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HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Mouth, Esophagus, and Liver » Choke: Esophageal Obstruction »
  Discussion on Choking symptoms after drinking water not feed or hay
Author Message
Member:
nterry

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 - 8:09 am:

My mare has begun to have great difficulty drinking water and appears to start choking. She is stretching her neck out and looks like she can't breathe. She opens her mouth and almost violently stretches and gags and shakes her head. I have not seen her do this while eating hay, grazing or eating her minimal amount of feed. (She is boarded so I don't always see her, though). After it happened yesterday, her jugular vein appeared to be spasming.

This started about 2 weeks ago. She rec'd her rabies vaccine on 3/14 and had her flu and rhino shot on 4/1. She has had increasing symptoms of Cushings or insulin resistance over the last 2 1/2 years. Long hair coat, slow to shed out, hard to put muscle on, chronic scratches/dermatitis. I had a dexamethasone test done 2 1/2 years ago in Oct. At that time, her neck had gotten a little cresty and she hadn't shed out well. She tested slightly +. Also her bilirubin was high and she had a low RBC. She was retested the following Jan (no dexamethasone) and did not test + for Cushings. Bilirubin and RBC were improved. She was tested last Aug (no dexamethasone) and did not test + for Cushings but her bilirubin and RBC were still low but better than before. Her symptoms for Cushings, however, have been increasing except her neck is no longer cresty. I am reviewing various supplements for Cushings/IR to start her on.

Recently she has had increasing thirst. Until the last few months, I have often worried she did not drink enough. Yesterday after she appeared to be choking, her gums seemed jaundiced, her skin tented & she appeared to be dehydrated. After the choking/gagging subsides, she appears to be ok and goes back to eating hay. I rode her lightly for about 25 mins. She drank about 3/4 of a 5 gal bucket of water and had some problem, but not as severe as when trying to drink earlier. This is very scary & unfortunately, I am about to have surgery next week and will not be able to check on her myself for at least a week. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? I have read the articles on choke, but this only seems to involve water. I am having the vet come today, but I would like to hear from anyone else who may have experienced this. Thank you!
Member:
scooter

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 - 8:57 pm:

Strange are you sure she isn't choking on feed before she goes to the water. Does she have an auto water or a heated bucket? I have seen horses get shocked from them and react like that. I couldn't even feel it when I stuck my finger in it, I thought they were colicing or chocking until I figured out they were getting tiny shocks when they tried to drink.
Member:
nterry

Posted on Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 - 6:53 am:

She has regular buckets. I have seen her do it when drinking from a large water trough and also when drinking from her bucket in her stall. It doesn't seem to happen when she is eating her feed or her grain, only water. Thank you for your input.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 - 7:29 am:

Hello N Marsh Terry,
Hmmm....I am uncertain what is going on here. In your first post you give an example where it happened while she was eating but in the last post you say it doesn't happen while she is eating.

Certainly uncomplicated choke is the most frequent explanation for the symptoms seen but if it definitely occurs when no food is available you have to consider other causes of obstruction of the esophagus which would normally cause food problems first, and then possible functional problems with swallowing. With functional problems I would have expected problems with food first though I could hypothesize situations where swalloing water might be more effected than swallowing food. For instance decrease sensation of the sensory nerves that create the reflexive swallowing. But that is out there...
DrO
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