Foal in distress

[iowa]

Last Thursday morning (1:00 am) our mare Biscuit started foaling. I had been watching on the camera so was there when it was born. The new black and white filly was up in 45 minutes and found the milk bar and took a few swallows. At 3:00 I saw her nurse again. I thought all was well. Then at 7:00 when I went out, the foal was lying down and I could hardly get it up. When up, it was straining to defecate, but couldn't. I gave it an enema and it passed quite a bit so I thought all was well. I went to work, but kept worring about her, so came home early. She wouldn't nurse so I did milk the mare and bottle fed her which she took readily. OH! I took her to the vet to check her antibody level and it was very good. The filly was dehydrated though, so had to be given an IV for fluids. He also ran quite a few blood tests and everything was fine. So we went home and I bottle fed her every two hours through the night and all day on Friday. Finally about 8:00 Friday evening she went over to the mare and started nursing on her own!!

Happy ending so far. She is now running around and nurses every 20-30 minutes. The vet said when she was consitipated, she just didn't feel well, so stopped nursing and then everything went in a downward spiral from there. I feel very lucky that she survived.

Just goes to show that passing that first stool is so important and also how quickly they can go downward. I've put links to pictures of her - she is the black and white one.

Then on Saturday morning (5 am.) our other mare had a little bay colt completely unassisted (2 weeks early) and up and running and hasn't stopped!

Here are a few pictures of them both.

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Biscuit

dreamette

dreamette2

 

[Genie]

Thanks for the "heads up". THose are a pair of little beauties

 

[Indy's mom]

I also want to thank you for the "heads up"! I am awaiting my very, very first foal ever and need all the info I can get my hands on!! Being prepared gives you the best chance of having a healthy foal! Thanks!

Your foals are beautiful!!!! Congrats!!!!

Tammy

 

[shelly]

:wub Congratulations!!! They are both beautiful!! You are right with watching for that first, second, third etc...poops as I had to give my filly 2 enemas daily for the first 3 days before she would finally poop unassisted!!!

Glad she is better now!

 

[REO]

Congratulations on your babies! I'm a huge believer in enemas!

 

[mama 'n me minis]

What type of enemas do you use? I have a colt that passed the meconium first stool last night but nothing more today. He is nursing well but only a few toots tonight.

No milk stool that I can see. He has strained a couple of times but is still in good spirits. I have a saline childs enema but I did not know if that is the right one to use ?

 

[bevann]

I have always used a child size Fleets enema or similar brand.If you think about it a Mini foal weighs as much as a small child.Be very gentle and get as much as possible into the foalWatch for a few minutes to see what comes out.as with anything else check with your vet.Good luck poop hunting.It is poften difficult to find in the bedding unless you happen to be there at the moment of expulsion.

 

[osu_barrelracer]

You can also use a small amount of mild dish detergant (such as dawn) and some water in a small suringe. And put a little soap on the end of the suringe for lubrication. This is all that most vets use. We've been using it for years and it always gets the job done.

 

[lucky lodge]

she is so cute well done cant wait till mine have babys but there still to yooung what age do use breed at