Kim~Crayonboxminiatures
Well-Known Member
On Wednesday May 28th my little colt "Crayonbox Almost A Heart Break" decided to live up to his name yet again (he was a red bag birth) and I had to rush him to my equine vet, while juggling the kids I nanny, had the 23 month old with me, and 4 yr old was in preschool. Ironically I had just made a trip to the vet to pick up meds for one of my mares, my dad called when I was on my way home and told me Happy had strings of saliva, I knew right away it was choke. When I got home I found he also had lots of green coming from his nostrils and looked very dopey, so called the vet and packed up him and his dam Frosty Chip to go back again. My equine vet tried to get a tube thru his nose to dislodge the blockage, but his nasal passages were too narrow for a tube big enough to dislodge the blockage, so she sent us to a small animal clinic that has done work on Minis for them other times.
The small animal vet did x-rays, then put him under with mask and used endoscopy to view the blockage and remove some of the larger peices and then push it into the stomach. This part was interesting to see inside the esophogas, etc, and would have liked to watch the whole time if not for chasing a 23 month old around the clinic. After Happy woke up from the anesthesia, we loaded him up and went back to my equine vet for instructions/antibiotic treatment before heading home. He was one tired puppy after his ordeal and he slept most of the afternoon and night when I checked on him. She said it is unusual for them to choke this young, they think it was a dry fecal ball that he ate and got stuck. He is on antibiotics and I have to monitor his temp and for any signs of depression, because he could develop pneumonia from aspiration.
This Wednesday he finished the antibiotic my vet prescribed after his first choke, and I spoke to her over the phone about how to keep him, etc. She advised that sometime he has to live like a horse, so he went back to the dry lot at night and pasture during the day with access only to fine hay, and to keep an eye on him.
Yesterday (Friday) morning I was clipping the foals because we are supposed to hit over 90 degrees this weekend, and my good friend Lib from Little Heartwood Miniatures came over to help clip. When we finished clipping the foals we went inside to get drinks and chat horses, an hour or so later Lib looked out the window and noticed Happy had something coming out of his mouth. I walked out and found he had ropes of saliva again, and green nostrils again.
I called my vet and she recommended taking him to the large animal hospital New Bolton Center where they could diagnose why he is choking, it's very, very unusual for a foal this age (he was 3 wks the first time and now 1 month) to choke once, let alone twice. Thankfully by the time I had the trailer hitched and things ready to go, he had resolved the choke on his own this time. I took him to New Bolton anyway because I wanted to know if he had a physical reason why this keeps happening.
I was very grateful that Lib could ride along with me, so 45mins and one bag of Goldfish crackers later we arrived at New Bolton. Happy was a big attraction from the start, they put him on a guerney with sheepskin blanket and there was a surgeon, two vets, several interns and vet techs/assistants a total of 12 people around him and more coming and going to look. The surgeon did an endoscopy right away and couldn't find any abnormalities down his esphogus, no narrowing areas and everything was working properly for swallowing. The surgeon then handed him over to the other medical vets to do their work and find if there was any other reason for him choking, or if he had pneumonia from aspirating. She had blood pulled for testing, did x-rays of his chest/stomach, and they did an x-ray with barium to x-ray as it traveled to the stomach. While waiting for the radiology room to be available, Happy fell asleep on the guerney with all the attention, he slept totally out for 10-15 mins! Frosty Chip was a very good mom and stood waiting patiently while all these things were going on with Happy.
Their diagnosis is that Happy is a very curious neonate who eats everything. They found dirt in his stomach in the x-rays. He is now limited to only pasture to keep him hopefully away from anything unusual to eat. He is getting 14 more days of antibiotic at a larger dose, and they want his fibrinogen levels tested again in 10 days by my vet. I think she said the fibrinogen tests related to if he aspirated anything, I looked it up and Wikipedia said they use it in veterinary medicine to test for inflammation. So after getting the instruction sheet and antibiotics we loaded Frosty Chip and Happy to head back home. I called my vet at 2:30pm, we arrived home from New Bolton around 6:45pm so it was a long afternoon!
