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HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Mouth, Esophagus, and Liver » Choke: Esophageal Obstruction »
  Discussion on Choke
Author Message
Member:
Sefiroth

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 10:19 am:

Dr. O,

My percheron choked last tonight. (What's next? He loves finding new ways to hike my bill up higher at the vet's! Thankfully I work for him now so I get an employee discount too!)

Fortunately, the vet was already on his way out to pull a coggins on him anyway. How lucky is that? Not lucky it happened though...

It took my vet nearly an hour of flushing, pushing, and wiggling the tube to clear Golly's blockage. As soon as the vet cleared the blockage and pulled the tube, Golly went right back to nibbling on his leftover hay. We are hoping for no complications since he only spent about one and a half hours blocked.

Does the incidence of esophagus damage increase with the length of time spent trying to unblock the horse? What's the longest its taken you to clear a blockage on a horse with choke? Did my horse take abnomally long? Seemed like it to me! Just out of curiosity.

What a night...I think this horse is balancing out the years I spent with my 100% trouble free first horse..

~Sharon & Golly
Member:
Gafarm

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 2:48 pm:

I can't answer all your questions but I sure wish it only took an hour to clear our old mare's choke! My vet worked on her for 2 1/2 hours and only slightly dislodged it. Left here hoping that if we left her in a stall and gave no food or water for 24 hours it would break up the rest of the way on it's own. No such luck. I think the vet was more exhausted from working on her than really thinking it would resolve on it's own. I called my regular vet the next day and he refused to come stating any horse that hasn't resolved in 24 hours is referred to the equine hospital and our only other option was to put this 32 year old mare down! I called the first vet back and luckily she agreed to try one more time but warned me before hand that if this mare had not been so old she would have recomended the same as my regular vet as far as hospital referral. Another hour and a half later she finally got through the blockage and poured several gallons of water down the tube to rehydrate this mare and put her on antibiotics due to the pneumonia from aspirating fluids. This mare is 34 years old this year and now ONLY gets a soupy senior type feed and a little hay to play with. You were lucky so count your stars!
Member:
Canyon28

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 3:04 pm:

I feed Cutter(29 yo breeding stallion) only soupy senior feed made by my elevator. I put about 2 gal of water in one gallon of feed. I also have a screen. I screen all of the leaves in the bottom of my hay cart through for him. the holes are about 1/2 inch across. Only a few short stems fall through and he usually leaves all of these in the bottom of his tub. I never feed him on the ground. He is missing most of his molars, due to poor dental care by his only other owner.
That is too bad your horse choked, but I think Dr o will tell you now he is more prone to choking again. If you can put large stones or broken up salt block pieces in his feed where he cant grab huge mouthfuls of feed at one time . A friend of mine does this with large river rocks, since she feeds a lot of pellets and very little hay. It makes the horse have to nibble its food and not try to take big mouthfuls. It also takes them longer to eat that way, so they have something to do for a little longer.
I have never had a horse choke (knock on wood)
Member:
Dres

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 3:41 pm:

}That is too bad your horse choked, but I think Dr o will tell you now he is more prone to choking again.

i have a filly that had choked on pellets, we had to have the vet out to tube her.. since then she partially choked several more times , was able to resolve it on her own.. ON PELLETS again... now she gets her pellets as a mash as well.. we have NOT had a problem with her and hay.. (( thank goodness))

Ann
Member:
Annes

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 5:10 pm:

Recently, my 19 yr. old TB started choking on his senior pellets. He has always bolted his food (I've had him 11 years) but never any problems until now. In one week he choked almost every day. It resolved itself each time within 10-15 min. so I did not need the vet to come out. I did call the vet after the 1st time and we tried various things without working. The one thing that has been succesful is hot water over his pellets. Cold water did not work. I also spread his feed over two feeders instead of one so he doesn't try to gulp it all at once. I am so glad the hot water worked for Monte. (I am wondering how he will like it in hot weather.) The vet said some people keep a coffee maker in the barn just for making the hot water. I know I do not want to see Monte choke again and am so grateful that he did not have a worse case.
Member:
Canyon28

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 5:52 pm:

I neglected to say that I also use only hot tap water for Cutters pelleted feed. I have a one gallon jug I bring out from my house since I dont have hot water in my barn. I pour that on his pellets and go about feeding the rest of the horse. By the time I am done feeding the rest, the pellets have completely absorbed the water, then I add another gal of cold water to make it soupy and feed it to him. In the summer I use cold water, but I still let the pellets soak for at least 10 to 15 minutes untill most of the water is absorbed. I guess the coffee maker idea is ok, but It is just as easy for me to bring out an old gallon oj container or an old crisco corn oil jug full of hot water. then you wont have to worry about if you turned off the coffee maker, etc.
Member:
Sefiroth

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 6:02 pm:

The funny thing about this horse is just last week a friend and I were watching him eat and we remarked he'd be the last horse on earth to choke. He's the slowest, most methodical eater I've ever seen. If you offer him an apple, he doesn't rip it out of your hand and inhale it the way most other horses will. He'll make you hold it while he takes small human size bites out of it!

