choking horse..help!

[HJALO]

A friend of my family called.. has a horse that sounds like she is choking:
discharge (wtih feed) from nose and mouth
coughing
extending head and neck

No colicky symptoms...sounds like choking to me? We've got multiple calls in to emergency vet and are waiting. Anything we can do in the meantime? Tried massaging her throat with no luck. Any advice appreciated!

I'm out of state and am just assisting via phone (and computer) as much as I can.

[trilogy]

We just recently had one do this. vet suggested putting a hose in his mouth and trying to wash blockage out. Didn't work for us as blockage was down in his chest sitting over his heart. Vet said if it was in the back of his throat this method usally helps

[spaghetti legs]

Sounds like choke. They can try rinsing the mouth out with water from the hose and the extra moisture might break up or dislodge the food if it's high up.. Do NOT try and stick the hose down the horse's throat because you run a very real risk of putting water into the horses's lungs.

Keep trying the vet...

[HJALO]

yeah, the vet's just taking forever. so frustrating. she's doing ok. not letting her drink or eat and she's not showing any new signs of distress from what they're telling me. the massaging seemed to help a bit but she def. needs vet attention. I'll tell them to try wetting her mouth a bit - thank you for the suggestion.

[LoveMyArabians]

Of course...check with vet... but this has helped me...

Banamine is good to relax horse...

and, as crazy as this sounds... run horse forward then abruptly back them up... do this a few times... you will see an immediate difference if it works.

Desperate measures in a desperate moment.

Cindy

[equusus]

A cc or 2 of ACE may also help her relax so it can pass. Banamine is good for the inflamation, too.
I would be very hesitant to put a hose anywhere near a choking horses' mouth/throat. The chances are you may do more harm than good.
Make sure the horse gets soup for at least a couple months after this, and plenty of anti-inflammatories. She will be prone to choking again.

[merrygoround]

I would not insert a hose in a horses mouth and attempt to rinse far enough back to aid a choke. The risk of aspiration is too great.


I would remove food and water, turn out lights and let things quiet down. The point being to allow the horse to relax. Sometimes the choke will pass of its own accord.

In any case your next job is to figure out why, and not have it happen again.

[AKB]

If you can't get a vet to come out, you may need to trailer to a clinic. This horse needs veterinary care to get the blockage out of the esophagus since he has not been able to pass it himself.

[dacasodivine]

How long has the horse been choking and what is he choking on? My horse choked on bp that wasn't wet enough and needed vet help. A couple weeks later he choked again on alf pellets. He resolved that on his own in about 3 hours.

If the horse will allow, continue to massage and maybe hand walk a little.

[Posting Trot]

Also, get some banamine paste to give the horse orally every day for several days following the choke. It will ease inflammation caused by the first choke and help cut down on the possibility of a second (or multiple) chokes.

I would not try putting water in the horse's mouth (via hose or otherwise) unless given explicit instructions by the vet to do so with a very detailed description of what to do. If the water and/or whatever the horse is choking on gets rinsed into the horse's lungs, you have a far bigger problem to deal with.

Good luck.

[paintjumper]

I had an old mare that would choke on any feed that had a lot of pellets. They would swell in her throat and she would choke. She did OK on oats but the senior feeds had to be soaked before she ate. Tell your friend to soak the horse's feed from now on. My experiences with choke were forever, she never "got over it".

[classicsporthorses]

Never ever try to reduce a choke by putting a hose in a horse's mouth. You could probably kill the horse and he could aspirate the liquids.

Sedation-if you are capable of giving it, no food or water and call the vet.

When my stallion choked a few years ago Cornell said the two biggest reasons horses choke are on beet pulp and fully pelleted feeds.

His was on hay.

Even after a choke is reduced you need to keep the mare of basically gruel for some time to allow the esophagus to heal properly. Don't rush the process or you could end up with another choke in a very short period of time.

[birdsong]

We just recently had one do this. vet suggested putting a hose in his mouth and trying to wash blockage out. Didn't work for us as blockage was down in his chest sitting over his heart. Vet said if it was in the back of his throat this method usally helps

EEK...My vet said NEVER to do this as they could aspirate and take fluid into the lungs!

[Laurierace]

EEK...My vet said NEVER to do this as they could aspirate and take fluid into the lungs!

Add me to the list of NEVER do this. One thing to keep in mind when a horse is choking is that they can breathe. Its not like if you or I were choking and if we don't get the blockage out we will die within minutes. You have time to wait for the vet to get there and dislodge the blockage in a manner that won't endanger the horses life. Its hard to watch while you wait but its not a life or death emergency.

[Fairview Horse Center]

I hope the horse has passed the blockage by now.

