[ladyK]

One of my Soay ewes seems to have choking 'episodes' now and then.
I say choking because it seems to happen when I give them their daily handful of sheep mix (to keep them tame) but I'm not exactly sure what's going on, whether it could get worse and how I can help her.
One moment she's eating the next moment she's 'choking' - it's not really violent but she acts like she's got something stuck in her throat, gasps for air, regurgitates some of the chewed food, struggles a bit more, all the while while trying to keep chewing - then she seems fine after a minute or two and wants more nuts.
It's really hard to watch although I can see that she never quite stops breathing but it worries me that whatever gets stuck might not get unstuck next time. I've seen this happen 3 times now, the first time was a few months back, and the last two were both this week so that worries me too.

Any ideas?
And how would one perform a Heimlich manoeuvre on a sheep? 

[ScotsGirl]

I had a lamb do this whilst bottle feeding and I thought it was going to die. I  even hung it by legs on advice but it mad no difference. Thankfully he got over it but after two episodes the milk stopped. No trouble on hard feed though.


Sometimes if a bit greedy they eat too quick and cough. I don't think there is much you can do.

[Marches Farmer]

I would cull, on the basis it's not normal and I wouldn't want to breed from a sheep that's exhibiting such behaviour, whatever the cause.

[farmvet]

Its pretty common in horses & sheep. They bolt down a mouthfull of nuts without enough chewing or saliva and they get stuck in the oesophagus. After a few minutes ( or hours depending on quantity) they soften enough to move on down. Try a different brand next time as some certainly seem worse for it. In the meantime either scatter the nuts about or put large pebbles in the feed buckets to slow down how quick they eat. 

[Fleecewife]

I would cull, on the basis it's not normal and I wouldn't want to breed from a sheep that's exhibiting such behaviour, whatever the cause.

I don't agree.  If it was choking on grass or browsing, which are the foods sheep have evolved to eat, fair enough, I'd think there could be something congenitally wrong with the throat, but dried sheep food is not part of their natural diet.  I have had a couple of Jacobs do this a few times and it tends to be the ones who try to eat more quickly, shovelling it down before the other sheep can eat it all.

I've wondered about how to unchoke a choking sheep too.  Maybe you could do something similar to the Heimlich manoeuvre in humans, but really that's a question for the vets.

[in the hills]

Oh!!!!!! ..... I'd have to cull most of my little flock!

I agree with FW. It's a different thing when they do a bit of choking at the food trough than if they chocked when grazing. I think the dry stuff gets a bit stuck or irritates their throats a bit if it catches them the wrong way.

Different ewes have 'chocked' here on different occasions. It did concern me the first couple of times but so far them seem to 'cough it up' without too much trouble or distress.

Mine are all healthy looking. Does your ewe graze normally and look okay otherwise? If so, guess she's too greedy for her own good!

[ladyK]

Thanks for all your replies.
She is certainly well otherwise and has no problems grazing, chewing or swallowing grass. She's always first at the bucket for the nuts so you are right that it's probably just eating too fast.
She looks a bit thin but she raised well grown twins and my other twin rearing ewe looks just the same (they all lambed in late May and I left them to wean naturally so she has not been dry for all that long yet).
If anyone has advice on doing a Heimlich on a sheep it would be a good thing to know anyway.

[Foobar]

If they are running over to you then it would be best to wait 30 seconds or so before giving them any food.  Ditto that if you are feeding sheep in a ground trough too.  It just gives them a moment to get their breath back and can prevent gulping the food too fast.

[Hellybee]

Ewes can be so blinking greedy, I now ours are, they ll mug you for a bucket of nuts.  I agree with Fleece wife, sounds like she just can't get it down quick enough, I d feed her separately and like forbear says give her a chance to settle down and catch her breathe

[Old Shep]

If they are running over to you then it would be best to wait 30 seconds or so before giving them any ...

that may be the last 30 seconds of my life!! I certainly wouldn't be upright!

[farmvet]

Re hemilch - because the food is in the oesphagus not the windpipe you really dont need to try this! Very occasionally I've heard of proper choke with the larynx becoming obstructed either by large ewe rolls or when giving eg trace element boluses. In this case try & turn sheep upside down or eg over a gate & massage it out of the larynx *(from the outside!). It usually shift easily as the ewe is only semiconcious

[Bramblecot]

I put a bit of old hay in the feed trough, then they have to rummage around to find the coarse mix/nuts.  It just slows them down a bit