Biggie Mare Help

[Bonny]

I bought a mare for Hubby to ride late August. She is a welsh/ qh and built like a tank. When I got her she was a bit over weight so we have put her on a diet and she has been loosing great. We have also been riding her twice weekly and she has been a dream.

When we got her I noticed she had a pouch in front of her udder, which I attributed to her being over weight. Earlier this week I noticed that one side of her udder has developed. Both sides have thin white milk. Her udder is fuller in the am and less full in the afternoon.

I had the vet out, they palpated and said not bred, said she had mastitis. The udder is not hard or hot, no blood. The vet put her on penicillin and said the swelling would be gone in 2-3 days. Well its been 5 and there has been no changes in her udder.

I have a short incomplete history on her. I have had her since late Aug, the people who owner her before had her 6 months. Before that she was in a pasture for 3 yrs with cows. I talked to that owner, ( before her udder started to grow) and he had told me she went through a barbed wire fence when in heat. I dont know at what point in the 3 yrs that was as I was just asking about the scars on her legs.

I also know that sometime in April she was at a trainers, I dont know for how long she was there. She may have also been there part of March and May , but I am not sure.I dont know if there was a stallion there or not, I assume not....

To the best of my knowledge she has never foaled before. She had very small udder before this started. Other than the swelling in front.

I just find it hard to believe that a vet, even one in her first yr, could miss a pregnancy far enough along to have milk production.

I just need opinions from yall. Here are some pictures I hope they help.

this was August 15th:

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/Horses/8-15-10009.jpg

this is this week:

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-19-10-2011.jpg

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-19-10020-1.jpg

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-19-10-2021-1.jpg

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-22-10011.jpg

 

[shorthorsesmt]

hi,

i have had two mares produce a small amount of cloudy liquid one was a 20 + year old mare. i had her teeth floated and even though she looked like she was ready to foal twins she was not bred and the vet said it happens frequently when he has floated teeth like that because they get more nutrients from what they eat. the other was a 17 year old quarter pony mare and she was starting to produce and so i had an ultrasound done and they found an ovarian cyst that they believed was causing the preggers symptoms. keep an eye on her if she continues to fill up you can do a milk strip test , check her temp and vulva for color changing and loosening, remember vets are only himan and can make mistakes, so at this point i would either get a second opinion or do the wait and see game. best wishes with her and she is a very nice looking mare

 

[Bonny]

Thank you,

This mare is 8 yrs old, the fluid is from my experience, what the milk turns to right before it goes to foaling sticky...

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-19-10-3007.jpg

I have had pregnant mares before, and the test strips I use usually read 3-4 pads in under 1 minute. As foaling approaches the test strips change to 4-5 pads usually under 30 sec, I also use the ph, this mare is testing 3-4 pads in 1 min and ph is still high.

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-19-10019.jpg

I am just not quite sure what to think. I think I may order a wee foal, although not knowing for sure when and if she was bred it may not be helpful.She could possibly be further than 300 days.

I do greatly appreciate your response. The Vet was to do an ultra sound when she came out, but forgot the US plug..... I may just take her in for a second opinion, maybe it is a cyst....

 

[laughingllama75]

Well, my first thought is, "that mare is in foal". BUT, could be a cyst, could be a false pregnancy.....could b a bunch of things.

MY experience is that I had an Arab mare that I had bred, the vet told me at 300 days that she was NOT (she was showing a few signs of being in heat and he palp'd her). I tried to re-breed her, and the stallion said NO WAY. so, we waited. at 347 days, a nice strapping colt was born.

I now have a new vet, and all is well.

I do have a friend whose mare does go through false preg quite often... 3 times in the last several years. you would swear this mare was preg, she gets huge, developes an udder and then....nothing happens. LOL. so, I would get another opinion, it wouldnt hurt. good luck, she is a cute mare!

 

[Bonny]

Thanks, She is a very sweet mare. We are a bit disappointed as hubby and I have really enjoyed riding. We were hoping for the US so we can either resume riding or get a larger foaling pen assembled

 

[R Whiteman]

[Hi,

I've not had mares with false pregnancy before but i can tell you a story that might ease your mind some..

In February, we bought a young Katahdin (sheep that sheds its wool coat) to breed for market lambs. We've had sheep for a long time; many, many lambs have been born in our barns. The ewe settled in well and life was pretty normal. This summer, she began to build an udder, enough that we could see it from the fence. I kept an udder watch on her until she was well past the time she could have lambed. We got her because she was a single sheep and the family thought that was unfair. All of our sheep are ewes and we send them out in the fall so there was never any access to a ram. After nationals, I pulled the sheep in because at this point it was obvious that she wasn't going to lamb and I was sure that I would find all kinds of horrible things happening with that udder. By then it was the size of a newly freshened dairy goat...but only on one side. What I found was an udder section full of beautiful, white, sweet smelling milk. No lumps, no heat, no anything that would indicate mastitis. This ewe was never exposed to any ram in her lifetime, she was not pregnant, but she came out of a dry lot situation and was put out on pasture that was pretty thick with lotus-major, a legume. As close as we can guess, she responded hormonally to the good pasture and started producing milk. Dang, i should have sold her for big bucks to a dairy.

Dorothy

 

[Marty]

I think she looks pregnant

 

[SilverDollar]

I think she looks pregnant

Me too!

(I don't have any experience with mares-in-foal, but the difference between August and now is quite pronounced in just her abdominal region. Her hind end doesn't look larger, either--the place beside the top of the rump--which would indicate that she was just fatter and not preggers.)

Please keep us posted!

 

[Bonny]

Well I went out this am to do chores and found this swollen area in front of and between her udder halves. Now more confused than ever! What is it? could it be edema?

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/ShyBon/10-25-10021.jpg

Called the vet who said to bring her in for a US.....sigh , now I am looking for a trailer to use.

 

[Bonny]

Yesterday her udder went down a lot, today its back up.

Its been roughly 10 days that she has had this thin white milk.

How long can this go on? The Vet said she would be done by now if it was mastitis.( treated with antibiotics) If its hormonal vs pregnancy, can this go on for a long time? I wasnt able to get her to the vet for the US yet but talked to the front desk and they insist she isnt bred via the palpation a week ago.

Could a maiden mare have thin white milk 6-8 week before foaling?

 

[Katiean]

I do not know what to tell you. I had all of my mares do almost the same thing this year. Two of the three were US'd in foal. I got bags. I got that little pouch in front of the bag. I got liquidy pale white milk (looked just like yours). I got no foals. My third mare that wasn't supposed to be in foal, when I started to fit her to show her bagged up and also had cramping. I didn't show and got no babies. What the heck?

 

[Bonny]

I wish I knew.

I am at my wits end. Her milk thinned out and went almost clear. Udder was down.

But now its back up, milk is white again. But now she is acting heatish. She is backing and winking at my gelding, but not squatting and peeing.

I had jury duty and wasnt able to get her to the vet.