Beet Pulp & Choking (Long)

[diane knapper <knaptyme@uswest.net>]

Yesterday afternoon, I had my beloved Phoenix choke on beet
pulp.  I had read the couple of posts on horses choking on
beet pulp and experienced the symptoms that were noted --
frothy liquid coming from the mouth and nose.  Things they
didn't bring forth in that post where -- gagging and the
difficulty in breathing.

I waited some time before calling the vet, longer than I
should have.  However, when I placed the emergency call,
Susan was at my house within the 1/2 hour.  Phoenix was
tubed 3 times to try to break up the impaction to no avail.
It was too compacted at the point.  The decision was made to
confine him to a stall with nothing to eat to see if the
impaction would clear itself by
morning.  I actually was given a 2nd option and that was to
take him to the clinic where they would put him on IV fluids
until morning so he didn't dehydrate.  After discussing it
with my vet, Susan, she didn't feel that he was any imminent
danger of dying overnight.  So I cleaned absolutely
everything out of his stall and put him in there with water
only.  That was at 6:30 at night.  By 9:30, you could tell
the impaction had cleared itself.  He was breathing normal
again and there was no discharge from his nose or mouth.

For the first 24 hours, he his on a bran mash and then after
that I can start introducing soaked feed pellets with the
bran.  It has been recommended that he not be allowed to eat
hay for a few days.  After tomorrow night, I can give him
soaked hay cubes with his bran.  These precautions are being
taken due to the damage the esophagus may have incurred
during the tubing and not to irritate it further.  As far as
I'm concerned, no precaution taken can be too much.  This
boy is my partner for life and we have great plans together.

Yes, it was dry beet pulp -- he has eaten it for the past 6
months with no problem.  Will I ever feed dry again?
Absolutely not.  I was fortunate in the respect that the
situation was watched and no other food was ingested to
complicate matters before the vet arrived.

Now, Phoenix's take on this whole situation is a little
different.  I'm sure it goes something like this -- "why
can't I have hay, what is this wet mushy stuff you are
giving me, why can't I go out in my pasture"  Those are just
a few of his complaints I'm sure.  He is taking it
like a trooper, since he hasn't been confined in a stall for
over 1 1/2 years.  Tomorrow afternoon he gets his freedom
back and can go out in the pasture.  Susan says that grass
will be OK for him to eat...that is after he proves to me he
can swallow dry pelleted food.

So another lesson learned and fortunately no disastrous
results.  BTW -- Susan said the only choking cases she has
seen from beet pulp are those where it is fed dry or not
soaked well enough.

Well, I'm off to give Phoenix another lovely meal of mash.

Diane & Phoenix (What is this soup?  I don't have a cold!!!)


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=