ACEINTHEHOLE - 2014-05-16 9:55 AM

I have had several horses choke, and none had fever.  Why would choke cause fever.  I would begin to look somewhere else, for some type of infection or inflammation causing the fever.  He might not be interested in food because he doesn't feel well. 

npurvis08 - 2014-05-16 9:47 AM

So before I get into anything please know that my horse has been seen by two vets in the last two days to figure out whats going on. Both have sent him home and said that they believed that he choked on Wednesday morning but that he seemed to have cleared it on his own. We have never dealt with choke so we're not sure what else to expect from here.

The first vet saw him Wednesday morning. She ran a tube down his throat and said it was clear by the time we got him there. She sent him home with no worries and told us to soak his feed for the next few days. After doing my research online I read that most vets recommend not feeding any grain for at least 12-24 hrs after a bout with choke. So I decided not to feed him his grain that night.

He seemed to be feeling better when he got home but later on Wednesday night he looked even worse than he did to begin with. He would have these spells of almost panic (tense up and jump around), pace his stall, or just sit with his head in the back corner. He still held his head funny and played with his jaw a lot too. I decided to take his temp and it was 103. I didn't waste any time calling my primary vet. He told me to give him a few grams of bute to help brake his fever for the night and had us bring him in first thing yesterday morning.

He scoped his throat and his stomach but didn't find anything unusual. He said no grain or hay for 24 hrs but that we could allow him to graze in couple hr intervals as long as he was swallowing ok. He also gave him a shot of antibiotics and told us to watch his temp for the next few days.

Its been 2 days since this all started and the horse hasn't wanted any water and shows no interest in hay or grain (we haven't actually given him any grain, just showed him a tiny handful to see if he was interested with no luck). He started to gaze a bit this morning but stretched his neck out again and also made a strange burping sound. I know horses cant burp... is this sound normal for a horse that choked 2 days previous? Our vet said sometimes when horses choke it can scare them and they wont eat/drink for a few days so we should not too alarmed. Has anyone else experienced this? How long did it take for your horses to go back to normal? I feel so bad for our guy but I don't know what else to do for him.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

cheryl makofka - 2014-05-16 11:11 AM Sounds like he is colicing now. Horses who burp, yawn excessively, or play in their water are showing signs of colic. Colicing horses can have a low grade fever, not all colicing horses will kick at the belly, or try and roll. If colic has been ruled out, I would suspect aspiration pneumonia or it could even be in conjunction with the colic. Unless the vet used a scope that extends into the bronchioles, the vet would not be able to see the object in the lungs. If the horse continues to have a fever I would ask for a 2 week antibiotic regime, 2 weeks will give enough time to kill most bacterial infection without developing antibiotic resistant drugs. Good luck with your horse

npurvis08 - 2014-05-16 11:35 AM Aspiration pneumonia is normally caused when someone tries to fix choke by tubing water down the horse's esophagus to break the blockage loose, right? I know that the first vet used this tactic. She first blew into the tube and ran some water down it. She said it was clear though. If she did indeed manage to get water into his windpipe, would 8hrs be long enough for him to already have a fever from pneumonia? Sorry for all of the questions, we've never dealt with choke or pneumonia in our horses. This is scary stuff.

npurvis08 - 2014-05-16 10:28 AM

We normally feed him a handful of a sweet mix from a local mill. Not much at all though because he stays quite plump on our pasture alone. He gets just enough to keep him occupied while my mare finishes her.

His temp was down to 99 by thursday morning at the vet. My thermometer said "ERR" several times before I used it when i got the 103 reading wednesday night so I guess there is also the possibility that it was off. I called the vet just to be safe though. Id rather over react than not react enough.

We did see him choking on Wednesday morning. He was stretching his neck out, tilting his head and drooling a lot. What ever he choked on seemed to be better by the time he got to the first vet though.

As far as colic goes, he has had regular bowel movements and is urinating fine. Granted, his piles are not huge but he hasn't eaten anything so I wouldn't expect them to be.

I was worried yesterday before we got to our primary veterinarian of the possibility that he had eaten something bad. However, when he was scoped there was nothing in his stomach or his esophagus. They were both clear. His regular bowel movements tell us that there isn't a blockage in his intestines either.