Experiances on irrigation after foaling

[BethanT]

Quick update, he's here!! Arrived around 7.45pm on monday evening after the mare showing no signs at all of foaling. Foaling went well and fairly quickly, but she struggled to pass the placenta. After 2.5 hours I called the vet to ask what he thought, and he came out to have a look.




He ended up having to fill the placenta with water to try and fool the mare into thinking she was having another foal as the oxytocin injection and pulling did not help. Around 1 hour later placenta was out, in tact and looking healthy. She was put on a course of antibiotics for 5 days. With an irrigation procedure the following day to make sure all/most of the placenta was out and to prevent infection etc.

I ended up calling the vet out today as she had bloody discharge dripping from her, so he did another irrigation procedure to clense it out. Which it definitely needed!

So my question really is, how many of you have had to go through this? Vet said it can happen 1 in 5 mares/foalings but I had never even thought that this could have been an option.

How was your mare after the procedures, and how long until it all cleared up? Did you have to have the vet out more times than I have so far?

No real point just curious to hear experiances from other people.

P.S. Mare is fine in all other ways, she is drinking plenty, eating well and is her normal character

 

[Char0901]

Firstly congratulations! He's gorgeous!
My made foaled last year for the first time. She retained some of her placenta.
Vet came out the following day to flush her out. He thought maybe she had been torn somewhere inside. She was a maiden so everything was quite tight in there!
I think the vet came out 4 or 5 times over about a week. The last time he came was purely just to double check she was all cleaned out.
She was fine in her self probably because she was loving being a new mummy!
In a way it was good because whilst she was in the stocks we got to handle baby really well. It would have been done anyway but made it easier because he had to stand and wait for mum.
Try not to worry too much, I was terrified! Vet helped as he was very calm about it and went about it as if it was normal. Which I guess it is in a vets world! X

 

[Spring Feather]

None of my mares have ever retained their placentas and rarely do any of them require flushing post birthing. We had one mare, a maiden, this year who did tear a lot as she was tiny and there was no way a foal was going to get out of there unassisted. I did get the foal out eventually however she did rip fairly badly. I opted not to stitch her up at that time, I waited for 3 weeks and then had her stitched. I did have her flushed however, as with all the flopping around, there was for sure gunk in there! She was rebred about 55 days after foaling and she has healed up beautifully with no problems at all. Will find out whether she took next week.

Congratulations; beautiful foal and well worth waiting for :smile3:

 

[HBM1]

With my mare's last foal she had to be irrigated for five days. It may have been a bit of overkill, but rather that than lose her, she is very precious. She retained some placenta so the vet wanted to be sure there would be no infection. She also had antibiotics. The gunk that came out was awful, later becoming just coloured liquid. She was fine, we had to watch out for laminitis etc but getting them out into a paddock so they can move around and rid themselves of it is also important. It wasn't a week I care to remember and hopefully it won't happen again.

 

[Char0901]

With my mare's last foal she had to be irrigated for five days. It may have been a bit of overkill, but rather that than lose her, she is very precious. She retained some placenta so the vet wanted to be sure there would be no infection. She also had antibiotics. The gunk that came out was awful, later becoming just coloured liquid. She was fine, we had to watch out for laminitis etc but getting them out into a paddock so they can move around and rid themselves of it is also important. It wasn't a week I care to remember and hopefully it won't happen again.

This exactly. Better put than I wrote!

 

[BethanT]

Thank you all for your replies, has put me a bit more at ease. Only had her since December but already I feel she is my horse of a lifetime. Couldn't bare to lose her.

She had a foal last year with no aparent problems and she is only 5 so there was no obvious reason as to why she retained her whole placenta (vet said it can be completely random). She looks very clear at the moment which is a good sign and foal is suckling plenty - he did give me a worry when he did a Bambi on ice moment and got up holding his leg, to then 2 minute later be charging around again.

HMB1 on the second irrigation the gunk was gross for my girl too! First one was OK and we were suprised and how few blood clots there were, but no very glad she had second one done as she would have been very poorly..

 

[texas]

Just wanted to add my story. Two years ago a mare retained her entire placenta so the vet came out to remove it and cleanse her - said it was due to lack of muscle tone to push it out. Her belly was enormous and had been since 5 months earlier, not sure how her tiny foal made it out! Anyway, mare was very good and it was done in the stable with me holding the foal into the corner under her nose while the vet rummaged around! Vet gave her an antibiotic, oxytocin and tetanus shots. Vet checked her out again the next day and I had to keep an eye on her pulses for potential lami but thankfully she was fine

Congratulations on your foal, fingers crossed the mare stays healthy

 

[BethanT]

Just wanted to add my story. Two years ago a mare retained her entire placenta so the vet came out to remove it and cleanse her - said it was due to lack of muscle tone to push it out. Her belly was enormous and had been since 5 months earlier, not sure how her tiny foal made it out! Anyway, mare was very good and it was done in the stable with me holding the foal into the corner under her nose while the vet rummaged around! Vet gave her an antibiotic, oxytocin and tetanus shots. Vet checked her out again the next day and I had to keep an eye on her pulses for potential lami but thankfully she was fine

Congratulations on your foal, fingers crossed the mare stays healthy

Yes, this is exactly what happened with my girl bar the tetanus injections as she had not long had her tet vaccs. I was fairly suprised when he mentioned she could get severe lami from it.

Hmmm hadn't thought about lack of muscle, but foal is a good size and foaling itself was easy, so doubtful this was the cause though could be.

And thank you