Big Problem!

[pepperhill]

Little Kay was born on April 11th. She just hasn't seemed to put on weight like she aught to. We see her nursing all the time, but she still just feels so very thin and bony. Over the last day or so we have noticed the mother seems to push her away when she tries to nurse. I have been keeping a sharp eye on this development, and today I actually saw the mom try to kick her when she tried to nurse. Poor girl! We immediately got some milk replacer and bottle fed her. She drank quite a bit, but it was a struggle.

Her mom seems really lethargic today, and I can see that her bag is almost empty. It appears that mom has developed an infection. We have taken steps to get the mom up and running again, but how can I stimulate her milk to come again? Is there a medication that helps with milk production? I think that mom has quit producing because of her infection. Any ideas on what we can do to kick the milk into gear again so we don't have to bottle feed the baby?

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Have you contacted your vet?? Did your jenny clean out completely? There is a shot you vet can give them to drop there milk, if they foal and it dont come in. In the meantime you can use warm compresses on her udder, to try and get some milk down. If you havent contacted your vet..you really need to do so, they will also be able to give your jenny a shot to help with the infection also. Your baby needs his Moms colstrum, that is VERY VERY important.

 

[pepperhill]

I was in contact with our vet. Was the one that determined that the mom had an infection and put her on the antibiotics. It wasn't until later I realized that the milk was drying up. The baby was actually about 10 days old when all this started so she did get all her colostrum. Since then, we have been to see the vet again, we have something called domperidone being over-nighted to us. This product is supposed to stimulate milk production. In the meantime, mom is responding to the antibiotics and is letting the baby nurse again. That poor little babe only gets about 4 swallows before the "well" runs dry, so she is up trying about every 20 minutes. That aught to keep the mom stimulated! I think mom is making a bit more today than she was yesterday, so that is good news. The baby isn't getting quite enough, though, so we are bottle feeding her three times a day, just to keep her strenght up until we see what is going to happen with the mothers milk. So far it is going well. The baby has more energy. Hopefully things will all work out!

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Domperidome is a shot that will make the milk drop. It usually works fast, but I did have a mare 3 yrs ago, who I gave a shot of it to at 5:30 am, and her milk didnt come inuntil about 9 pm..luckily we had a friend who had frozen colostrum from his percherons, so we ran over and got some..after my mares milk came in everything was fine. But, newborn foals can go down so fast. I am sure by having your baby nurse every 20 minutes that is helping to stimulate your jenny as well. Good lucky with everything and keep us informed as to how things are going. Cant wait to see a pic of baby.

Corinne