Why can’t horses throw up?

The muscle that acts like a one-way valve where the esophagus connects to the stomach actually does its job, unlike in humans where it can let food travel the opposite direction, back to the mouth. Another reason that horses can not vomit is because the esophagus is connected to the stomach at an angle where it is forced shut when the horses stomach bloats. This can cause colic when the horses stomach bloats, and untreated, the stomach will rupture and the horse will die.

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First of all, it is highly doubtful that the mare was throwing up. Horses are physically unable to vomit, as you said, because they have a valve at the top of their stomach which only goes one way. That’s why, when a horse eats or ingests something that makes him or her sick, they often get into so much trouble. I think it is much more likely that what your friend saw was a case of CHOKE, or blockage of the esophagus. Choke is a condition which sometimes results in food or other detritis being forced back up the esophagus and out the nostrils of the horse. It has a variety of causes, including eating too rapidly, not drinking enough water, dental problems ( this is a biggie) or eating extremely dry food stuffs such as dry beet pulp or wheat bran. Sometimes, horses can resolve a mild choke on their own by coughing repeatedly. In most cases, however, a vet’s attention is needed. The vet will pass a tube down the horse’s throat into the stomach and clear the blockage that way. He or she may also give the horse some oil and some medicine to relieve pain. The biggest danger with choke is the aftermath. Horses that have choked once can choke again, and there is always the risk of infection or scarring in the esophagus from the tube used by the vet. On top of this, if the horse inhales the choked material, he or she can develop a kind of pneumonia from it called aspiration pneumonia. For that reason, most horses which are recovering from choke are usually prescribed antibiotics. If the horse is found to have dental problems, then the teeth may be floated to so the horse can chew comfortably. Rapid eating can be corrected in several ways. One is to put large rocks or a salt block in the horse’s feed tub, thus forcing the animal to slow down and take small bites. Another way is to feed moist feeds that require only minimal chewing, such as the soaked beet pulp which we use. Still another way to counteract the effects of rapid eating is to feed hay before feeding grain or concentrates, so that the horse isn’t as hungry. There is one exception to the “no vomiting” rule with horses. Every once in a while, if a horse suffers a colic which is severe enough to cause a stomach rupture, you will see the animal attempt to vomit. If he or she succeeds at this, that is a VERY BAD SIGN, because it is an indication that the stomach has ruptured and the horse is most likely bleeding internally. It seldom takes very long after this happens for an affected horse to go into shock and die from blood loss. But this exception is usually very rare- and since it sounds like the horse you were talking about is still very much around, then I seriously doubt that this is what your friend saw. I hope this answers your question.

The horse is most likely experiencing choke, which occurs when food becomes lodged in the esophagus and can’t pass on into the stomach. There can be anatomic abnormalities or medical conditions that predispose a horse to it, or there can be dental disease or the teeth may need floating to improve the chewing surfaces, or sometimes it is just that the horse bolts the feed too rapidly so it is not well chewed and mixed with saliva before it is swallowed. This is not stomach acid. Unless the cardiac sphincter at the stomach entry is incompetent, acid reflux from the stomach is impossible in horses. Very rarely though, a horse does have an incompetent sphincter and an abnormally straight angle where the esophagus joins the stomach, and reflux can occur. I doubt that is the case here. This is most likely feed mixed with saliva being regurgitated from the esophagus, and not the stomach. There is a risk of aspiration into the lungs whenever it happens, so it is treated as a medical emergency when it occurs. The vet should be called to perform an evaluation. Until a vet comes, she should be sure the horse always has access to fresh water, add water to any concentrated feed to make it into a mash, be sure hay is wetted down before feeding it, and prevent bolting of any feed. A large round rock can be placed in a feeder to slow down consumption. If your friend cannot afford to provide the medical attention this horse requires, the SPCA should be called to intervene. It is a horse owner’s legal responsibility to provide medical attention when needed, and this horse needs it. ***************************************… Add……………………… Do not attempt to massage the gullet as has been suggested. This can lead to aspiration into airways or to a rupture of the esophagus and should only be performed by a vet after medication has been administered to relax the spasming esophageal muscles and the esophagus has been irrigated to loosen and remove the bolus of feed. *********************** During an episode of choke, all feed and water should be removed and the horse should be encouraged to stand quietly with the head lowered until the vet arrives.

