23 replies to this topic

[Dairygirl]

Thank you so much for the info. A couple more questions. This mare was a maiden. A three year old. When these babies are born can they have color or is it always going to be like this one? This foal was solid white except for a black spot on the nose and some black on the tail. That was it. Blue eyes and all. This was the reason why I assumed it was a LWO..

Also even if I find a positive stud in the future she can still have a chance of producing another foal like this one?50/50 shot?

Right now the plan is not to breed her. She is a wonderful halter mare but after all we as a team have been thru, I just don't want to disappoint her again. I wanted to save the foal more for her than ever myself.

[Dream]

That's very strange that she was a maiden. Are we sure it was a case of NI? I'm not sure when her previous exposure was. The test with the blood and colostrum should be done before the ingestion of colostrum. I wouldn't take lethal white off the table. Did you see any other signs of NI? Jaundice for example? There is a small possibilty that she had enough time to form antibodies from this pregnancy but that is rare.

The white colour has nothing to do with this condition. They can be any colour.

What you would need to find is a negative stallion. She shouldn't produce an NI foal from a negative stallion.

Edited by Dream, 01 May 2006 - 08:19 PM.

[Mona]

I am so sorry for your loss. I am wondering if perhaps the foal was a LWO. I know you said she ended up having a bowel movement, but I also remember reading somewhere that a LWO foal can have an initial bowel movement, but once that(the meconium) is cleared out, nothing more makes it through from the belly.

Do you by chance still have the foal? If so, take a mane hair sample(about 50 hairs, and send it off for a LWO test. It is inexpensive, only $25 and it might tell you more one way or the other, about what happened to your foal.

Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

[rabbitsfizz]

If the foal were to have been LWO the only thing you would need to do to prevent this ever happening again is make sure the stallion you breed to is LW Negative.
Tested.
There is then NO chance of a LWO foal.

[Dairygirl]

That's very strange that she was a maiden. Are we sure it was a case of NI? I'm not sure when her previous exposure was. The test with the blood and colostrum should be done before the ingestion of colostrum. I wouldn't take lethal white off the table. Did you see any other signs of NI? Jaundice for example? There is a small possibilty that she had enough time to form antibodies from this pregnancy but that is rare.

The white colour has nothing to do with this condition. They can be any colour.

What you would need to find is a negative stallion. She shouldn't produce an NI foal from a negative stallion.

The neighbor's Aunt who is a vet told me that the blood would separate if she was RH Factor. So she drew blood and put it in a red top tube, mean while waiting on results she tubed her with colosturm and mothers milk. The blood sit for over 10min. She looks at it and it had looked settled. Don't know if it was suppose to or not but she said it was RH Factored. What got me and I didn't say anything because she was helping but why would you, if your testing for this, tube the foal with milk from mom if you suspect RH?

The foal did have light green eyes and pale gums, but this was right before she worked on her. Which my septic foal had the same signs as far as the Jaundice goes.

I am so sorry for your loss. I am wondering if perhaps the foal was a LWO. I know you said she ended up having a bowel movement, but I also remember reading somewhere that a LWO foal can have an initial bowel movement, but once that(the meconium) is cleared out, nothing more makes it through from the belly.

Do you by chance still have the foal? If so, take a mane hair sample(about 50 hairs, and send it off for a LWO test. It is inexpensive, only $25 and it might tell you more one way or the other, about what happened to your foal.

Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

Well the bowel was a runny brown color. Most of the meconium I have seen is black or dark, but I thought hey we have poop so we need to figure something else out. I do still have her blood in the tube. I put it in the icebox, I guess good thing I did. Should be able to use her blood for the test, right?

[rabbitsfizz]

I'm sorry I do not understand. The test for this is to put milk with the foals blood and watch to see if it separates- so...did the Vet do this, as this is the only relevant test that can be done on the spot.
If this was not done, basically, you had a Vet, you should not be beating yourself up over losing the foal if you had bad advice/treatment.
As said, this is not RH factor, this is Isoerythrolysis, which is different, and No, had it been this then the treatment given was completely wrong and could well have contributed to the foals demise.
I do not want to stirr things up but I think you should be trying to find out what caused the foals death as it seems to me you have a pretty good case for compensation, here.
If it was LWO then the responsibility is yours entirely- had the mare been tested or bred to a negative stallion then this would not have happened and no Vet on earth could save the foal, and should not have tried.
If it is Isoerythrolysis then the diagnosis and the treatment were both incorrect, and should, for the sake of other foals possibly suffering form this problem, be queried seriously, as, had it been diagnosed correctly there is no reason why the foal should not have survived.
I understand you wanting to put this behind you and move on, it is a very sensible approach BUT what about the next foal this Vet misdiagnoses and then mistreats???

[Minimor]

It doesn't sound like the right way to test for Neonatal isoerythrolysis, and it's definitely odd to tube with colostrum from the mare while waiting on the test results for NI.

Poop as you describe also doesn't sound like the foal was LWO.

Green eyes & pale gums sound like the foal had septicemia? Was there any jaundice (yellow?) or just an anemic paleness?

If you knew for sure it was NI (and I thought that was virtually unheard of in a maiden mare) then to avoid it in future you must bloodtype mare & then breed her only to a stallion of the same bloodtype.

I'm so sorry you've had to go through this!

[Dairygirl]

You know I had brought it up to her about the blood and colosturm test and she told me this was the way to do it. Let the blood sit and if it settled it was a RH foal and I would need to get a transfussion asap. I thought it kind of strange that she drew blood to test but if you think that is what your problem is why tube feed the foal moms milk?

I have the blood from the foal so I'm going to research on where I can send the sample and find out what happened. She may have not been either and just septic? Signs of my mini colt was the same but the foal went to 3 days old before he showed signs.

This lady is a vet out of Texas and I only know her first name. She did tell me she had a vet tech who had about 30 mini horses that shows, north Texas area at my best guess.

Just makes me sad!

[Dream]

Ok hang on a second...you're saying the vet put the foal's blood in a red top and waited for it to "settle"? Any blood will separate in a red top. It's called clotting and that what blood does when you don't mix it with anticoagulant (ie purple top). If you're sure that's what she did then she did not test for NI.

If all you have is that red top then you are limited in what you can test from it as it is now a clot with serum not blood.

[CheyAut]

Can someone give more info on how to test?

I understand the blood and the milk, but what do you put it in? Would, say, a dixie cup work? Or???

And do you try to mix it up, or just put them together, or one on top of the other?

If they separate, is it something you see CLEARLY, without really having to take a GOOD look at it?

Thanks!
Jessica