Orphan, 1 month old

[Aggravation Acres]

After trying to tell my vets that my horse had hyperlipemia. Them not believing me.

A 3 day vet stay and almost $1,000 in cost. (because they believed that it was an ulcer and not responding to their meds) guess what.

They called another vet in Ohio. Their response. She has all the classic signs.

Our vet is not equiped to deal with the problem and She and baby would have to be shipped off to another state and the outcome would probably not be good. And of course the vets now want to be paid the day the service is done. So after your accounts bottom out and credit cards are maxed out what is a person to do.

We had to bring her home and wait the outcome.

If they had listended to me she might have made it, now there is no hope.

So my question is. I am trying to feed the colt goat milk until my husband get home from work. He is supose to be picking up milk replacement. How much should I be trying to get down this little guy and how often?

So far I got about 1/4 cup in him by putting a little in the corner of his mouth with a littly syringe. So he does not tip his head back. I got a baby bottle from the neighbor but that does not seem to work. He just puts it between his teeth and looks at me.

He has been nibbeling a little hay and grain.

And sugestions would be helpful.

Please no hurtful remarks I feel awful enough at this time.

Deb

 

[crponies]

I don't have any tips for you for dealing with an orphan foal, but wanted to say I am so sorry you are going through this. (((hugs)))

 

[Charlotte]

Oh what a sad story and difficult time for you. I'm so sorry.

If baby is one month old I would try to get him on pelleted milk replacer for foals. He is old enough for that and since he was nursing his dam for so long he will likely refuse to 'nurse' anything else.

And just as a side note, this is the reason I make sure my foals have access to mom's pelleted feed, hay, pasture and water from the time they are 2 days old or so. So they at least know about eating 'feed' and drinking water. We've never lost a mature horse (only foals at birth or aborted) but our time could very well be coming and my thought is to have babies at least somewhat prepared for the loss of their dam.

I would like to hope that your little mare recovers, but that may not be. Just know you and your little horses will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Charlotte

 

[RJRMINIS]

First off I am soooo sorry. I lost a mare last year to what I believe was the same thing, the vet couldn't figure it out, and when I heard about it and suggested it, it was to late, our filly was 2 months, and I couldn't get her to take milk replacer no matter what I tried, so I mixed foal-lac pellets with her normal grain that her and momma ate. She ate it well, but she had been eating grain for awhile already. Good luck.

 

[chandab]

So sorry about your mare, hopefully she has a chance to pull through.

I don't know exact amounts to feed the little guy, you'll probably have to do the math to figure the small amount for a mini foal based on recommendations for a full-size foal.

You may have to try to get him to drink out of a pan, rather than a bottle. [At a month old, he has probably had some water from the tub/tank, so getting him to drink milk from a pan may be easier.]

You may also try just sprinkling the dry powder over the grain he is trying to eat.

 

[Miniv]

Your situation just plain stinks........I'm so sorry.

Your little one could be weaned over to a bucket of formula, plus offered a combination of milk pellets and grain by now. He should also know about drinking water too.

At a month old, our orphan was both eating out of a bucket/dish and getting a bottle of formula to help with his sucking satisfaction. He was drinking up to 4 ounces or as little as 2 ounces, but this was in a combination with his other food.

"Jeffy" hated a regular baby bottle. The bottle he ended up preferring (he was orphaned at 2 weeks) was one we found at a ranch supply store that was labelled for baby raccoons!

Wishing you all the best.

MA

PS: Forgot to mention that he was being fed every 2 hours initially and gradually got used to being fed every 4 hours. We also offered him nice soft hay to nibble on by the time he was a month old.

 

[mmmorgans]

I don't have any advice for you as I have never been in a similar situation. However I just wanted to wish you the best of luck and to tell you how sorry I am about your mare. I had a Morab filly hurt (by two mares fighting) and our vet did not agree with my diagnosis - we almost lost the filly as she had internal bleeding and the vet was treating her for septicemia. Sometimes these vets need to listen to the owners - we know our horses better than they do - and vets are not always right.

Again - I am so sorry - and you are doing the very best that you can - your horses are lucky that they have you are their "human".

<<<<<Hugs>>>>>>

 

[stormy]

Something that might help others in the future. When my mare was ill wth hyperlipemia initially both the vet and I thought we were looking at a mild colic. He took blood incase we might need it later, when she did not improve in 24 hrs he went to run it and there was so much fat in the serum they could not process it in the lab. You can actually SEE the fat in the blood after it seperates for a few hours. Don't know that this is a fool proof diagnostic tool but I would suggest if you are suspecting Hyperlipemia insist in a blood draw.

