# emergency!!!! HELP!!!!



## starjj (May 2, 2005)

My mule is coughing up blood Is this choke and what do I do!!!!! HELp She is all sweaty and in distriss


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

Call the vet, now!!!


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

I did call BEFORE I posted. The vets here are a joke. I have yet to have the ONE I called get back to me and the other did not answer. I didn't know what to do so winged it and she is breathing easy now. I ran some water in here throat and massaged her neck. She is not blowing blood anymore and not struggling to breathe. I was one scared person but I knew the vets are not going to call back. They advertise large animal but mostly practice small animals so I was lost. I can only assume choke as I had fed her me grain like always and she has never had a problem. She is very easy to keep.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Ridebarefoot Don't ASSUME I don't know enough to call the vet. I am still shaking over this and I am intelligent enough to call a vet. Didn't do me any good but I did call


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

I hope your mule is ok. It's always scary when we don't know what to do to help while waiting for a vet to get back to us. I had a mare that used to choke on occasion but it never came with a cough or blood. Is it possible that your mule ate a stick or anything else that could have scratched it's throat? That's the only reason I can think of that blood would go along with a choke episode. What I would do for my mare was a shot of banamine, use a large syringe (no needle) to get some vegetable oil down her, and then massage the throat with downward strokes only.

It is SOOO frustrating when your vet doesn't call back right away and, of course, a vet you don't normally use isn't even going to bother. I have one vet that I don't really like to use for the horses but I schedule unimportant things with him on occasion just in case I ever do need him to come out for an emergency since my regular vet spends a couple of months a year at his place in Colorado.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Teej Do you think it would be OK to give her hay tonight or would you wait until tomorrow or when can i give her hay? She is breathing Ok just sort of exhausted. I didn't even think of oil. The vet never did call back grrrrr


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

I wouldn't give her anything that very rough tonight, it kind of sounds like something rough scratched her throat or esophagus. She will be ok tonight without hay, let her throat rest. might soak something like beet shreds or whatever you have for tomarrow. Nothing worse that having a vet who wont get back to you. Sorry for the terrible scare you had and praying it's ok in the morning. I had an old pony mare who would do this, it's frightening, to say the least.


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## Farmerjonathan (Mar 11, 2013)

Do you use either of these vets for annual visits/shots? Are you a regular customer of one of them? If not, then they technically aren't "your" vet and won't be inclined to come out only on emergencies. As owners of animals, it is our responsibility to create contact/communication with a vet before an emergency arises. We know sooner or later an emergency will happen and everyone knowing each other makes it easier to answer the call and get great service. 
When shoeing horses I had regular customers that every 6-8 weeks had me trim or reset shoes. I also had people that regularly called me "once a year a day before a show or the 4H fair" to shoe their horses and were upset I didn't make it to their barn. Duh, my regularly scheduled customers come first.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

starjj said:


> Ridebarefoot Don't ASSUME I don't know enough to call the vet. I am still shaking over this and I am intelligent enough to call a vet. Didn't do me any good but I did call



I realize you were stressed but there is no need to bark at someone trying to help. There was nothing in your first post indicating a vet had been called so it was a very local answer that did not deserve the response you gave.


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Glad your mule is ok. Maybe soaking the next few hay meals in water will make them easier on the throat.


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

wr said:


> I realize you were stressed but there is no need to bark at someone trying to help. There was nothing in your first post indicating a vet had been called so it was a very local answer that did not deserve the response you gave.


But ridebarefoot didn't need to bark either. rather insulting


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

Oh no, someone's concern over an animal in distress is not what makes me bark


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

mrs whodunit said:


> But ridebarefoot didn't need to bark either. rather insulting



I would consider a comment like that to be anything other than a comment on urgency from an experienced stockman that best sums up the correct approach. I've used it myself a few times.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Starjj, I always let her have hay after I got the choke resolved but your dealing with something I never had to which is the coughing and blood so I really don't know. My guess would be if you have some really nice hay that isn't stemmy it would probably be ok. I would wet down and even pour some corn oil (they like that best and usually won't turn their noses up at it the first time you use it) on her feed for the next few days. 

