Mare Bagging 3 months early

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I have a mare bagged up right now that is due the beginning of April. Has anyone else had one bag up this early? I have her on camera just in case she loses it but I hope she is just doing some weird hormonal thing but I am not getting my hopes up. Just wondering what everyone else has to say on the subject. Thanks!

 

[Becky]

You need to intervene ASAP if you want to save the foal! Regumate, SMZ's and Banamine are in order. Don't wait. Start now.

Early bagging is a sign of placentitis and it won't fix itself if you want to save your foal. You must treat and you must start now. Tonight.

Good luck!

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

How do I know the foal is even still alive though and if it isnt I probably wouldnt want to make her keep it right???

 

[Miniv]

You should be able to feel and/or observe the foal movement at feeding time.........I would talk to your vet too. This is too early.

Becky made some good suggestions, if you can catch things early enough.

Another possibility is, perhaps you are off with the breeding date(s)?

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

You should be able to feel and/or observe the foal movement at feeding time.........I would talk to your vet too. This is too early.
Becky made some good suggestions, if you can catch things early enough.

Another possibility is, perhaps you are off with the breeding date(s)?

I have never been able to see or feel foal movement, I am just not that talented LOL! I will call me vet in the morning and see what he has to say, I just have to get by the receptionist so I can just talk to him! I would have to call him anyways because I dont have any regumate or banamine because I have never needed to use it!

As for the breeding dates, they cant be off I only bred her once and I never breed for earlier foals than that since it is so cold her, but she did have a really long heat cycle, it was from April 28-May 14.

Thanks guys.

 

[Becky]

If the foal is dead, the mare will abort anyway. I've saved several foals using the Regumate/SMZ/Banamine protocol. I would start treatment immediately if it were my mare.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

If the foal is dead, the mare will abort anyway. I've saved several foals using the Regumate/SMZ/Banamine protocol. I would start treatment immediately if it were my mare.

Thanks, I will call my vet in the morning to see if I can get some meds, and maybe see about hauling her in to have her checked out.

 

[ShaunaL]

One of my mares did the same thing last year. We put her on SMZs, Regumate and Banamine. A few days after bagging up she had a full bag and started dripping milk. She dripped milk for 10 full days and then foaled at 282 days. Her colt lived for 5 days with major major supportive care, as in breathing for him, tube feeding, etc and then we lost him. I definitely think she would have foaled even earlier had it not been for the meds and I also think if she could have held on for another few days her foal would have lived

She is re-bred to the same stallion, due mid May/June. She is on Regumate. I have heard that many late aborters will carry to term on Regumate so maybe that is what your mare needs at this point.

The meds for sure held her off from foaling for awhile last year and for many mares the meds have saved their foals. With her being so early on though, I don't know how long the meds can hold them. My mare foaled through the meds so if your mare needs to foal (if the foal is gone) I would imagine she would. Might want to run it by your vet though.

Good luck!! Keep us posted

 

[MountainMeadows]

Melinda

I ditto Becky completely on this one - you will need to act fast if she has developed placentits - a lot of vets put little or no faith in the SMZ/Regumate/Banamine protocol, but I have saved several foals by jumping on this action.

Personally, the LAST thing I would do is load my mare up and haul her - if the vet won't give you the meds at least ask him/her to come out rather than stress your mare even more than she may presently be from the current situation - adding stress will only release oxytocin hormones which will also encourage her to abort. You should also pay close attention to her size at this point and if she looks like she is gaining immense amounts of weight very quickly you may also be dealing with a hydrops issue - it is important to be there when she foals if this is the case - the huge loss of embryonic fluids can lead to shock - pretty serious stuff.

Looks like foaling season is upon all of us -- we will keep our fingers crossed for a successful foaling year.

Stacy

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

Melinda
I ditto Becky completely on this one - you will need to act fast if she has developed placentits - a lot of vets put little or no faith in the SMZ/Regumate/Banamine protocol, but I have saved several foals by jumping on this action.

Personally, the LAST thing I would do is load my mare up and haul her - if the vet won't give you the meds at least ask him/her to come out rather than stress your mare even more than she may presently be from the current situation - adding stress will only release oxytocin hormones which will also encourage her to abort. You should also pay close attention to her size at this point and if she looks like she is gaining immense amounts of weight very quickly you may also be dealing with a hydrops issue - it is important to be there when she foals if this is the case - the huge loss of embryonic fluids can lead to shock - pretty serious stuff.

Looks like foaling season is upon all of us -- we will keep our fingers crossed for a successful foaling year.