Best wishes for your mare, tempt her with every kind of feed you can think of, syringe feeding also helps. Ivy we fes by stomach tube for almost two weeks, she made it and she also had a foal by her side.

 

[Mona]

I am sorry, but I have no advice for the orphan colt, but wanted to say how sorry I am that you had to go through that with your mare. I would be FURIOUS with that vet, for not LISTENING to what you had to say! I think in light of that, I would also challenge the bills owed them!

 

[CJMM6]

Ahhhhh Debbie, this is terrible. You have gotten lots of good help here. Best of luck to you & your baby & Mom. cjmm

 

[Georgine]

We had an orphan foal and luckily another mare had foaled around the same time as her was orphaned. He was around 5 weeks old.

We stalled the orphan beside the mare and foal and there was an adjoining door.

Several times a day we would take a bath towel and throw it over the mares' head so she couldn't see what was going on.

We would then push her foal to the side and open the door for the orphan to slip thru and he would have a nice nurse.

We alternated between trying to syringe milk replacer and the opportunity to "steal" from the other mummy.

The little orphan was always at the ready when he saw us coming down the aisle with the towel.

He would stand at the door like he was "on his mark" and as soon as the towel was draped on the mare , he would shoot thru and nurse like crazy.

Eventually he began to sip milk replacer from a dish. He actually never got on to the syringe and wouldn't touch a rubber nipple.

When we syringed the milk a little dish was below to catch any that dripped out of his mouth and that was how he figured the dish thing out.

He was more like a puppy dog as he got older and preferred to be in the passageways with us rather than hanging around horses.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Oh Deb, I am so sorry to hear about this. It just plain stinks when the vets are not familiar with minis and you suggest something to them, and they just dont want to hear it and in the end you were right! I had a mare with no milk, well...Ok, she had a very little bit, not enough for a foal to pull thru on, so I fed goats milk, sugar water, and karo syrup, and added poly-vi-sol (infant baby vitamins) I had to use a syring in the beginning too as my foal was to weak to even try with a baby bottle, she was also a preemie, but she pulled thru, it was tough going for the first 2 weeks, but after that everything went uphill, she caught up on size and strength with the others.

WIshing you the best of luck with your baby, and Mom. (((hugs))) Corinne

 

[Aggravation Acres]

Thank you all for your kind words and input.

We took the mare back in today and had her put down. She had been standing in one spot (just moving a few feet then back to the same spot) Drank a little water, would not even try to eat. But she was a great mom. She would stand there and let the little guy try to nurse knowing he was not getting anything.

I fed him with a syringe all night. Every 3-4 hours. He got up to about 1 1/2 cups of goat milk per feeding now.

At least he got used to comming to me to eat.

When my husband took the mare out to the trailer this morning, and drove away. Not one horse said anything. This is very unusual. They normaly are all making all kind of noise. So I guess they new what was happening.

The mare never even made a noise. And she normally would not let her baby out of her sight. It is just heart breaking.

He (Ice) is out in the backyard now with the 2 mares and babies. At first he ran screaming all over the place but has doing a lot better now. My husband is watching to make sure no one gets hurt. The two little colts have had a little reactions but the filly has not warmed up to him yet.

I will let you all know what is happening in a few days.

Thanks again.

And to all the people that sent me personal messages. You are very kind.

Deb

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

Deb i am so sorry to hear this, didn't see it till now, and your mare is already gone

: i have been bawling like a baby from the first few words of this thread and all the way through. i bought a mare 4 years ago with a month-old colt by her side, we can only guess she didn't react well to being moved but who was to know, anyway she was rather plump to begin with and stopped eating, her body started trying to live off her fat and boom lipidemia... we tried whatever the vet recommended and she even spent her last night at his place but just kept going downhill so we had to make the same decision you did. but the colt did fine on Foalac pellets and sired his first babies this year. as hard as it is you probably did the right thing, our vet told us that once they have lipidemia it is very hard to stop it and have them recover... and even if they do live through it, they are prone to it happening again.

it doesn't bring your sweet mare back but you are not alone as you can see by the other posts on this thread. so big {{{{{hugs}}}}} to you and your family, our sympathies for your loss, and continued prayers for the foal that he makes it through with flying colors

:

 

[New2Minis]

My fullsize filly was orphaned at 16 days. She was nibbling on calf manna/grain(pellet) mixture and hay already with mom. She would not take a bottle and would drink alot of water and would not drink the milk replacer out of a bucket until someone told me alittle tip to remove the water bucket because she is filling up on it and not drinking the milk. It worked like a charm! She ended up LOVING the milk replacer and drank it right out of a bucket. She just turned 1 year old last month.......Good luck and so sorry about your mare. :no: