Help - Foal may get put down :(

J

Jellibean

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My mare had a foal on Saturday, he was finding it hard to take his first drink and was difficult for him to remain standing. Kept him going like this and phoned the vet on Sunday. vet been out morning and night since, he's not getting any better and now his temperature has started dropping. thinks his body is shutting down. we are obviously trying to give him a fighting chance but he just isn't improving.

does anyone have any suggestions whatsoever?

im so devistated he's a lovely little thing and was the only offspring of my stallion before i gelded him last year.

Thanks
 
Did you get colostrum down him?

btw, you'd be better posting this on the breeding board as they have an accumulation of experience there.

Other than that remember nature is a cruel thing.

Can you cut a very high tog synthetic duvet into under rugs for him? Are you feeding him milk replacer and are you feeding it at body temperature rather than chilled?

Hope he pulls through - do try a post on the Breeding board.
 
He called be a dummy foal. If so, watch out, he could develop seizures. The condition can be turned around but you will have to nurse him intensively. Sadly, this could be an example of "survival of the fittest". I hope he pulls through.
 
He could be a hemalitic (sp) foal. This is when his body doesn't get on with the anti bodies in the mares colostrum. Has he been regularly tube fed with colostrum???
 
How much milk are you mnagingto get into him? Has he been stomach tubed to ensure hegets enough (may need to be done twice daily -with plenty of bottle in-between - to ensure he DOES get enough.

He sounds like he is just starving - and you have VERY little time. It may be necessary to put him on an IV drip to rehydrate him.

I had a dummy foal 3 years ago - he was iv-dripped, stomach tubed, bottled every 2 hours, for a week! We're currently backing him!
 
You may like to call the Mare and Foal Sanctuary who will be able to give you loads of advice and support.
Good luck.
 
Call joanna Varden at the national foaling bank in Newport shropshire she will help you she has saved hundreds of foals each yr.
 
If it's not milk and he cann't reach teats, hand milk her, if his immune system is being destroyed by mares milk, you can get the dried mares milk or dried ewes milk and bottle feed him, but that is a long and stressfull job, until he can drink out of bucket, like they do with calves. Best of luck anyway:)
 
I'm not suggesting you do this without vet advice first, but on an American prog I watched recently their foal expert poured eggs down the foals throat for the protein and put salt on his front jaw to get him to suckle from the mare - it worked very well. So sorry you are in this awful situation, hope it works out for the best.
 
You need a blood test done to make sure he got enough antibodies from colostrum. If not he needs a plasma transfusion or there is absolutely no chance he will survive. Sorry but thats reality.
 
thanks to everyone for your replies.

Wee man got put down at 10:30 this morning. Did everything we could. He was bottle fed every couple of hours and kept warm but vet had said because of the position he was born in and because he had a few falls it was most like the wee thing was brain damaged now. He had also went blind in one eye. I forgot to put in my original post that he was born 2 weeks early so I think a mix of everything has just been too much for him.

Thanks Again.
Gill
 
Im so sorry to hear that, I was wondering this morning how the little chap was. You tried your hardest for him.
 
Hiya.
I went through a very similar thing this year. Foal was rushed to hospital but she died in her sleep. I was told that if she hadn't improved, PTS would be the only option. I;'m so sorry for your loss, i know exactly what you're going through and how you feel. pm me if you want to.
I'm a bit late to this thread, sorry.
 
I am so sorry for your loss. however, please speak to the foaling bank, as they need mares like yours, and you will be helping them and your mare enormously, I had a mare that lost a at foal at 3 months, and it took her years ( and various side effects) to get over it, so if your mare can foster an orphan, maybe this will help her. i am so sad for you though, there's nothing worse than losing such a beautiful life, my thoughts are with you x
 
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