Nearly lost my boy to Choke last night

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julie111

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Fortunately YO saw him and called the vet who was at another yard only a few miles away, he had gone down by the time the vet arrived and was sedated and tubed, very scary and upsetting but all well in the end and back out with his pals in the field. So grateful to yo!:)
 
How scary, my boy had it once and the vet said rub his throat roughly and he wouldn't come out as he was too far away! Luckily he was ok. It was caused by those stupid treats that are hard little blocks.
Do you know what caused it?
 
SNORKEY said:
How scary, my boy had it once and the vet said rub his throat roughly and he wouldn't come out as he was too far away! Luckily he was ok. It was caused by those stupid treats that are hard little blocks.
Do you know what caused it?
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Hi, he had a handful of grass nuts in a bucket when he came in and must of bolted them down, silly boy!
 
The first time anyone sees choke it usually scares the absolute bejeesus out of them. I remember the first time I saw it was about 35 years ago and I thought the horse was going to die! Of course she didn't but it was still scary for me. I've seen it lots of times since and it never worries me anymore, I just deal with it calmly and treat appropriately. I have a very old horse who used to choke frequently but he hasn't for at least a year now, not sure why, but I'm not complaining.
 
julie111 said:
Hi, he had a handful of grass nuts in a bucket when he came in and must of bolted them down, silly boy!
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I don't know what grass nuts are (we don't have anything called that in my country) but if they are like pony nuts then these are THE most usual cause of choke. The coating can get stuck to their oesophagus and they often aren't able to shift it without help.
 
I was once told that if you have a horse with choke, smear honey on its tongue with a wooden spoon, and massage their neck - this causes them to salivate and swallow. (Ring the vet if it doesn't work, of course!)

My Arab developed a taste for the honey after a couple of bouts of choke - he would throw himself on the floor and refuse to get up until he'd had his spoonful of honey, even when the obstacle had actually gone, and he wasn't choking any more.
 
Can they really not die from choke? My tb had it when I first bought him (literally two days after he arrived) and it was horrific, he did look like he was on his way out and was making the most awful noises. Have had a slight paranoia about it happening when the yard is empty ever since! So that is a relief to hear.
 
Pigeon said:
Can they really not die from choke? My tb had it when I first bought him (literally two days after he arrived) and it was horrific, he did look like he was on his way out and was making the most awful noises. Have had a slight paranoia about it happening when the yard is empty ever since! So that is a relief to hear.
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Hi, yes they unfortunately can! The vet gave my boy sedation to relax his tubes but he was still unable to clear the blokage, so then he had to tube him.
 
Pigeon said:
Can they really not die from choke? My tb had it when I first bought him (literally two days after he arrived) and it was horrific, he did look like he was on his way out and was making the most awful noises. Have had a slight paranoia about it happening when the yard is empty ever since! So that is a relief to hear.
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No they don't die specifically from choke because the obstruction is in the oesophagus which is an entirely different tube to the trachea. However as mentioned above it can develop into aspiration pneumonia whereby the feedstuff combined with fluids can bring the blockage up to the pharynx area. If this happens then the horse could breathe it into the trachea which can cause aspiration pneumonia, and it's this the aspiration pneumonia which potentially can kill the horse. Most chokes occur halfway down the oesophagus and sedation, muscle relaxants and firm stroking more often than not will clear the obstruction. Some vets are very handy with setting about tubing horses, (and I wouldn't rule it out in some cases) and others are more laid back about it trying other methods to remove the obstruction. Tubing is not without it's own problems and the after effects can be harsh on the horse so if it's not absolutely necessary then I always err on the side of not doing it.
 
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Spring Feather said:
No they don't die specifically from choke because the obstruction is in the oesophagus which is an entirely different tube to the trachea. However as mentioned above it can develop into aspiration pneumonia whereby the feedstuff combined with fluids can bring the blockage up to the pharynx area. If this happens then the horse could breathe it into the trachea which can cause aspiration pneumonia, and it's this the aspiration pneumonia which potentially can kill the horse. Most chokes occur halfway down the oesophagus and sedation, muscle relaxants and firm stroking more often than not will clear the obstruction. Some vets are very handy with setting about tubing horses, (and I wouldn't rule it out in some cases) and others are more laid back about it trying other methods to remove the obstruction. Tubing is not without it's own problems and the after effects can be harsh on the horse so if it's not absolutely necessary then I always err on the side of not doing it.
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Completely agree with this.

Choke in itself is misunderstood to cause death. The tubing is a last resort when it has gone on for a long time and the horse is exhausted/at risk of aspiration pneumonia as mentioned. It is not done because the cause of the choke is blocking breathing etc.

My horse has had choke twice. First time she literally nearly sat down in the corner of the stable - her backside was nearly touching the floor, she had a heave line, was sweating profusely within seconds, eyes rolling, nostrils flared and she sounded like she was trying to throw up spectacularly. She was actually rocking back and forth too. It cleared after 15-20mins. Second time was very mild choke, and a firm massage on her throat solved it wihin a minute or two.
 
julie111 said:
Hi, he had a handful of grass nuts in a bucket when he came in and must of bolted them down, silly boy!
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That's interesting, mine choked on grass nuts though thankfully not quite as dramatic! Had been feeding them soaked and just gave both boys handful unsoaked as a little treat (did say on bag you could feed soaked or un soaked) Foxy choked immediately. Have had him 11 years and he's never choked before and has often been fed various feed in pellet form. Thankfully he wasn't too bad and passed fairly quickly with some massaging. Obviously uncomfortable and distressing for him though. I haven't fed them since!

