scoped for ulcers and they have looked but none the wiser.
 
Spotsrock said:
My vet wouldn't come to my 32 year old mare with choke, he advised me to massage her gullet, walk her then rest her then walk her so she didn't tire and turn her head one sid e to the other repeatedly. It works every time 0 she does choke form time ot time and no her teeth are great she still has them all in good condition and regular dentist (5 - 7 months)
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I would dump a vet that wouldnt attend a choke, it can be a life threatening incident, and cant be assessed over a phone
 
Is it true that thoroughbreds etc have a narrower oesophagus than other breeds and therefore are more prone to choke? I went to view a TB that only had certain feeds as she was prone and she was quite dainty round the neck and face, very Arab looking head. I always soak feeds and put plenty of fibre in to slow them down.
 
One of mine choked on his hay (he's very greedy), but managed to clear it himself in a few minutes - snot and chewed up hay all over the place - but quickly back to normal with no intervention. Then the other day he had a minor choke just after the dentist finished with him. Dentist massaged his throat and he was fine. Dentist said they do choke occasionally after dental treatment.
 
windand rain said:
I called the vet and regretted it terribly
He arrived without working equipment over sedated my baby horse so he couldnt stand up, shoved a tube up one nostril and broke a blood vessel which made a puddle of blood down that nostril about two feet across on the floor.
As that didnt work he then tried the other nostril and made that bleed badly poor baby was desperately trying to breathe and struggling and snoring through the blood it looked like a slaughter house
He then announced that he normally would wait for the horse to clear it itself and for all this stupidity/incompetence I was charged over £150
OH and I spent the next 5 hours holding him up while the sedation wore off and that is no mean feat with half a ton of baby horse
Vet seemed to think that it would clear itself after all that and to call him back the next day if it didnt and left us to it It took two hours for the bleeding to stop dripping although his nose was bleeding for several days after just enough to crust over his nostril.
I would call a vet after about half an hour now but not that one
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Pretty much this advice (last sentence).

My girl had choke badly a couple of years ago - she broke into a heavy sweat within minutes and couldn't even move from the spot - she was almost sitting down on her haunches in the corner of the stable. I panicked and rang the vet after five mins. They told me to chill out and have a brew until it passed!! And if it didn't pass within half an hour to call back. It passed!! Though I was left with a very sweaty and distressed horse.

She actually had a small touch of it tonight, and I just massaged her throat to clear it asap. Worked after a minute.:)
 
I had a Highland who had a bad episode of choke years ago - I called the vet after 10minutes. If i remember right we gave it half an hour before she came out. Poor soul, he was given a muscle relaxant but choked all night - the stable looked like an alien had been massacred by the time he'd cleared. He ended up with a scarred gullet, which meant it was more likely to reoccur.

A cob I had is prone to choke but to a lesser degree. He'd arch his neck and take big gulps. If it happened we would gently massage his neck and offer (but not force) a drink - I would keep a carton of Apple juice handy to add to the water to encourage him. He always cleared it within a few minutes.

Needless to say, I always feed sloppy feeds.
 
My old cob had it once, although not bad enough and I was there hen it happened. You could see where it was in his throat and so with a few smacks and some very rough rubbing/manipulation of his neck he coughed it out and he was fine, but I always after that gave him soupy feeds. Even though what he choked on was wet , he had bolted it. If it was soup he couldnt
 
My horse choked most of the summer before last as he was having an allergic reaction. My vet at the time (Chris Harris) said always call because if not serious by time he calls to say he was on the way it will clear and if not then the vet is needed! Fortunately he always cleared his and was never too bad. My old mare as a 5yr old used to choke really badly and had a couple of trips to the RVC with no diagnosis except that she was stressed from being ridden and this led to sores (like cold sores) appearing in her mouth so she didn't chew properly. She is 22yrs now and retired at 6yrs!!!
 
I have only experienced it once, with OH's pony who bolted a mouthfull of food. he didn't have anything coming out of his nose but was clearly uncomfortable - arching neck strangely, trying to roll, stamping etc.. I got someone to walk him, and ran across the two fields to my vet's house. Ran back, with vet about to follow, to find pony hapily grazing, nothing wrong with him. Called vet sheepishly!
 
Please do be careful when massaging the throat of a horse with choke as if done roughly you can cause damage to the osephagus including (at the extreme) causing it to rupture. Gentle massage would be ok but do be careful please :)
 
My friend has trouble sometimes loading her pony so she always gave him an apple as a reward. Two months ago she did this and went off to a show only to find when she got there he was dripping in sweat and distressed. We unloaded him and called the vet immediately. He had a fast heart rate and the sweat was making him cold so luckily kind people let us borrow rugs. The vet sedated him and tubed him and we took him home. He normally lives out but we kept him in a stable as the sedation was heavy. He then developed a cough for 3 weeks and had antibiotics. A big vets bill followed as it was Sunday and all for a apple! Needless to say he is not allowed them now!:D:D:D
 
My tb had a choking episode last year (first time), scared the crap out of me. He had what I think was a carrot stuck, took a lot of ace to sedate him and a lot of walking around and gently messaging to get it down. Took about 4 hrs plus me being a worry wart and spending half the night in the barn. Definitely call the vet...
 
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