The thing that changed with the snack that he choked on is that there was no corn oil mixed with it as his normal ration is, we just gave him a little bit of strategy and dried beet pulp. Unfortunately it wasn't mixed well and there was a large part of just beet pulp off to the side. He went right for it since he loves the stuff and that's what he choked on. The only thing that came back up the tube when the vet was working on him was beet pulp.

So no more dried beet pulp for this guy...ever. I went and visited him today and he's looking great. No temp and eating and swallowing well. From everyone's stories, I guess it could have been much worse. It just seems so bad when its your own horse the vet is working on and time seems to slow down so much when you are frantic with worry!

Thanks for everyone's stories and encouragement!

~Sharon
Member:
Kthorse

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 9:10 pm:

Sharon,
My vet said she has seen some horrible cases of choke from dried beet pulp. She says 100% soak it always. I have seen sites that say its ok, but as my vet says when you see so many cases of choke from it dried why would you take the risk.
I am sooo glad your horse is ok. How scary. I have never seen a horse choke. I would be terrified.
Member:
Savanah

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 11:30 pm:

Choke sounds very scary. I have been through all kinds of horse medical problems but (knock on wood) have so far managed to avoid that one. I am throwing my two cents in because of reading Christine's post about mixing pellets with hot tap water. I heard a report that hot tap water has an incredible load of bacteria, and that some cases of Legionnaire's disease have been traced to ingesting hot tap water. It is because of the hot water pipes providing a perfect environment for the bacteria. It is OK to use to wash things but you shouldn't drink it. I know horse's drink from streams and ponds and eat off the ground, but in some ways they seem like the most delicate creatures... maybe there is a chance of introducing a bug that could give them serious intestinal trouble?
Member:
Sefiroth

Posted on Friday, Feb 6, 2004 - 11:52 pm:

We had been soaking the beet pulp in his corn oil. This was the first time he'd had it dry. Never again though. I too heard it was okay to feed dry and figured it was such a small amount he'd be fine.

Michelle & Katrina, it was very very very scary. He had foamy phlegm pouring out his nostrils and his mouth. He made gurgly burping noises and little squeals of pain. If the vet hadnt already been on the way I'd have been on the phone insisting he come out ASAP!

~Sharon
Member:
Gafarm

Posted on Saturday, Feb 7, 2004 - 12:15 am:

I'd MUCH rather deal with any kind of bacteria than Choke! When it is a total blockage like Sharon's horse and my old mare, no fluids can by pass it to get to the stomach and they inhale the fluid. This happend so fast and with out any warning. At least with bacterial infections there are warning signs and you can fight that with antibiotics. It's like a kid getting a ball caught in their throat but with horses you can't give Hiemlick (sp?) manuver and this is life threatening immediately. There are milder forms of choke where there isn't a total blockage and they are much more easily resolved but I believe that is when it up higher in the esophagus and they cough and usually break it up some and just require antibiotics for a short time afterward. OK, I'm done. This is brining back nightmares for me.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Saturday, Feb 7, 2004 - 12:54 am:

Choke is about the scariest thing I've seen. We've only had it once-with a three yr. old colt. I had always thought it was something to worry about with older horses, but vet said he sees it a lot with young horses that are loosing their primary teeth.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Feb 7, 2004 - 9:22 am:

Hello All,
It should be noted that choke is a common event in horses and rarely is it serious, the article has a complete explanation and outlines an effective medical treatment for difficult cases.

A choke lasting several hours is not related to an increase complication rate. I think the hot tap water thing is nonsense as long as your hot water heater is set to at least 120 degrees F. I have never seen a suggestion to rinse your dishes in cold water.

"Choke" in horses involves obstruction of the esophagus and not the trachea so is nothing like a ball caught in the throat of a human requiring a Heimlich and antibiotics are almost never required.
DrO
Member:
Dres

Posted on Saturday, Feb 7, 2004 - 9:39 am:

THANKS Dr.O for clearing up some 'wife's tails'... my filly was never put on antibiotics after her full or partial chokes... i was also told that choke will most always resolve itself ,BUT to keep a visual eye on it till it does.. if not , CALL FOR HELP...keep them away from water and food till it does...

not sure if warm water absorbs faster then cold tap water , but cold water is what i use for her pellets.. works fine...

this is why i love this site... we can discus things and then be corrected with the truths/facts...

THANKS Ann
Member:
Gafarm

Posted on Saturday, Feb 7, 2004 - 10:48 am:

Sorry for the poor analogy. I was trying to think of something that described just how solid my mare's blockage was.
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