Horses are unable to vomit primarily due to the muscles in the cardiac sphincter valve, the valve that leads into the stomach, being very strong. Those muscles are so strong that the stomach itself could rupture from the pressure before they’d be forced open.

The way a horses body is designed it is supossed to eat small qualities of food very often, such as when grazing. The stomach itself is very small, less than 10% of the total capacity of digestive system. Food generally stays in the stomach itself less than 15 minutes if the horse has been eating normally but is designed with the idea that more will be shortly following that food just passed on, at pretty constant flow of intake.

Basicly, everything in the digestive system is designed to keep everything through in one direction at a pretty fast pace, to make room for more roughage to be processed like a steady cycle.

That is the reason that horses do so much better if feed multiple small meals verses 2 large meals.

This site gives a pretty good description of how a horses digestive system works

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b762/b762_5.html

They don’t have the ability to throw up. The esophagus doesn’t have muscular action necessary to throw up, and if the food makes it to the stomach, the sphincter muscle at the stomach entry constricts tightly, making it virtually impossible for food to back up into the esophagus.

When food gets lodged in the esophagus, it is called choke. If the foodstuff is lodged near the throat, it can get into the respiratory passages and discharge from the nose. Since the esophagus has no reverse peristalsis (muscle action to move food back to the mouth), it has to be encouraged to move downward into the stomach.

ADD…I think where people get confused is when choke occurs. In humans, choking occurs in the respiratory tract and we can’t breathe. In horses, it occurs in the long tube leading to the stomach (esophagus). If food gets “stuck” in the esophagus, the horse will cough and sometimes any water he drinks will come out of the nostrils, or chewed food will not go down and be coughed out of the mouth. It isn’t vomiting. In order to vomit up food lodged in the esophagus, a wavelike constricting and shortening action of the muscles in the wall of the esophagus would have to reverse direction to propell the mass of food back to the mouth. The esophagus of the horse doesn’t have this capacity. And food already in the stomach can’t get back out to be vomited, even if the esophagus could regurgitate it. Basically, once food enters the horse esophagus, it has to keep moving in one direction.

Horses generally not vomit but in some cases they do. The main reasons are..

1. The oesophagus to stomach is one way passage.

2. Muscles in the cardiac sphincter valve are very strong and not allow horse to vomit.

3. The vomition centre is weak or absent in horses.

There is also considerable variability among species in the propensity for vomition. Rats reportedly do not vomit. Cattle and horses vomit rarely – this is usually an ominous sign and most frequently a result of acute gastric distension. Carnivores such as dogs and cats vomit frequently, often in response to such trivial stimuli as finding themselves on a clean carpet. Humans fall between these extremes, and interestingly, rare individuals have been identified that seem to be incapable of vomiting due to congenital abnormalities in the vomition centers of the brain stem.

It’s a one way road! Their muscle is so strong it cuts off any possibility of food coming back up. Also the angle isnt right for a horse to physically throw up.

horses have a one way valve in their throat called an esophagus. think of it like a backflow valve in your house,food and water pass thru in one direction but when pressure is applied in the other direction it closes shut and this sometimes leads to colic or a gastric rupture if not taken care of in a hurry.when your horse has colic a vet or a person who knows what they are doing will pass a tube thru the nasal passage down the throat and thru the esophagus to the stomach to relieve pressure (this can be messy sometimes).after the back pressure is relieved a solution of water and mineral oil is pumped in to help lubricate the intestines and the blockage so it may pass thru easily.however a horse can discharge food and mucus thru the mouth and sinus tract and sometimes will be mistaken as a horse throwing up.

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RE:

Why can’t horses throw up?

I know that they can’t, but no one has ever really explained it to me.

Can Horses Vomit