Glad your horse is ok, must have been very scary
 
TeamChaser said:
That's interesting, mine choked on grass nuts though thankfully not quite as dramatic! Had been feeding them soaked and just gave both boys handful unsoaked as a little treat (did say on bag you could feed soaked or un soaked) Foxy choked immediately. Have had him 11 years and he's never choked before and has often been fed various feed in pellet form. Thankfully he wasn't too bad and passed fairly quickly with some massaging. Obviously uncomfortable and distressing for him though. I haven't fed them since!

Glad your horse is ok, must have been very scary
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Thanks, the nuts I gave him didn't need soaking either and it was just a handful, I shall be soaking them now tho, he can slurp on his soup!
 
julie111 said:
Thanks, the nuts I gave him didn't need soaking either and it was just a handful, I shall be soaking them now tho, he can slurp on his soup!
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We've had a horse choke on soaked grassnuts, twice. Now we make sure that we put chaff in the mix. As you say it is frightening to watch, I'd kept horses for 35yrs before I saw it and truly thought that she was having a heart attack. Fortunately she recovered both times without the vet.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We've had a horse choke on soaked grassnuts, twice. Now we make sure that we put chaff in the mix. As you say it is frightening to watch, I'd kept horses for 35yrs before I saw it and truly thought that she was having a heart attack. Fortunately she recovered both times without the vet.
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Thanks for that info, I will definetely add some chaff now!
 
My mare does this all the time. We massage her throat, swing her head side to side and walk her a bit. It passes. I paniced the first time and rang the vet but he refused to come out till she'd been struggling for more than half hour/Forty minutes. If it lasts longer than that i'll get vet but so far never has and she stays so calm bless her. Still scares the bejeyzus out of me till it passes! Glad pony is ok.
 
Actually you can loose a horse to choke. It can be very, very distressing, and complications arising fromnit can result in euthanasia.
 
I'm not sure amymay. Dentist says she has all her teeth in good condition so no reason there. My vet who is a real horseman type says it's just one of those things. she loves her food but has gone from undisputed top dog in the herd to respected by the others but not boss anymore. First time she was being fed near the others. Now I only feed in her stable and make it wet and sloppy. Last time was on hayledge though.
 
I found giving my horse who was prone to choke his feed first, then hay worked best.

Feed was soaked for around 6 hours, and then fed sloppy as well.
 
Spring Feather said:
No they don't die from choke however if water is introduced then they can die from aspiration pneumonia which is the main reason why I never tube a horse with choke.
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On the other side tubing saved my girls life last summer - the night she choked the vet was reluctant to tube because of this but by the next morning her lungs were so congested she was basically drowing in her own salavia. He tubed her but it kept going in her lungs - this absolutly saved her as so much liquid came out her lungs before he could get the tube in her oesphagus. He wasn't able to clear all the blockage and we ended going to the Dick Vets (university equine hospital) where she spent a week on IV antibiotics/frusemide etc for aspiration pneumonia.
Before the vet came and tubed her I listened to her lungs and they crackled the whole way down - that was a very scary 24 hours!

I would certainly never tube a horse myself and would only ever allow an experienced equine vet to do so
 
mynutmeg said:
On the other side tubing saved my girls life last summer - the night she choked the vet was reluctant to tube because of this but by the next morning her lungs were so congested she was basically drowing in her own salavia. He tubed her but it kept going in her lungs - this absolutly saved her as so much liquid came out her lungs before he could get the tube in her oesphagus. He wasn't able to clear all the blockage and we ended going to the Dick Vets (university equine hospital) where she spent a week on IV antibiotics/frusemide etc for aspiration pneumonia.
Before the vet came and tubed her I listened to her lungs and they crackled the whole way down - that was a very scary 24 hours!

I would certainly never tube a horse myself and would only ever allow an experienced equine vet to do so
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Really awful, I'm glad she came through ok!
 
My old pony had to be tubed as well, it just wouldn't clear despite sedation, massage etc, we tried for 6 hrs before my vet ended up at midnight tubing him, the crap that came out was unbelievable, took over an hour to clear, he was blocked all the way to his stomach pretty much.

That was one mouthful of pony nuts, have never fed them to anything since, the old lad had eaten them all his life until that night.
 
julie111 said:
Really awful, I'm glad she came through ok!
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The amzing thing is that she was 20 days pregnant at the time and somehow kept the foal through it all - to make an appearance next month :D:D:D

The only lasting effect is she seems to have a little scaring or something as she can't tolerate hay/dusty bedding now which she was fine with before the pneumonia - small price to pay for having her back with me otherwise healthy
 
mynutmeg said:
The amzing thing is that she was 20 days pregnant at the time and somehow kept the foal through it all - to make an appearance next month :D:D:D

The only lasting effect is she seems to have a little scaring or something as she can't tolerate hay/dusty bedding now which she was fine with before the pneumonia - small price to pay for having her back with me otherwise healthy
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Aww how exciting, I hope all goes well! My mum's gypsy cob mare is due to foal any day now.
 
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