All of my equines in the last 8 years have suffered choke. Mara (hay!?!?), Mag (not thoroughly soaked beet pulp - it self resolved), and Bellis's brush with death tonight .....from a PIECE OF WOOD!?!?
I imagined it would self-resolve and observed and massaged Bellis for 40 minutes before calling the vet. Donkeys are much more stoic than the most stoic of horses. However, she was spasming and spitting up fluid from her nose and mouth, nothing a donkey can disguise. Waiting on the vet, there was a point I thought she was better, but then she wasn't and I thought my gosh, she's preparing to die. She stopped moving away from me and just gave up, standing directly in front of the chair I was sitting on for the longest time. Her eyes, I'll never forget that look. And her ears - that wasn't normal. She was listening with both ears to the pain in her neck.
The vet and his assistant arrived masked, which shouldn't have surprised me.
Like siphoning gas from a car, the vet ended up spitting over and over as he got the contents of Bellis' stomach in his own mouth. I wish I understood the tubing procedure better - please explain if you know. First he used low-pressure from the hose I was in charge of kinking/releasing. Then high pressure: I released the kink entirely and blasted full power water into the donkey. After each flush, disconnecting my hose and letting the donkey's nose hose drain onto the ground.
He observed what came out of the hose each emptying phase, and suddenly grabbed a 2-inch piece of wood out of the puddle. He was triumphant, "This is it, this piece of wood."
Then he siphoned air/water, pushing back and forth by blowing with his mouth. Finally he used a large funnel which he had me fill and he beer-bonged Bellis, observing the speed which the water flowed into her. When it came out with only some grass-colored water, we were through. He said she'll be fine but if we would have waited, it would not have resolved itself, she might have died. I wish I understood the nuances of the different techniques he used. Why don't vets ever tell you what they're doing as they are working? My theory is they're men and cannot multitask.
When J joined us to help hold onto Bellis for her pain shot (3 people were not enough to hold her!), he gave us some tips on preventing choke. "Put stones in the feed tub to slow her down."
J replied, "Then she'll eat the stones and you'll have to come back and try to get those out of her!" I cracked up, "He means LARGE stones!" : )
Silly article I just found online: "You may try massaging the left side of the neck over the lump to help move it along. If there is any chance that the impaction is caused by a hard or sharp
object, such as a piece of wood that might
cause damage to the esophagus, it is best to wait for the veterinarian."
How will you know if there is a piece of wood caught in there and not simply food? Will the horse spontaneously tell you, "Stop rubbing, it's wood!"
I caused Bellis a great deal of unnecessary pain today by massaging her repeatedly, and the droplets of water in the ear aren't so helpful if it's a piece of wood! Now I get why she wants nothing to do with me right now.
But 5 minutes after the vet left, she was grazing alongside Mag. I assured the vet she won't get anything but grass to eat tonight.
Though everything in me wants to run out there and give her carrot after carrot after carrot in apology.
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13 comments:
I had a horse choke a long time ago and it was so scary! I'm glad she's going to be OK.
Oh that is so very scary. I am glad she is okay. I don't know what the stones will do. She had a piece of wood stuck, she wasn't gulping her food!!
OMG, that would’ve been terrifying! So glad little donk is OK
Fee choked last spring when we were on the X-State Ride. I could feel the lump of not-wet-enough beet pulp in her esophagus, it "gave" a little (but not enough) when I squeezed it. Dr. Garlinghouse's trick would (probably) have helped in that case, but not in the case of a chunk of wood. http://haikufarm.blogspot.com/2019/06/in-which-cross-state-ride-begins-to.html
(I think your article was kinda indicating "if you see your animal choking and you see a chunk of wood missing...")
Large (bigger than your fist) -sized rocks in the feed pan will slow down speed-eaters. Unless your speed-eater is like a stallion I used to know who would pick up his pan and shake it so the rocks would fall out and he could slork up his beet pulp like a speed-eater. There's an "obstacle feed pan" available for dogs (they call them "gobble-stoppers", I wonder if there's an equine version, beyond the obvious small-hole slow feed rig for hay?
I'm glad Bellis is okay. Tell her "no more non-foods!"
