Buckling with bad reaction to feed.

[Our7Wonders]

He eats free choice hay and all the grassy weeds he can get too in his free time when I let him out of his pen. Since he will be used for breeding this fall I thought I'd start to introduce him to a little grain. He wasn't much interested. I only had a half cup that I put in a little bowl just to see how he'd do with it. He nibbled a bit then quit. Then ate a few nibbles of kelp. And then proceeded to choke on what little bit he ate .

He started hacking and foaming at the mouth. If there had been an elapse of time from him eating it until his reaction I would have thought it was frothy bloat. He never looked like he was bloating but he was gaggin and really working at the frothy/slimey stuff he kept bringing up. It appeared he was choking - though he was breathing still. I stayed with him, worried I was going to have to try some sort of goatie heimleich (sp?) maneuver. Once the coughing slowed I ran into the house and got some olive oil and drenched him with a bit of that. That took care of it - it was gone as quickly as it started.

What the heck was that? It never had an opportunity to sit in his stomach and actually cause gas to build up, so bloat in that context was not the issue. He looked rabid though. Lots of white foamy stuff.

This all transpired on Friday afternoon, so four days ago and he hasn't had a single issue since, but I'm leary of ever giving him any kind of grain again. Or maybe it was the kelp? Though he's had that plenty of times before.

I was under the impression that I'd need to be feeding him more than just hay/browse come breeding time. And I figured I should gradually introduce him to it - but I'm gun shy now.

 

[20kidsonhill]

My bet is he choked. Saw a lamb die just like that at the county fair, one minute she was eating the next minute coughing and foaming at the mouth, for a couple minutes it looked like he was still breathing but after 4 or 5 minutes and adult men holding a 120lb lamb upset down by his legs he finally just went limp and died. It sounds like yours choked on the kelp, since that was what he was eating at the time.

 

[elevan]

One of our bucklings did the same thing a few months back. He just choked on some grain...slimy, foaming mouth. He started doing back flips and shaking his head. We pretty much did what you did. It never happened again and we continued to feed him grain. It was just one of those freak things that happen. I wouldn't be overly worried about it happening again.

 

[Ariel301]

Yeah, it does sound like he choked. I had a young doe choke on grain when she was first starting to be milked, she was eating on the stand, then suddenly she started making weird gagging noises and couldn't breathe, I did sort of a modified heimlich maneuver on her, and she started throwing up half-chewed feed.

If he's growing well and keeping condition well, he doesn't necessarily need grain, but he certainly should have access to a good mineral source like the kelp. He shouldn't have an issue again, but I'd certainly watch him the next time you offer it, yikes!