Snowflake's Story

My Sixth Day in Foster Care -- CHOKE!
April 5, 2005

Tuesday morning was wonderful. I was turned out in the pasture with the two mares, Whitney and Rainey after a big breakfast of grain. It was wonderful, but the evening proved to be different. Foster Mom gave me my grain in my stall and went inside to shower, apparently they were headed out to dinner with friends. But when she came back to get me, I was choking. Green stuff (dissolved feed pellets and saliva) was coming out my nose. I kept trying to swallow, but nothing would go down. I tried coughing and retching reactions, but I still could not get the stuck feed out of my throat. Foster Mom cancelled her dinner plans and called the vet.

It was around 9:00 pm when he showed up. He gave me tranquilers even though I am in my emaciated state. The vet knew he had to put a tube up my nose and down into my throat and I had to be somewhat sedated in order for him to do that. He only gave me a little sedation at first, thinking that an old bag of bones like me wouldn't need much. But he soon found out, that I have a strong core, and needed every bit as much as a young racehorse. He had to give me more injections and different types of drugs to keep me sedated.

At first I wouldn't swallow the tube. The doctor was very patient and keep trying and alternated nostrils so I wouldn't get to sore. Finally, I swallowed and it went in......but not very far. That is because the feed blocking my throat started right there. The doctor would pump some water in the tube, it would dissolve some of the feed and come back out the same tube. He did this for over an hour getting more and more food out of the blockage and inching the tube down my throat. He said maybe I set some kind of record for the biggest blockage he'd ever seen. Not something I am really proud of.... The tube never made it all the way to my stomach, but the doctor said that I had probably had enough. I was coming out of my sedation and he said we should wait and check me in the morning.

I was left in an area of the barn without a scrap of hay or straw, just a bucket of water. Foster Mom and Dad felt really bad.....leaving a horse like me without food for the night, but they knew the doctor was right. He wasn't really sure if the choke was completely cleared up. I wandered around looking for scraps, but finding none, I went back to sleep. My throat was very sore. I was sad. I felt I had let my people down. They just had to spend more money on me because I choked. I don't want to be any trouble to these nice people. I am afraid if I am too much of a burden, that I will be neglected again. I hope tomorrow is a better day.