ADVICE NEEDED! Maiden mare will not let foal nurse!

[painthorse61]

Hi I have a new filly that was born on Saturday evening, The mother is a maiden mare with alot of milk. The problem is her bag is so full, tight and sore that she will not allow the foal to nurse, or let me milk her out to feed the foal or relieve some of the pressure for her! She will kick both me and the foal away whenever one of us attempts to touch her bag. This mare is not generally like this and she is very concerned/protective of the foal but will kick her away when she tries to latch on. I have had to pin her against a wall and hand milk her to get any milk at all for the baby, but this is very stressfull for all of us and I don't want to do that. I did try to give them some time alone to work it out but baby wasn't getting anything to drink so I had to step in. I did get a good amount of colostrum into her at least! Any ideas/ suggestion would be very much appreciated!! I also tried warm compresses but she kicked at those too!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Give the mare some ACP ...NOW!!!

You maybe need a Vet, but honestly, I am not sure what a Vet can do that you have not already done.

One thing you do need to do is milk the bag out so that it is not painful, then you need to sedate the mare, then the foal needs to nurse every hour so that the bag stays small and the pattern of relief from the foal builds up in the mares head.

I had exactly this happen this spring.

It took ten days from start to finish but the mare accepted the foal completely in the end...I probably could have left them earlier than ten days, I just wanted to be safe!!

You do need that bag milked out or the milk will fail, and it does not matter how stressed she gets!!

Just get a couple of men to quietly pin her and get to it and get it done as quickly as you can.

Then try an hour later with the foal.

DO NOT TRY WITHOUT THE SEDATIVE...that is why you might need a vet!!

Good Luck.

 

[Viki]

You need to act fast! Your baby will need an IgG test too. My vet does a 'snap' test at the farm that is really accurate. I wouldn't be worried about stressing the mare now. Twitch her, pen her, tie a leg up, sedate her, whatever it takes to get to that udder and get it down to a comfortable level for the mare. Whatever you get from her needs to go into the baby. Your foals life is at risk here and now.

Just MHO from experience. Good luck!

Safety first though! If you get injured, who will care for them? Please keep YOUR safety in mind while dealing with this situation.

I agree, once the mare is more comfortable, she will realize the baby is supplying comfort by nursing and all will be well.

 

[kaykay]

first of all stay calm! That mare will also pick up on your nerves and the whole thing will get worse. We always give the mares a dose of banamine after foaling to help with cramps and udder pain. Wait about 20-30 mins for the pain relief to kick in and then milk the mare to get the bag down and give it to the foal. Then the foal should be able to nurse alone. You have to get that pain under control or its a viscious circle. I would also call your vet and ask especially if you do not have banamine on hand.

 

[Connie P]

We had a mare do this one year and it is imperative that you get her bag reduced immediately. Sedate her (your vet needs to do this) - if you cannot sedate her than you will definitely have to twitch her and milk her out as much as possible every hour for a few hours until that bag reduces and she allows the foal to begin nursing. You may also want to twitch her the first few times that the baby nurses (this is after you milk her off). We made a homemade suction with a syringe and put it on each nipple (kind of like a breast pump). We were up all night with our mare, but she did finally let her foal nurse and everything turned out just fine. If my breasts were that engorged I wouldn't want any baby nursing either so once you get her pain under control she should do fine. Best of luck to you.

 

[mizbeth]

Hi

The others comment are accurate. You MUST milk this mare and get milk into the foal even though the mare does not like it. Banamine will be a great help and something you can do without having a vet sedate her. It will help a lot. My proven mares do this sometimes too, just have to be patient and help relieve the pain so they let the babies nurse. Can someone help you milk the mare, if baby is not nursing you will have to do this often until the baby will nurse her. I would also recommend an IgG be done on your foal.

Good luck, please let us know how she doing?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

How are you doing??

BTW I did not have a Vet sedate my mare, and I actually kept her lightly sedated for the whole ten days.

She was under Vet supervision, but I gave her the paste Sedalin that farriers use.

I weaned her off it slowly.

Apparently it has no effect on the foal...I checked that particularly.

The Vet had a racehorse mare in at the time that was also rejecting, he was giving her intravenous ACP every two hours!!!

 

[Miniv]

Hi
The others comment are accurate. You MUST milk this mare and get milk into the foal even though the mare does not like it. Banamine will be a great help and something you can do without having a vet sedate her. It will help a lot. My proven mares do this sometimes too, just have to be patient and help relieve the pain so they let the babies nurse. Can someone help you milk the mare, if baby is not nursing you will have to do this often until the baby will nurse her. I would also recommend an IgG be done on your foal.

Good luck, please let us know how she doing?

Mizbeth wrote what I was basically going to say...... Banamine and an extra person to help should do the trick, unless she's going hysterical on you. And by this time, having a IgG done on the foal is almost a must, I would suspect.

I hope everything works out..........