I had a horse choke! It was scary. The vet was fast getting there but just as he pulled in my driveway, it resolved itself. We both laughed after he checked the horse out to make sure he was okay. It was soaked alfalfa pellets. I had to get softball sized rocks to put in his bowl after that. It worked though. So glad Bellis is okay.
I think vets not explaining has to do with how much they are used to teaching or not: most of the vets I've worked with either regularly train interns, are college/university professors on the side, or work in or are affiliated with teaching hospitals, so they are used to always explaining what they are doing. Just being internship-trained themselves makes a huge difference in their ability and willingness to teach clients. All of my vets have been excellent about explaining to myself and other clients.
As for choke, it's similar to gastric decompression in a dog: you insert the tube into the stomach through the nose (in horses) or the mouth (dogs; the dog has to be anesthetized with an endotracheal tube in place to make sure the tube doesn't go down the trachea.) With horses they insert the tube as far as it will go through the nose and down the esophagus and use the fluid pumped in to help dislodge the obstruction. Once that is removed, they continue pumping to flush out the stomach so the horse doesn't colic if they swallowed food that wasn't well-chewed.
The biggest risk with dislodging an esophageal obstruction in a horse is if a less-experienced vet goes down the wrong pipe (because obviously the nose connects to the trachea and lungs as well, and without an endotracheal tube (since this is done with the horse awake or slightly sedated) there is nothing to protect the trachea or keep the tube from going into it) and floods the lungs with water. In which case, you now have a dead horse.
I'm glad you didn't wait longer and that Bellis is okay.
Saiph, thank you for the crucial information. "fluid is used to dislodge and continued pumping." I wish he would have told me the three steps he took, flushing, sucking (with his mouth) and then using a funnel - what those three different steps do.
Aspiration, I know, I thought we'd lose her when she started *coughing* after 40 minutes in. It sounded awful. "wait any longer" - I know now, any fluid ejected means a vet call. Thanks so much for helping with this problem I keep having.
Bellis had only grass last night and today, but this morning I bought her a bag of apples and I carefully peeled, de-seeded, and sliced one for her, as you'd do for a toddler. Mag got all the peels.
Tina/Aarene, I hope I never suffer from not-thoroughly soaked pellets again, cuz once was enough. I must make it devout, how much water and how many hours.
Whew... no stress in your life! Happy outcome!
Just an FYI, I have never heard a single vet approve of Dr. Pol. In fact, most of their comments about him and his show are not printable cuz this is a family show, even from vets who don't normally cuss.
Explaining or not, as said above, varies from vet to vet. Those of us that teach often usually will continue to do so, out of habit. I find some owners want to learn while others would rather be left out of it and tell me to just "do what you do doc." However, though I am always habitually teaching (owners, other vets, vet students) there are times I stop talking and stop teaching - sometimes what I am doing is serious and takes all my attention and I do not have the spare mental bandwidth to take away from my patient in that critical period. At those times, it is taking all of my focus to do the right thing to keep the animal alive and try to fix the problem, which is, after all, usually the most important thing to all involved. The people who work with me regularly know to be concerned when I go quiet.
That must have been scary! So glad the vet got there and resolved it in time. Poor li'l donkey!
So glad Bellis is alright! Scary stuff!
The first case of choke I ever saw was back in the 70s, with a well bred race mare in foal to a top TB stud...think combined value of mare and coal in the six figure range (50 years ago)! You can bet there were multiple vets involved!
But I’ve also had a couple of my oldies gulp pelleted feed too fast. All mine were able to self resolve, with some massage, and the vet on the phone. Most now get their feed soaked. Also one gets his bucket hung on the lowest bar of a gate, so his head is down and neck stretched, which seems to help.
We had to use a puzzle bowl for Shadow when she was a puppy, cause she would gulp her food, then throw it back up ten minutes later. They do make them for horses, but the fist sized rock idea works about as well (just in a secured bucket, so they can’t be flung. 😉 )
Once they’ve choked, if there’s any damage to the esophagus, they can be susceptible in the future, so be careful.
Silly donkey! Sticks are for throwing. Not eating!
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