Even if the mule seems fine now I would continue to call the vet or even show up at their clinic to explain what happened and ask questions. I'd also probably make it very clear to your vet that you expect at least a call back when you have an emergency. I'd be pretty mad about that.


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## Stonybrook (Sep 22, 2007)

If you give her hay, I would wet it so that it is soft. Actually, I would probably run and get a bag of timothy pellets and soak them until they fall apart into a soupy mess. I'm glad your mules seems better. That would have scared the beejeebers out of me.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

I have been without internet since the night this happened and will post a reply fo those that were nice enough to offer advise.

The vet came out yesterday. It turned out that my vet (and yes I do have a regular vet) does no emergency calls anymore and the other vet never called me back. The closest one apparently is 1 1/2 hours away if you need emergency service. (not the one that didn't call back).

We still have no idea what it was. He came out, her lungs and breathing were clear, temp fine, the only thing he sound was her trac seems to have a lump like swelling (no tenderness) and that it sounds like fluid. She is still coughing but not like before (thankfully). It is an occansional cough mainly if she whinines for her mini friends it ends in a cough. The next step would be to have her scoped (he doesn't do that). The only vet that does is 2 1/2 hours away that he knows of and I would have to see if he would come out as I don't have a way to get her there. He said if it is a tumor it would be rare in a equine. He put her on a sulphur drug in case it is a infection from a choke. He said she is not still choked as there is no drainage out her nose or mouth and she is eating. 

I still don't feel she is "right" she just seems to me to be off although hard to put my finger on it.

At this point I just have to wait and see if the sulphur does any good.

Note to WR: I was hardly "barking" at anyone. It was stressful (still is) and I would think any intelligent person would do the obvious as in calling a vet.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Thanks for the update, I've been wondering how your mule was doing. Hopefully the antibiotics will clear her up.


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## mulemom (Feb 17, 2013)

Starjj I'm glad your mule seems to be doing better. Did your vet check his teeth? Seems our mules and donkey react different to dental pain than the horses. Our donkey broke a tooth on an alfalfa cube, slobbering blood and coughing-apparently because he was trying to swallow his feed without chewing. Vet had to pull the broken part of the tooth-it took a couple days but he was fine afterwards. Before anyone jumps me about feeding cubes he's been getting them for years for a treat. Tractor supply changed suppliers and the new ones were harder-we stopped getting cubes there. Hope your baby keeps doing better, please keep us informed.


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## bloogrssgrl (Jan 20, 2008)

Were you there prior to when the coughing began to know what she might have been doing? Is there any chance she might have been romping around? From what I've seen online, exercise can sometimes cause something like this.
http://www.justanswer.com/pet/165zd-moved-big-10-yr-old-horse-lop-suddenly-cough.html


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

You shouldn't get bent out of shape because someone urgently tells you to call the vet. I see it all the time on boards/forums: Someone comes in and says "OMG HELP my horse is doing this or that, what do I do???" and sometimes the answer is "Oh, just soak it in a strong warm epsom solution," or "That's normal," or "We need more information - what's her temperature? What's she been eating?" and sometimes it's "OMG CALL THE VET NOW!!" 

This was obviously an OMG CALL THE VET NOW!! situation.

A caring person trying to help would be remiss if they didn't try to convey the urgency and seriousness of the situation. I would have said the exact same thing if it hadn't already been said by the time I got to this thread. There's no call to think that any insult was intended.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

starjj said:


> Note to WR: I was hardly "barking" at anyone. It was stressful (still is) and I would think any intelligent person would do the obvious as in calling a vet.


Not too many people bothered to respond and in my opinion, that's a pretty common response from normally helpful people when they've been snapped at. I understand it's stressful and crazy as it sounds I've had a few of those myself but figured out a long time ago that if I need help or advise, snapping at people doesn't get me much in the way of help.


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