Anything to help dry up mare's milk?

[LindaL]

Usually I don't have a problem with mares drying up after weaning their babies, but out Shetland mare is having a hard time. Her bag is staying pretty engorged and yesterday she wasn't feeling well. This is a mare who never lays down and she kept laying down while we were out feeding last night. We gave her banamine and some papaya pills and this morning she was feeling a bit better...We are not feeding her any grain and she hasn't been eating her beetpulp ...and not cleaning up her hay either. Her body condition has dropped off a bit (not bad...just sunken in a bit). She is drinking water.

Is there anything I can do or give her to help her dry up so she will feel better?? We took Sadie away on Wednesday evening.

 

[chandab]

Could she have the start of ulcers from the stress of weaning? Even if she outwardly seems to be dealing with it fine, she might still be upset. One sign of ulcers is not eating grain (I know you said she's not getting any, but this could include beet pulp). And cool compresses on her udder might help the discomfort there.

 

[Genie]

I was also going to suggest cold compresses. Weaning is so stressful.....for everyone

 

[LindaL]

Wild is pretty sensitive in that area and we really had to teach her to trust us with touching her udders before her foal was born to test milk readiness, so I don't think she would let us do cold compresses on her udders.

We did find a site that suggested using Nettle which is a natural diuretic and helps dry mare's milk, so we will try that.

As far as ulcers go...I don't think so as she will eat grain if offered (we mixed the papaya pills in with a bit of grain and beet pulp last night so she would eat the pills).

She doesn't seem stressed...she isn't the one screaming...and Sadie was screaming at first, but now everyone has settled down.

 

[chandab]

As far as ulcers go...I don't think so as she will eat grain if offered (we mixed the papaya pills in with a bit of grain and beet pulp last night so she would eat the pills).

She doesn't seem stressed...she isn't the one screaming...and Sadie was screaming at first, but now everyone has settled down.

She doesn't have to show outward signs of stress to be stressed out and possibly have ulcers. My horses have nothing to be stressed about, but I still have a couple that have ulcer issues, and they don't show many signs, but are noteably better when I put them on U-Gard (I use the pellets).

Even if she's not fond of it, I might still try the cool compresses, you might find that she'll be agreeable to it, once you try it.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Could she possibly be colicky? I know its not the same thing but we gelded a senior stallion one time and he didn't feel very good at all and then started to colic. The fact that she kept laying down a lot and she seemed to feel a lil better after you gave her some banamine would make me think colic. Have you taken her temp?

 

[Deb O.]

haven't taken her temp but we've watched her pass near normal poop. And today her udders were noticeably reduced and she had more of her appetite back. hoping that all means that she has turned that corner with just the help of stomach soothers and the one dose of banamine

 

[LindaL]

Yes, her udders looked MUCH less engorged this evening when we went out to feed...and she is eatting, pooping, not laying down and seems to feel better...I think she just had some pain from her udders being so full yesterday...poor thing!! (I understand...lol)

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

There is no medication to stop milk production. When the foal stops nursing and the udder becomes engorged that is the body's signal to stop production. Painful for sure, but usually temporary and short lived.

Dr. Taylor.

 

[weerunner]

I just went through this last week. This was the mares second foal, but she was weaned naturally from her first foal, (over 4 years!) so she knew nothing about cold turkey weaning. She was hugely engorged (rock hard full) for 3 days. She was depressed,(had her on stomach soother), she wouldn't eat much and was pooping very little. I was very close to calling the vet in on her when her udder finally started to go down on day 4-5. She's back to eating normal amounts of hay and grain and is perky again. It's so hard on everyone. I hate weaning, it's the only part of the whole horse breeding business that I just dread. But it is usually better by 3 or 4 days, it's just so hard for those few days.

 

[LindaL]

Today Wild was MUCH improved...she just looked like she felt better, eating better and her udders looked like they did when Sadie was nursing (not engorged) so I feel a lot better about the process/progress....