Bim choked :( - what should i be looking out for now??

raggydoll

raggydoll

Hattie & Bimble
May 16, 2005
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North Lincolnshire
Bim was happily nibbling at a bale of hay id left in the field shelter when she began to cough, when i went over to her i realised she had stopped eating and was just stood. Then she went all rigid and like she was trying to cough something up. I took her out and into the field and walked her round gently rubbing her throat and she kept stopping and doing it. Then she stood for a while and then began grazing. Shes been fine since but looks a little drained and fed up. Shes grazing in the field now. Why would this happen - its never happened before?? Did i do the right thing?? Is there anything i should look out for now with her?? Is there something i should do in future to prevent it? are horses who have choked once more prone to it?? Ahhh questions questions - it was awful to watch :( :(
 
Poor you! :( Its really nasty to watch, my old loan horse choked a few times but it was whilst eating a bucket of food (chaff and mix watered down). I think he may have tried to eat it too quickly.
I did exactly what you did and he recovered ok :confused: I never really got to the bottom of it to be honest but horses seem to be able to recover from it themselves because once it happened to him when I wasn;t there and apprently he started walking around on his own with his head low and recovered without help!
I think older horses are more prone to it but I may be wrong and shall be interested to see what anyone else knows about it :)
 
It's a horrible thing to witness isn't it. Mine's has choked a few times, just out of pure greed and wolfing down her food. I usually have a salt lick in her feed bucket to stop her eating so quickly. I'm sure she will be fine and you did the right thing by walking her and massaging her throat. It's important not to give them anything to drink while they are choking and if it goes on for long then I'd always give the vet a ring. Horses can't bring anything back up and I had one time where the vet had to come out and give a sedative to relax the muscles. It all then came up out her nose- yuck! She was absolutely fine afterwards. I just have to make sure that at times of the year when she might be hungry that I put measures in to stop her eating food so quick.
 
It only lasted about 5 mins or so altogether possibly less but felt like forever and was awful to see her disterssed like that. She looked really old and fragile :( She did stay very calm though. I will make sure all her food is soaked well from now on. Very scary :( :(
 
P did that a while back, she was being so greedy that she carried on eating even though she was choking & ended up with a lump in her throat like a tennis ball! Eventually she did a huge cough, fired a chunk of carrot out her nose & normal service was resumed. As far as I'm aware the main complication to look out for after they choke is aspiration pneumonia, this can happen if they inhale feed into their lungs & it triggers an infection. I took it easy with P for a couple of days after she choked because I was a bit concerned about this - there was quite a bit of feed coming out her nose so a fair amount had got into her airway. Fortunately she was absolutely fine (although carrot sticks are no longer on the dinner menu).
 
Both Tom and Max have done this but again its out of greed and trying to stuff too much in :(.

You did the right thing hun :) If its bad i tend to put their head on my shoulder and massage their throat between the "cheek bones" and neck. I do it firmly to try and get them to try to swollow. It worked every time i have had to do it, with no ill effects except a little bit of feeling sorry for themselves.

Hope you have had a less stressful rest of the day :) Horses eh? who would have them?

H xx
 
many people panic when their horse chokes, but it appears to be more serious than it really is. The horse's airway passage is not obstructed and, if you can see the lump of food on the horse's neck then it can be dislodged carefully using the fingers.
you did fine hun, and it is virtually impossible to prevent. try putting large stones (about the size of the palm of your hand) in your horse's feed bowl/putting hay in a small-holed haynet toreduce the amount eaten and time spent eating it, increasing chewing time and reducing the liklehood of your horse choking again.
xxxxxx
 
as others have said it can be very scarey and there are some good suggestions as to what to look out for and how to avoid it happening again,however one very important thing is do her teeth need doing?I would expect a horse to maybe choke through wolfing down hard feed to quickly but to happen with hay is more unusual and it coud be that she is not able to chew her hay properly.Watch to see when she eats.Is she quidding(losing bits of food out of her mouth)
 
Her teeth were very recently done. Only thing i ca think is that i was letting her eat from a tied bale so hay would have been more compacted perhaps?? She is a greedy eater anyway and Hattie was in too so lots going on. I will take all the advice on preventing it again tho, don't want her (or me) to have to go through it again if we can avoid it.
 
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