NEVER try to flush a choke with a hose or syringe!!!

Remove all feed and hay scraps, as they will sometimes begin to eat when only partially cleared. Keep the horse relaxed. If you have Dipyrone, that is a good muscle relaxer. If they become too upset, give tranq & banamine - NOT orally.

Most horses will clear a choke on their own in 2 to 4 hours. That IS the safest way.

If a vet is needed to flush with a stomach tube, it increases the chance of aspirating fluid into the lungs, causing pneumonia, & damaging the esophagus. Try to avoid doing this if at all possible. UNFORTUNATELY, once you call or transport to a vet, they feel they have to do something, so often that is the treatment they choose because they can't just stay for hours to wait for the horse to clear.

A BETTER way, even if vet assistance is needed is for them to tranq enough to make the horse drop its head to the ground for a LONG time. Repeat. Gravity is the best & safest cure.

We used to have chokes often when I fed pelleted grain. I have never needed a vet except for a mare that was a roarer, and had scar tissue in her throat. Nose tube could not be passed on her either. Vet gave her tranq, and just said to watch her for a several more hours, giving more tranq as needed to keep her head down. He called throughout the day, and she cleared about 6 hours later.

Remember, the BEST thing you can do is to make sure they don't make it worse, and leave them alone to relax. The WORST thng you can do is to try to flush, or load them on to a trailer to race to a vet clinic.

Not only for the safety of the horse, but "free" vs several thousand dollars at a clinic for flushing, and then treating the resulting pnemonia & damage will hopefully make people give the horse a bit of time.

I switched my feeding to sweet feed, and rarely have a choke now.

[starkissed]

I realize this is a little old now, but I thought I would post this anyway. My vet said the best way to treat most chokes is to put the horse in a stall w/o food and stuff, nice and quiet, and give him a lot of acepromazine. Not sure exactly how much, but around 5cc.

Horses can still breathe while choking, so if you give the horse time, the wad of food or whatever in his throat will break apart and move down. My vet said that this is the preferred way to do things first, because tubing with oil and everything can damage the throat/esophogus and make them even more prone to choke.

[HJALO]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, guys. Really appreciate it. As of this morning, I haven't heard from my brother yet on the status of his friend's horse. As of 1am last night, they still had not seen the vet (almost 3 hours after the initial call). And, they live in a very rural area so no decent clinics within a reasonable driving distance, unfortunately. The horse was doing ok - had continued to cough out grain with massaging. Had also gone to the bathroom and didn't show any new signs of distress.

As to what caused it, after drilling my non-horsey brother the phone, it sounds like they are feeding this roughly 1YO filly a mix of sweet feed and pelleted feed - the pelleted feed sounds like it is a mix for senior horses. WHY they would be feeding her this, I have no clue. She is also a very fast eater, so that along with the pellets could have something to do with it?

I told them to keep calling/wait for the vet and definitely get her checked regardless of if she seemed to pass whatever it is. I don't know these folks well, but from what I can tell they are not very well-educated in horsey matters. In their defense, they did rescue this horse and one other from an equally uneducated "horseperson" who was not feeding them at all due to the economy! Sad. Anyway, hopefully they have seen the vet by now. I also suggested taking her off the pelleted feed and discussing her feeding regimen with the vet. Also, I used to own a horse who wolfed his food down and we put a few round, very smooth large river stones in his feed tub so he had to eat around them - slowed him down, even if it did make him angry! ;) Suggested trying this too.

[Susan P]

I had an old horse that started choking when he was around 26 years old and the first one was really bad. He was a total sweat ball and the bo didn't know what to do. She called the vet, the vet didn't get the call. She called me, I got there first, he was soaking wet with sweat in the winter. The vet finally got the second call and showed up after me and gave him a shot of Bannamine. I've read in this forum and heard from a knowledgeable friend that a choke can cause some scar tissue creating more choking problems.

My old guy didn't choke much for a long time but as his teeth wore down I found it best to change his diet. Also very well soaked food worked well too.

When his teeth were shot and he lost a lot of weight the diet I turned to was shredded beet pulp, ground flax seed, Equi Jewel Rice Bran pellets, human grade bulk rolled oatmeal like Quaker oats but I found it in 50 lb. bulk for $20 a bag, and also sea kelp, horse mineral, Opt E Horse supplements by Weaver, and 50/50 timothy alfalfa hay cubes all soaked very thoroughly together and also 1/2 cup of oil and it was a much in a generous amount of water. I think frequent small meals are good too.

I got weight on him and he never choked again. When he choked before this diet I had stroked the base of the choke on his throat and the top and it went in both directions and it did seem to help him loosen the choke, it's best done quickly since the longer the choke, the more moisture the dry food absorbs and the bigger the choke.

