Need help quickly if you can...

[Margo_C-T]

I never got on my computer after 7 PM last night, so just saw this thread this AM. Surely do hope the filly is doing alright by now-know you'll update us all when you have a moment. I used to live where there was no vet, period-but it was only 75 miles from 'the city', so can't imagine being as far away as you are...Scarey!!

Sending best wishes,

Margo

 

[Mona]

Well, things are still not good. She is still hanging in there, and not getting any worse, so I suppose that is a good thing.

I fed her a couple packages of the frozen colostrum I had here last night and she seemed to pick up and started nursing on her own again, so I slept for a few hours, and my Mom watched her on camera. She was running and playing, and Mom thought she was good because of it, but once I got up at 5:00 I could see she was not well. She was not nursing. I waited until 6:00am and called the Equine Clinic in Manitoba...the place 5-6 hours from here) He said to give her pennicilin 2x a dayfor a few days, in case she aspirates anything...more as a preventative. He felt she likely had gotten the colostrum, and he said the main thing was to keep her strong and hydrated. He said I could have blood work done but it would be sent away and would be a few days for results. so realisticly, it would not do us any good, other than telling us if she got enough colostrum and how her protein levels and white blood count was. By then, she could be dead anyway, so treat her as best as we can.

I am wondering about a blockage? When I gave her the second enema just to be sure all was OK, and she was not plugged up, she had lots of gooey yellow poop. BUT, even though I have seen her pee many time(which is good, as that means she is not dehydrated!) I have not yet seen her poop on her own. That makes me wonder if she is blocked, but if so, wouldn;t she be in extreme pain, rolling, thrashing etc. and not just weak?

I have been feeding her electrolytes/water, NutriCal(made for pets) mares milk. I also have lactated ringers on hand to give her under the skin if need be. Mare has lots of milk...filly puts her head there like she wants to nurse, but doesn't latch on. I put the mare and foal in the aisleway today hoping the filly might get nervous and attempt to suckle more for security, and she did! I was again so hopeful it was the first step of the upward climb for her, but now she is once again weak. It's a catch 22 here. I try to leave her for a little longer so she can keep her strength, yet maybe she is not hungry enough to make a real attempt. Her mom is getting frustrated with me milking her, as well as the filly for not nursing. I am als getting frustrated, wondering why on earth this is happening and/or what could be the problem.

I'll check back in later...need to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and then get back out to the barn. She still has no fever today.

 

[Anne]

No expert, but coujld this have anything to do with an 'rh" factor issue?

In that case it would be the mare's colostrum causing the weakness, and the advice is to keep the baby off the mare until the colostrum is completely gone.

Just thinking....

 

[kaykay]

I would have to wonder if she has navel/joint ill. Remember they dont always run a fever with it in the beginning. I dont think penicillin is strong enough for that. If she starts to limp at all you know that is what you are dealing with.

I just hate this for you!!

Anne--good thought there about RH. wonder if thats it?? especially if she gets sick when she nurses? I did read when they have this they get jaundice so check the whites of her eyes

 

[anita]

Two weeks ago we had a colt born who had for two days the same symtoms. He didn't nurse

enough what I liked to see, his stool was like cherry stones. I have never had this before.

We made him enema with warm jelly twice, wormed his mother with ivermectin and gave her lots of oats in her pellets. Mare and foal got out for exercise and all of the sudden little boy passed all out and nursed like he should.

Anita

 

[Relic]

Mona does the foal have a deep red.. it doesn't exactly look like the birth stress red...instead of the white around the eyeball and also the same shade of red on the gums and tongue...we just had 3 septic foals in the last few weeks all were born fine then started down hill within a few hours. Like you l have no vet when l really need one and lost my colt on Saturday because l was to slow to know what to do to help him before he ran out of time. The filly born born soon after also within hours was getting weak and had pooped then plunged would nurse but very little at a time and lay down get up and then down again her gums and tongue till then were pink like normal then slowly as she got weaker started to turn that weird red color and she didn't bother to get up anymore. l now had a frozen bag of plasma and gave her 60cc's over the course of an hour and she picked up did a snap test and gave her some more retested her and her levels were close to 800 the normal range she is doing fine today even kicking out at mom...l have no clue why we are getting these foals all of a sudden with this problem never had it before but for sure now will always keep the frozen plasma on hand and it keeps for years so the price for me was worth it compared to having to standby and watch an otherwise healthy foal slip away. l was also told the penicilin wouldn't do as well as the excenel to help fight of secondary infection..we're cursed for some reason this year..hope your foal isn't septic it needs help now.

 

[Stephanie]

Oh, Mona, I'm so sorry things weren't going well. Hopefully by the time you get up from your nap the little filly will be doing better. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Bob and Stephanie

 

[Mona]

Well, I just called the vet again. I had oiled her with mineral oil about a half hour ago. I have not seen any poop from her all day, so am thinking she has a blockage. The vet told me that I need to just keep doing what I am doing, and hope for the best. He recommended against any surgery if it was a blockage. I asked about then, if she dies, is it going to be real painful or will she just kind of slip away, as without any vet, I want to be sure I can humanely have her put down if the need arises. He feels she will just slip away if her time comes, so I am hoping he is right and she won;t be in severe pain. DANG I HATE this!

