Sad night for Total Eclipse Miniatures

[sedeh]

I do now have one of those plastic mechanical masks, though when I am right there I would tend to not waste the time to get it from the foaling kit, but start breathing on the foal. The O2 tank I got from a local medical supply with a stand and the mask is a small dog mask from a small animal veterinarian as the large animal ones are too small.

I'm definately going to check into getting an O2 tank to have here. We live far enough out that if we can't get the foal going ourselves they won't have much chance by the time the vet could come out or we could haul to them. The ER nurse in me cringes a bit at the idea of lay people using BVM's(bag-valve-mask) devices like the foal resusictator that Reble put a link to. When I attend my advanced cardiac life support classes we are taught how to use them properly....and it's not easy! If you don't have a perfect seal you will not provide effective ventilation. The good part about them is you can attach oxygen. Definately would need a "mini" size mask. My friend says she takes a water bottle and cuts the end off and smooths the edges; she finds it fits over the foals muzzle nicely for resucitation. If you've ever done CPR on a person/child you'll find that you can provide the best chest rise with mouth to mouth than you can with a BVM device. Once they're intubated the BVM works great. I was getting good chest rise with mouth to nostril. Anyway.....whichever method you use, make sure you see the chest rise, otherwise you're not providing adequate ventilation.

My best investment this year was the Kalgo heater! I needed it for the wet/cold filly and with this colt we moved him under the heater while we worked on him.

This experience has taught me a few more items to put in my foaling kit. The Karo syrup is a great idea.

BTW Dream is doing fine today and I'm doing better too. Thank you all so much for your support.

 

[Joanne]

Sandy we are in the same situation. Really everyone is. No matter if your veterinarian lives next door and runs over immediately, both not breathing and a red bag are YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. They will not be there in time to help you. After you save the foal Yes, but before, NO!

In my case I just could not give up as long as I had a heartbeat. I think that is a critical point. If you do not have a heartbeat you have lost. You have to be able to get the heart started relatively quickly for the breathing to do any good. It is crucial to close off the lower nostril and mouth and breath through only one nostril; otherwise you will not be able to get the lungs to fill. In my first case my husband was there and would let me know that the lungs were filling adequately. The angle you are in and my arm was in the way of seeing that I had done a good job. We traded off so neither got totally wiped out breathing.

Once our colt responded it felt like I had a caterpillar in my mouth with the foal's nostril hairs tickling my mouth. We continued breathing a few more times until he started moving and fighting us, then gave him O2. This was many years ago before these devises were available and we also had never seen how to do a foal. We learned quickly out of necessity. But with the additiional education that came out we found it VERY useful to put it in the barn and remind ourselves by reading it frequently during foaling season.

Again, you cannot hurt a dead horse. You can only improve the chances. Go ahead and try. No harm done and you may save a life.

It is amazing what adrenaline can do for you

Here is the link to the device we have. It is different from what was mentioned before. It is good to have one if they do not respond quickly to your cpcr, as in our case with our first one, we both got winded after breathing for 20 minutes for him.

Foal Resusitation mask

 

[Reble]

Thanks everyone this has been a sad and educating thread.

Again sorry for your loss Sedeh.

It is crucial to close off the lower nostril and mouth and breath through only one nostril; otherwise you will not be able to get the lungs to fill.

Did not know this.

Glad to know to forget the plastic mechanical masks,

Was thinking about it.

My friend says she takes a water bottle and cuts the end off and smooths the edges; she finds it fits over the foals muzzle nicely for resuscitation.

I think I might just put one in my foal kit.

Foal Resusitation mask just emailed them....

Thanks for all the information Joanne and Sedeh appreciate it...

 

[Joanne]

I would not be against having a mechanical mask available. As I mentioned, after 5 minutes of breathing you do get winded and if you are there alone this might encourage you to keep trying. I think the one I gave the link for is one Sandy might approve of.

I do agree with Sandy that there is certainly an advantage of doing cpcr yourself IF you do it correctly as you can feel the resistance and cannot overfill the lungs.

Having done this a few times it is impressive just how much pressure it takes to get those lungs to receive air.

 

[MinisOutWest]

I am so sorry. It hurts, I know. Hang in there and cry alot , it helps, but takes a lot of time. My heart feels for you , stay strong.