So now Happy is out in a big 3 acre pasture with lots and lots of grass, and with his two foal buddies Sky & Autumn. I'm hoping they all stay out of trouble! I'm so relieved his is okay and that is all that is causing his trouble, he is a very unique and special little guy, everyone falls in love with him after one visit!
Happy may get a name change, I haven't registered him yet, but he sure is living up to the name "Almost A Heart Breaker." He is giving me grey hair! I think after all this he is going to be a keeper, although I don't know how I will pay off the vet bills with only selling one foal this year.
The small animal vet did x-rays, then put him under with mask and used endoscopy to view the blockage and remove some of the larger peices and then push it into the stomach. This part was interesting to see inside the esophogas, etc, and would have liked to watch the whole time if not for chasing a 23 month old around the clinic. After Happy woke up from the anesthesia, we loaded him up and went back to my equine vet for instructions/antibiotic treatment before heading home. He was one tired puppy after his ordeal and he slept most of the afternoon and night when I checked on him. She said it is unusual for them to choke this young, they think it was a dry fecal ball that he ate and got stuck. He is on antibiotics and I have to monitor his temp and for any signs of depression, because he could develop pneumonia from aspiration.
This Wednesday he finished the antibiotic my vet prescribed after his first choke, and I spoke to her over the phone about how to keep him, etc. She advised that sometime he has to live like a horse, so he went back to the dry lot at night and pasture during the day with access only to fine hay, and to keep an eye on him.
Yesterday (Friday) morning I was clipping the foals because we are supposed to hit over 90 degrees this weekend, and my good friend Lib from Little Heartwood Miniatures came over to help clip. When we finished clipping the foals we went inside to get drinks and chat horses, an hour or so later Lib looked out the window and noticed Happy had something coming out of his mouth. I walked out and found he had ropes of saliva again, and green nostrils again.
I was very grateful that Lib could ride along with me, so 45mins and one bag of Goldfish crackers later we arrived at New Bolton. Happy was a big attraction from the start, they put him on a guerney with sheepskin blanket and there was a surgeon, two vets, several interns and vet techs/assistants a total of 12 people around him and more coming and going to look. The surgeon did an endoscopy right away and couldn't find any abnormalities down his esphogus, no narrowing areas and everything was working properly for swallowing. The surgeon then handed him over to the other medical vets to do their work and find if there was any other reason for him choking, or if he had pneumonia from aspirating. She had blood pulled for testing, did x-rays of his chest/stomach, and they did an x-ray with barium to x-ray as it traveled to the stomach. While waiting for the radiology room to be available, Happy fell asleep on the guerney with all the attention, he slept totally out for 10-15 mins! Frosty Chip was a very good mom and stood waiting patiently while all these things were going on with Happy.
Their diagnosis is that Happy is a very curious neonate who eats everything. They found dirt in his stomach in the x-rays. He is now limited to only pasture to keep him hopefully away from anything unusual to eat. He is getting 14 more days of antibiotic at a larger dose, and they want his fibrinogen levels tested again in 10 days by my vet. I think she said the fibrinogen tests related to if he aspirated anything, I looked it up and Wikipedia said they use it in veterinary medicine to test for inflammation. So after getting the instruction sheet and antibiotics we loaded Frosty Chip and Happy to head back home. I called my vet at 2:30pm, we arrived home from New Bolton around 6:45pm so it was a long afternoon!
So now Happy is out in a big 3 acre pasture with lots and lots of grass, and with his two foal buddies Sky & Autumn. I'm hoping they all stay out of trouble! I'm so relieved his is okay and that is all that is causing his trouble, he is a very unique and special little guy, everyone falls in love with him after one visit!
Happy may get a name change, I haven't registered him yet, but he sure is living up to the name "Almost A Heart Breaker." He is giving me grey hair! I think after all this he is going to be a keeper, although I don't know how I will pay off the vet bills with only selling one foal this year.