I understand Bannamine helps them relax the tense muscles allowing the food to move. I guess that the muscles must constrict even more because he is tense, maybe it helps with the swelling too. Chokes can become dangerous so take them seriously. If you have a choke prone horse you have to slow down his eating and if it's very wet then it won't soak up moisture in the throat so it should prevent a choke. When the dry matter gets hung up the throat or esophagus starts to moisten the dry matter and it swells making the choke even worse.

I'm thinking maybe in some cases getting the teeth floated might help, it's worth consideration.

[Fairview Horse Center]

Massage can cause damage to the esophagus, so it is best to just leave them to work it out with close monitoring.

I have also used the large, smooth stones in grain for fast eaters. Wetting the feed slows them down too.

[Fairview Horse Center]

I wanted to add that my recommendations are for a feed type choke. In general, you will notice the horse choking shortly after feeding them a meal. That is why it is important to check on horses after eating their grain.

If a choke is caused by them swallowing a foreign object, or a whole apple, it is VERY serious, and call a vet immediately as it may require surgery to remove. If you know your horse has swallowed a whole apple, make sure to tell the vet, as you don't want them trying to force that down with a stomach tube, and causing more damage.

[HJALO]

This particular horse had just eaten, so I would assume it was feed choke...again, all from not seeing her in person but def. sounded that way on the phone.

[Fairview Horse Center]

99% of chokes are feed related, but I remember 2 cases - one a whole apple, that my vet told me about that required surgery. The other was a case report I read. X-rays found the horse had swollowed an entire riding crop, also requiring surgery.

[HJALO]

yeah, this sounds like a feed choke from what I could tell on the phone. Hopefully the vet was able to give her some Banamine to help her relax. These folks are def. not qualified to administer it themselves, nor did they have anything like that on hand.

[Foxtrot's]

It swallowed an entire ridin crop - oh my - how the heck? I'm paranoid about not leaving baling twine around - never heard of a problem, but just thinking about it, ugh.

I feed my grain on top of the hay, sounds lazy, but it will slow them down.

Hope by now the issue is all over.

[Posting Trot]

There is banamine paste that anyone can administer orally.

The filly may also need her teeth done--choke is sometimes related to an inability to chew the food properly.

[Fairview Horse Center]

There is banamine paste that anyone can administer orally.

The injectable Banamine can also be administered orally. Just remove the needle, and squirt into the back of the mouth. It is MUCH cheaper than the paste.

[dotneko]

When my 22 yo choked this spring (on grass pasture)
the vet recommended putting a hose in the corner of his
mouth and running it slowly to add moisture.
After 4-5 rinse and repeats, the choke cleared.
By the time the vet got there 20 min later, he was
perfectly normal..

Dot

[Ghazzu]

There is banamine paste that anyone can administer orally.



I think oral medication is contraindicated in cases of esophageal choke...

[Fairview Horse Center]

the vet recommended putting a hose in the corner of his mouth and running it slowly to add moisture.

You should seriously re-think that, as well as who you are using for a vet.

[Fairview Horse Center]

I think oral medication is contraindicated in cases of esophageal choke...


I totally agree, but it is an option to deal with inflammation, once the choke has cleared.

[dotneko]

Pretty funny - he has been a vet for over 30 years and has
some national recognition attached to his name, so I think I
will keep him :)
He has saved a few that others would have thrown away.

Dot

[trina1]

Anyone know the mortality rate after a choke? Our 32 year old pony had a terrible choke with aspiration pneumonia; found him in repiratory distress breathing 60 times a minute. Vet came quickly, relieved the choke with flushing water down his esophagus, and didn't think he would make it. An hour later, pony looked great! Pneumonia now cleared, pony looks great and we are feeding him a handful of wetted senior feed at a time. Vet called the next morning asking "if he made it through the night". Still has me freaked out and very glad I called my vet promptly!

[jennywho]

I would think twice before giving oral banamine with choke and this is why:

Last year I had a filly choke badly on pasture of all things. The second time she choked we took her to the vet and had her scoped to find a large ulcer on her esophagus. If I had given her oral banamine it would have had horrible consequences when it got to the ulcer. For those of you that haven't personally taken banamine orally, it burns a bit.

If you are going to give banamine for a choke I would take the risk associated with injecting it over giving it orally.

For this filly we gave her sulcralfate orally and an injectible antibiotic.

I would never have thought to have had her scoped after choking if she hadn't belonged to my boss and been very valuable. However if we had not caught the ulcer and started treating it, it could have caused her esophagus to stricture during healing which would have required emergency surgery.