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CyndiM

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My mare foaled this morning a cute little filly but she will not nurse nor will she lay down on her own.

I have been extracting milk and giving that to her but I would like to know how long will it be before she nurses on her own and how often I should try to get her to nurse herself? The mare is being so good about this and keeps encouraging the foal but she just won't latch on and suck.
 
could be a bit. Did you have your vet out? He can maybe give for IGG and help out a bit. I am sure there are others that are better at this than I.
 
Yes the vet was here earlier and said since I have been giving her the mare's milk and she will suck a bottle he wasn't too worried about her and I was doing the right thing. She is getting about 1/2 cup about every 45 minutes. He also said he thought she would get the idea of where dinner is, he just didn't say how long it would take. Maybe I'm worrying too much.
 
Hi Cyndi -

I'm not much help in this area but wanted to say good luck! Do you use Dr. Harris?
 
Yes the vet was here earlier and said since I have been giving her the mare's milk and she will suck a bottle he wasn't too worried about her and I was doing the right thing. She is getting about 1/2 cup about every 45 minutes. He also said he thought she would get the idea of where dinner is, he just didn't say how long it would take. Maybe I'm worrying too much.
[SIZE=12pt]You might try (if you haven't already) stretching out the feedings a bit, up to every 2 hours for a few feedings to see if she'll get hungry enough to try.[/SIZE]
 
Thanks Laura I'll try that.

Reijel's Mom, no I use Dr Jim McNutt. I did use Dr Harris a few years back though and liked him. My daughter lives near So English and uses Dr Harris.
 
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She obviously has a sucking reflex.......Is she trying to LOOK around for where the groceries are?

If she's at least attempting to look, this is good and I would agree with Laura. Hold off feeding for an hour and cut back a bit on the amount. Stretch the feeding times out to a maximum of every 2 hours, no longer. You want her to get hungry enough to get more aggressive in searching.......but at the same time you don't want her lose her energy.

Also, has she done her "first poop"?
 
my vet told me 12 hrs and boy was he right on the money. little guy suddenly "woke up" and went straight to the udder and nursed. I was so exhausted I almost cried. It was a total turnaround! sending good thoughts
 
Thanks Maryann. Yes she has pooped and peed. She does not try to find the milk bar on the mare yet. She has been searching all day but not on the mare. In the air as she walks around she is making sucking motions and chewing but not towards the mare.

She does have good sucking strength on the bottle and I can get her to drop her head for the bottle but when I try to get her next to the udder she fights lowering her head. Any suggestions for that?

Thanks Kay I didn't ask the vet how long he thought it would take.

I appreciate the help all of you are giving me along with the good wishes.
 
my guy was just like yours. would not lower his head but would drink from a bottle. he would suck all over my coat, my neck etc. we did however make him go longer on the last feeding so he would be hungry and look for his own supper
 
There are all sorts of little tricks you can try while feeding your girl......

Start out with feeding her right up against mom. Make sure that her mom's teats have some milk rubbed over them too.

As your filly gets a little more aggressive with going for your bottle or whatever you're using, tie mom, and slip the bottle up under mom's tummy near the teats. It may take more than one feeding, or even two feedings, but this helps the little one figure out how to position herself and she may begin to smell where the teats are.

It does take patience, and like Kay said, at some point it will be like a lightbulb will go off in her brain and she'll figure it out.
 
Thanks Maryann I'll try that next feeding.
 
I have had a number of these "Pseudo" dummy's- always colts, but that may be coincidence.

If you are interested I can talk you through the process- send me an e-mail if you want more info.
 
ahhh! There you are Jane, was wondering where you were!

Hope the foal drinks from the milk bar soon!

Robin
 
Jane,I haven't seen you on here for a long time either!!! Glad to see you are still around.

I agree w/ mini v, If your mare is nice and calm, you can even slide your arm under her tail and lure the baby closer and closer (with the bottle) to the milk bar. I even went as far as pinching the foals back legs, like a mare nipping at them, to get them to scoot in closer. For me, once the foal got the idea, I had to change the my clothes and shower, the baby would keep coming back to me, rooting and searching for a meal from me.

The suck reflex is there, and the body's digestive track is functioning, everything else will fall into place, hang in there.

Good Luck,

Carolyn
 
Hi everyone, thanks Jane and everyone for the help, this forum is the best! I welcome any and ALL advise I can get because this is the first time I've ever had to deal with this issue.

She still has not got it down compleatly but she is trying to find them on her own. I am still giving her a bottle but I wait until I see she hasn't gotten anything yet and is starting to give up then I step in. I'm working on getting her closer to the bag and hope to be able to have it between the legs next feeding or two.

She does butt with her head so I feel it is just a matter of time before the lightbulb goes off.
 
Has the lightbulb turned on in your little girl's head yet???
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