Stacy

Ok well she has been bagged up for at least four days that I know of and she is already a fairly heavy mare, she is a 31" mare and fat. She isnt so huge that she is going to fall over but she is pretty heavy, she is still eating but occasionally wont eat when I feed her but a little later on I will notice her food is gone. She hasnt gained any weight but may have lost a little. I am going to get the meds tomorrow but my biggest worry was that I would make her retain a dead foal and cause more problems by giving regumate, but as long as I can know that she would lose it even if on the meds then I can take the risk of paying for meds and possibly losing it, I live too far away from my vet so they generally cant come out if they are busy, but I will try to see if he will be out this way at all in the near future and maybe try to talk him into just coming out if he has time. I will definitely be talking to him about getting the medication though and his thoughts on it, he specializes in equine reproductivity so he isnt the type to not try something if there is the slightest chance of saving a foal or mare. Thanks for the advise though, I appreciate it, I have been fretting over this and the first time I called the vet he wasnt available and the receptionist didnt have enough information to help me and made it sound more or less like a lost cause but I will just ask for my vet directly to avoid that again!

Now one more question, what could be the cause of the infection or whatever if that is what is going on, and is there any way to prevent it in the future or will I always have to do this???

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I forgot to mention she is at 250 days today.

 

[Miniv]

Hon.....If your girl is going to lose her foal, she will lose it in the long run. (Sorry for sounding so harsh.)

Sometimes a mare has a localized infection in her uterus and it doesn't effect the pregnancy until the foal reaches a specific size. This can also cause the mare to try to abort, even late in gestation.

No matter what, Becky's recommendation can only help.

And even if you have a successful birth, if the mare were mine, I would flush her asap. I would also watch the foal closely for septicemia. Wishing you all the best....

 

[Becky]

You should be able to get the meds from your vets office without him seeing the mare. The last one I treated with this protocol started bagging up around 260 days. Her udder started going down immediately with treatment, but came back in a few days. I doubled the dose of Regumate and her udder went back down. I kept her on this treatment and she carried full term to around 320 days. Actually, longer than she had carried previously.

As Stacy said, some vets don't believe in this treatment, but I can tell you it works in many cases.

Why some mares get infections, who knows? Any mare I have that does this, will be flushed and infused after foaling. I then also give them 14 days of SMZ's as well. Plus another 14 days of SMZ's at rebreeding. Seems to work. Then monitor throughout pregnancy for any signs of early udder development.

 

[Julie/Azariah]

Last year I had a mare bag early ( I check my mares bags regularly last 100 days). She was also about 250 days.

It was over a weekend and didn't want to pay the emergency fees so I started her on a good dose of Regumate..SMZ and Banamine.

Called the vet on Monday morning.... her response... "GOOD CATCH... you probably just saved your foal"

When my HEALTHY foal was born, we checked the placenta and sure enough there was evidence of a placentitis.

Get that mare on the meds... then figure out if that is what you need to do.

It will not hurt her, but could very well save the foal.

 

[Charlotte]

Now one more question, what could be the cause of the infection or whatever if that is what is going on, and is there any way to prevent it in the future or will I always have to do this???

Like everyone said, get your mare on the meds. Then to answer your question.........I've had a number of mares with just the symptoms you describe. we medicated them and they all delivered live, healthy foals. Then I had the mares flushed and infused and gave them a 2 week treatment of SMZs before rebreeding. None of the mares ever had placentitis again and have had numerous foals since then.

Most of the time it's a one time thing, but occasionally you might have a mare with some particular issue that makes her more likely to develop a placentitis so that mare might repeat. But it can be managed.

Good luck with your girl and please let us know how she is doing.

Charlotte

p.s. Red bag deliveries are also thought to be a result of placentitis so I treat a mare that has red bagged with the same after foaling protocol.

 

[Katiean]

So, What did the vet say?

 

[zacharyfarms]

What everyone is trying to tell you is that this protocol won't cause the mare to retain a dead foal. If the foal is already dead the mare will abort it regardless of what you do but if you try Becky's protocol it could possibly save a foal tha is still alive. If your vet specializes in equine reproduction he should be aware of this protocol because it is a common recommendation for early intervention when a mare presents with premature foaling signs.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

How is she now, and could you describe further what you mean by "bagging up"??

Is the bag full to bursting. etc.?

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

Thanks guys my vet said that you guys are very smart

. He agreed I needed to get her started asap, but I am going to have a word with him later about one of his other vets at the clinic, the other person told me that there was nothing I could do but it has been bugging me a lot which is why I posted here to see if anyone else dealt with this! I wish I could have gotten ahold of him first, I could have started treatment five days sooner if I would have known, I guess it goes to show that no one knows everything!!! So she is started on her meds today so hopefully it will be soon enough otherwise at least I know for any future instances!!! He said it is a 50-50 chance so im not getting my hopes up.

Rabitsfizz-her bag has been up and down, it has never been what I would call full to bursting but she was waxing. It is down a little right now and I havent felt anything on it for a day or two.

Thanks again guys, I will let you know if it makes it or not!!!

 

[albahurst]

Think positive!

Keep us posted!

Glad you are getting her on the meds

Peggy