# Food stuck



## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

I have a 4 month old buckling that keeps getting food stuck in his throat. Other than that he's fine. I have never seen this before. Has anyone else?


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

Is it when he is eating or belching up his cud?


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## Island Milker (Dec 11, 2018)

i am trying to imagine this. what exactly do you mean? what is going on with him when the "stuck" food is in his throat.


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

Dwarf Dad said:


> Is it when he is eating or belching up his cud?


It's when he's eating I think. It'll be fine for a few days then all of a sudden it's stuck again.


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

Island Milker said:


> i am trying to imagine this. what exactly do you mean? what is going on with him when the "stuck" food is in his throat.


Once every few days I have to check his mouth and his food is balled up in his throat.


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## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

Welcome here, both you and your buckling!  Me, too, I am wondering more exactly what it looks like. More exactly when does it happen? What has he been doing before? How does he act when it happens? What kinds of food do you offer your goats? I mean, are there pieces in there that COULD get stuck in a narrow passage? Possible to check his teeth?

My first thought is some kind of damage in his mouth or pharynx. Born with it, or something that has happened later. I am thinking of possible ways to soften the food for him, if it is so that it is bigger or dryer pieces that get stuck.

Long ago, I have seen something similar in a horse, but she was old, and the pieces of special food were rather big. I had to massage her throat to get it down, and after that we always soaked that food for her before serving it.


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

Does the kid gobble, eat really fast, his feed? Reason I ask is, I've experienced a food choking episode three times with one of my wethers. Scared the daylight out of me, there was drooling, gaging, thrashing about and he couldn't breath very well. I even tried giving the Heimlich maneuver the first time, and then resorted to massaging his neck below the jaw and it went down. Once, he was able to hack it back up on his own. @Trollmor has posted about a crossword for goats, adding a handful of hay cut into smaller pieces to the feed. It seems to slow down the consumption rate speed of my gobbler and to date, knock on wood, he hasn't choked from eating too fast in many months now. Not sure why your kid is choking, this method has helped the situation with mine though.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

I just want to make sure the food balled up in his mouth is not cud. You are able to differentiate this situation from cud chewing and cud balls?


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## Island Milker (Dec 11, 2018)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> I just want to make sure the food balled up in his mouth is not cud. You are able to differentiate this situation from cud chewing and cud balls?


Yea is he chewing the food ball in his mouth? or ?


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

What are the symptoms to make you check for food in his throat?


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> I just want to make sure the food balled up in his mouth is not cud. You are able to differentiate this situation from cud chewing and cud balls?


Definitely food. I even had to pull some hay out.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

angeleyestmh said:


> Definitely food. I even had to pull some hay out.


What are the symptoms the goat is showing? Distress? Why do you think he is choking and not just... eating?


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> What are the symptoms the goat is showing? Distress? Why do you think he is choking and not just... eating?


I really believe it's choking because he really is trying to eat.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

angeleyestmh said:


> I really believe it's choking because he really is trying to eat.


This sentence does not make sense to me. What are the actual symptoms? Is he in distress? Coughing? Hacking? Drooling? Acting like he can't breathe?

Is it getting stuck in his throat or is he just not getting it past his mouth?


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> This sentence does not make sense to me. What are the actual symptoms? Is he in distress? Coughing? Hacking? Drooling? Acting like he can't breathe?
> 
> Is it getting stuck in his throat or is he just not getting it out of his mouth?


He eats and the food gets caught. Last night he was hacking almost like a cat does with a fur ball.


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

angeleyestmh said:


> He eats and the food gets caught. Last night he was hacking almost like a cat does with a fur ball.


When he is eating what exactly? Grain or hay?

How are his teeth?

Is this new or has it been going on for a while?


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

It does sound like something is wrong with his teeth, not chewing enough before swallowing. He may have a twig of something hung farther down than you can reach.


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

NigerianDwarfOwner707 said:


> When he is eating what exactly? Grain or hay?
> 
> How are his teeth?
> 
> Is this new or has it been going on for a while?


He's eating both grain and hay. It's a new thing. His teeth seem fine. We just recently started to feed hay again. It's been so dry here that the grass hasn't been growing.


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

Dwarf Dad said:


> It does sound like something is wrong with his teeth, not chewing enough before swallowing. He may have a twig of something hung farther down than you can reach.


Yes that's what I was thinking too. We were all up in his mouth last night. Looking and inspecting his teeth and throat


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## NigerianDwarfOwner707 (May 17, 2018)

angeleyestmh said:


> Yes that's what I was thinking too. We were all up in his mouth last night. Looking and inspecting his teeth and throat


And? Is his throat swollen or irritated?

Teeth food?

Does he eat fast?


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## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

This is a mystery! I am beginning to wish for a film ...


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

He used to always be the first one up at feeding time. So yeah I guess he was kinda eating fast. all my goat's do. I didn't see any irritation last night but I'm going to check again tonight


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## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

Hm ... Maybe try to make him "work" for every mouthful? To give him time to chew, rather than swallowing things half-chewed?

Just a thought ... onder:onder:


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

Trollmor said:


> Hm ... Maybe try to make him "work" for every mouthful? To give him time to chew, rather than swallowing things half-chewed?
> 
> Just a thought ... onder:onder:


Yeah I'm trying to figure out a way to feed him alone so that he doesn't feel like it's a race


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

With dogs, they have a special bowl for dogs who eat too fast it has ridges in it so they have to work around them to get their food. Some people put washed rocks (too large to get in mouth) in horse feed bowls so they have to slow down and not choke. You could do something similar once you figure out how to feed him away from the herd.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

One of my many goats had a choking problem 4 yrs. ago. She was also "down". For no reason I could discern, she couldn't stand, choked on her food and the vet advised that she would die, so put her down. 

Me being the sucker that I am for the weak, cut (with scissors) her hay in small pieces, soaked beet pulp and mixed with her grain, hand fed small amounts at a time. Along with helping her to stand, vitamin ADE, B complex etc. she finally recovered after 2 weeks. 
Absolutely no idea what was going on. She is 4 now, a beautiful Tog, has a yearling, preg again and never any more choking problems. (Or standing/walking trouble).


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

Goats Rock said:


> One of my many goats had a choking problem 4 yrs. ago. She was also "down". For no reason I could discern, she couldn't stand, choked on her food and the vet advised that she would die, so put her down.
> 
> Me being the sucker that I am for the weak, cut (with scissors) her hay in small pieces, soaked beet pulp and mixed with her grain, hand fed small amounts at a time. Along with helping her to stand, vitamin ADE, B complex etc. she finally recovered after 2 weeks.
> Absolutely no idea what was going on. She is 4 now, a beautiful Tog, has a yearling, preg again and never any more choking problems. (Or standing/walking trouble).


I understand my daughter and I hand feed him tonight. I will continue until he gets better. I'm a sucker too and I love them all. I may need to look into the beet pulp. I tried taking him away from everyone but that stressed him so much. So now I go out to him multiple times a day to make sure he's ok.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

The hand feeding sounds good to me, it will slow him down. I tie all of mine to seperate bowls and they still seem to race to get through first.


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## angeleyestmh (May 29, 2016)

Dwarf Dad said:


> The hand feeding sounds good to me, it will slow him down. I tie all of mine to seperate bowls and they still seem to race to get through first.


They definitely race and some of my bigger girls will push the others out of the way. He seems to be doing ok on the hand feeding. We're doing just a little at a time multiple times a day


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## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

If he thinks it is a race, and still gets stressed by being alone, maybe you could try some kind of container tied over his nose/face? If you can get room enough inside it to place those "delayers" inside?

Just a thought. This case intrigues me!


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