Also, I wanted to add...I too thought of the RH factor, but she is not showing signs of jaundice. As for the red in the eyes, yes, as a matter of fact, I did definately notice that at least one of her eyes had the red in the white. I assumed it was from the delivery, although I did think of Robins little foals with the red eyes, Relic, thank you for that information. Unfortunately, I do not have plasma, nor a vet to get it from, and I am 99.99% sure they wouldn't even carry it. I did call my animal clinic today, hoping maybe the locum was in toen, but no such luck.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Oh Mona I am so sorry your new baby is having problems. It is so heartrending not to be able to help them. I have been in the no vet position until recently and have to say I prayed hard that I was not going to need one. (our nearest vet was at least 2 hours away, now I can get to one in an hour) If I were in your position and had a way to do it I'd be hauling that baby to the small animal clinic. Surely they could test for infections and that type of thing. Maybe even ultra sound to see if there is a blockage. Just because they don't deal with horses doesn't mean they can't check some of the things out and they would have access to stronger antibiotics than penicillin too. Would they turn you away if you explained how this has become an emergency? I hope the problem does resolve itself and baby bounces back. You are in my thoughts.

 

[Teresa]

Mona, no advise here but plenty of prayers coming your way. Please keep us informed.

 

[kaykay]

do you have any naxcell? I think that is what they treat joint ill/sepsis with?

Sending more good thoughts Mona. I know this is just horrible for you! I keep hoping for a better update

 

[Jill]

Mona --

Really keeping you and your filly in my thoughts!!!

Can you order (prescript from vet?) some plasma overnight??? To help ball park cost, from my vet, it was $300 for the 1 liter bag and $50 for IV placement (which was a small part of all what they did for Passion). Don't know if you can run an IV (I can't) but if you could get the plasma, could a small animal vet run the IV? For Passion, only like 1/5th of bag first time, and 1/4th maybe second time and that's all we could use of the bag. It saved her life.

She also was on Naxcell as Kay suggests. That for her was a preventative as she had nearly no white blood cell count at first and was on it a week and that plus the transfusion had her where she needed to be.

Jill

 

[victoria]

Just an idea if you really need plasma why not take it from a donor instead of buying it by a bag if it is hard to get or not carried by your vets. Our vet takes blood from the dam then extracted the plasma from the blood donation. This is very common here and any horse can give the donation.

 

[REO]

I'm so sorry this is happening Mona.

I'm sending prayers to your little one.

 

[lvponies]

Mona....sending you and your filly my thoughts and prayers!!

{{{HUGS}}}

 

[Leeana]

Mona i cannot offer any advice but im hoping everything goes well, you have received good advice .goodluck and god bless

.

Prayers being sent

 

[Gena]

I'm so sorry Mona, you and your filly are in my thoughts and prayers

 

[CyndiD]

Mona, Everything I could think of has already been mentioned...so I guess all I can offer is prayers...and I certainly will do that!!

((HUGS)) to you and the little one...

 

[HaazeMinis]

Oh No Mona!

I just happened to see this thread! I will praying your filly is doing better by morning and hope you can figure out what is wrong.

We are thankful we have a "equine" vet here that is not to far away from us at all and he is here within 15 minutes in an emergency so I feel so bad for you not having a vet out where you are.

I will check this thread in the AM before work tomorrow and hope for a better update.

Jeri

 

[Mona]

OMG!! What a L O N G day!! Thank you ALL for your suggestions, comments, prayers and thoughts. I FINALLY have GOOD news to share!!! She pooped tonight, just 1/2 hour ago...this was the first one since her enema!! I never thought I would ever feel so happy to see poop...it was like winning the lottery! I honestly thought she had an impactation, and even removed all the straw from their stall to make sure that wasn't the cause, and also to see if she pooped.

I got a call from a friend this evening that said she went through the same thing last year with one of her foals, and not to give up hope. Hers went on like this for FOUR days! She also told me the mare must have been holding her milk up (like cows do?) and to place warm compresses on her udder and to massage then milk her. My Mom told me that too, and said the cows used to do it and I didn;t believe her and told her there was no way they can deliberately hold up their milk s they cannot be milked. When the friend told me the same thing, I bet not an hour later, I had to then admit I was wrng and apologize to Mom!

I have never been so happy to be wrong!

Anyway, the friend encouraged me not to give up, as my filly and the mare both, were acting exactly like her mare and filly that went through the same thing last year. I just feel SOOOOO relieved, and hope she will now continue to flourish! I will still keep a close watch on her, but all things look like they are headed in the right direction!!

Reinmaker, I cannot take anything to the small animal clinic. That is/was my vet, but he had total hop replacement and said he was no longer going to practice large animal. No, he will not make an exception. I used to take them there, but I guess he does not want to do for one and not for others. Last summer, I was able to have a 4th year vet student pull blood for me in a yearling that was having troubles. Anyway, no, there is NO vet for my horses at all, for anything, UNLESS the locum that comes from a couple provinces away happens to be in town, and then it is not emergency work, but scheduled farm visits only. Yes, it SUCKS! So much in fact, I have considered selling my horses because of it, but feel the emergency situations are few and far between, and I just love these little ones so much, I hate to sell them all because of no vet, and then they finally find one to work here.

Anyway, I have rambled on enough...I better get to bed! Still have 2 mares that are due NOW or are overdue, so will get very little sleep! I never did get my nap in today!

THANKS AGAIN to all! Your words of encouragement and prayers and ideas, are all so helpful!