mare with mastitis

[shadowpaints]

my little filly, 'gigi' was born on 5/11. all was well or so we thought, she got colostrum and was zipping arounnd the stall. i didnt notice andything abnormal until 5/15 when picked her up and led her mom outside for their first outing. i noticed the filly had diarehha. not foal heat to early, so i checked her moms bag i noticed it was very large and hot. i knew it was mastitis.. but when i went to get milk out it wasnt the normal mastitis type milk.. (not chunky at all) it was BLOOD . I immediatly picked up the filly and put both her and her mom back in the stall.

I called the vet. vet says mastitis and said to treat with 5cc of pennicillian 2x a day for the mare, pro bios for the filly and goats milk for the filly. at first the filly was drinking water out of a bucket.. so i tried goats milk in a bucket. no go. so tried the bottle. not easy, she fought me like crazy. finally last nite at 5pm i got her to drink 3 ounces. the amount she has drank has been anywhere from 2 ounces to as much as 4. for some reason the feeding after her 11 am feeding, i couldnt get her to suck the bottle.

at 5:30pm she finally drank almost 3 ounces of milk.

then again at 6:45pm she drank only 1.37 ounces milk

should she be drinking more? she has no problem sucking on the walls or the fence that seperate her and her mom .

she has no fever, and isnt dehydrated.

she still has a little bit of diarheaa.

im attempting to feed her every hour, but usually wont touch the bottle unless its 2 or more hours since its last bottle.

im worried and dont know what else to do, never raised a mini foal on a bottle. only big horses. the mastitis is really my fault as i didnt check the mares bag after the filly got the hang of nursing.

i need any tricks that any one can offer me. i am trying so hard and i dont know what else to do!

 

[Miniv]

And why hasn't the vet advised you about a milk substitute???

Probably EVERY feed store has a FOAL LAC type product. It's a powder to mix with warm water, according to the directions.

 

[shadowpaints]

i guess i should have also stated that he did suggest foal lac. and i DO have a 5 gallon bucket of it. i am trying BOTH at the this point. but i also know that goats milk is the best possible thing next to mare milk.

 

[bevann]

i guess i should have also stated that he did suggest foal lac. and i DO have a 5 gallon bucket of it. i am trying BOTH at the this point. but i also know that goats milk is the best possible thing next to mare milk.

Don't want to alarm you, but are you treating the mare's teats also?Many years ago we had a mare with mastitis and had to squirt meds in each small hole of the teat 2 times daily.It took 3 of us to do it since the mare was very sore.This can be very serious and can cause future damage to your mare.I second the suggestion of foal-lac.Hope baby gets the hang of it.A bucket is sure easier if she will drink.Keep us posted.

 

[shadowpaints]

i am doing everything the vet has told us to. the filly wont drink from a bucket.. she was drinking water but now she wont touch it with foal lac or goats milk in it.

im going to go into town tomorrow and pick up a bunch of different nipples and see if that will work..

 

[shadowpaints]

since 11 pm last nite i got the filly to drink 9 ounces 5 at 1100 pm, i tried feeding her at 2am, she wouldnt suck on the bottle, tried again at 3 am still didnt want it.. tried again right before 6am and she drank 4 ounces. the feed store opens at 9 am.. i will be there when they open

 

[Tab]

I wonder if warm compresses (and this may sound silly) lanolin creme would help your mare? Just thinking about how a woman would treat mastitis.

 

[rubysmommy]

I know this is going to sound really stupid, but if you put a compress of cabbage on the mare's bag it will help A TON with the swelling and help get her comfortable. I am a vet tech and we had a horse at out clinic once with a horrible mastitis infection. I can not remember the exact circumstances as to how we heard about the cabbage compress, but I can tell you it works. I thought it was an outrageous idea when my boss sent me to the grocery store in search of cabbage but whatever works! We rigged up a wrap to hold the cabbage on the bag and left it on over night. in the morning, the swelling was almost nonexistant. I was amazed! The baby was able to nurse shortly after that. All this being said, the mare was also on antibiotic treatment and the cabbage was just to help with the swelling. She did heal a lot faster then any other mastitis case I have ever seen. Hope this helps!

 

[Carolyn R]

I know this is going to sound really stupid, but if you put a compress of cabbage on the mare's bag it will help A TON with the swelling and help get her comfortable. I am a vet tech and we had a horse at out clinic once with a horrible mastitis infection. I can not remember the exact circumstances as to how we heard about the cabbage compress, but I can tell you it works. I thought it was an outrageous idea when my boss sent me to the grocery store in search of cabbage but whatever works! We rigged up a wrap to hold the cabbage on the bag and left it on over night. in the morning, the swelling was almost nonexistant. I was amazed! The baby was able to nurse shortly after that. All this being said, the mare was also on antibiotic treatment and the cabbage was just to help with the swelling. She did heal a lot faster then any other mastitis case I have ever seen. Hope this helps!

Y'ep, this is a remedy that breast feeding women have used for years.

 

[kaykay]

So sorry for what you are going thru!

Just an fyi on nipples. I have found over the years that the only nipple I can get to work is a generic baby bottle nipple. The old school style! I dont know why but they will always latch on to this type. Have to get them at the grocery store or walmart. In the past we tried goat nipples etc and they are just too big

 

[shadowpaints]

i picked up a pritchard nipple and a soft lambs nipple.. im hoping the pritchard does the trick, it is more like her moms teat then the goat nipple is. and its much softer. as soon as the milk is warm,ill go try it

 

[shadowpaints]

just got back from the barn. the pritchard nipple seems to be her fav. she latched on for a few minutes.. then let go, then i put the nipple in her mouth again and she latched on again! she drank 100 ccs which is 3.38 ounces!

 

[Miniv]

AWESOME!

Four ounces at her age sounds just about right.

I'm not familiar with the name "Pritchard". Like you, when we had to bottle feed a baby (he was 2 weeks old when his mother died.) we had to buy several nipples and experiment..... The one the colt accepted was designed for baby raccoons!

 

[shadowpaints]

she is still consistantly eating! the goats milk i feel is the best, so i have put the foal lac away untill i need it again. just fed her at 6pm my time and she ate 3.71 ounces! (110ccs)

 

[Tab]

(Love goats milk! Wish I could say the same about goats

)

 

[Miniv]

Just re-read some of your initial post....

You asked about timing. Our 2 week old orphan was being fed every 2 hours. We slowly stretched it out to 3 hours and then 4 hours as he got older. By the time he was a month old he was investigating hay and grain and milk pellets, but still being bottle fed.

I sure hope you have a second person to help you with the feeding.

 

[shadowpaints]

i dont have anyone to help me unfortunatly. so i am doing this all on my own. as long as she keeps nursing on a regular basis, i think i will be ok. i tried feeding her every 2 hours but she didnt seem hungry enough to want to eat much (an ounce was allshe wanted if i fed every 2 hours) the last feeding she ate 3.2 ounces.. next feeding is in 2 hours.. ill update in the morning!

 

[Holly at WhiteTailsMinis]

So glad to hear your little baby is eating more. Thats great news. Sorry Im not much help with how much, how long or anything like that. But just glad to hear that she is eating.

 

[MountainMeadows]

Hoping things continue to go well Becca - keep us posted when you can, but not at the expense of getting some well needed rest for yourself. We have our fingers crossed for you

Stacy

 

[Little Bits]

I have a friend who had a mare that refused her baby. She was a maiden mare and wanted nothing to do with the foal. They borrowed a goat and mixed the foal lac with the goats milk and feed it to her in a bottle. Eventually they taught her to drink from the bucket by lower the bottle into the bucket a little at a time. Eventually she was drinking out of the bucket.

I know it can be frustrating at first and maybe the mare will be okay. Finger Crossed.

Good luck and best wishes.