The Castle Rock MARE-TERNITY WARD
Message Boards => Foaling Questions & Help => Topic started by: Holly on October 07, 2016, 12:00:07 PM
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Trying to determine if its pregnancy hormone related or mastitis.
Sassy went out of heat about 10 days ago, She had a small handful of an udder from weaning her last foal. This morning I checked her as she was going out to pasture and noticed one half of her udder is swollen. I am waiting for help to check it physically as she will kick.
Its hard for me to think she would just have some swelling due to hormone changes. I sure hope its not mastitis, I will also check for bites. I am worried!
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I really don't know.
I've not experienced mastitis in my mares, but with cows it tends to be a lopsided issue affecting either only one side of the udder or affecting one side more than the other. I think I'd err on the side of caution and consult my vet; if it is mastitis and treated quickly enough, it shouldn't affect her pregnancy nor milk production for her next foal. [I'm pretty sure usual treatment is anti-biotics and at least with cows we infuse the udder with anti-biotics as well, not as easy to do with a mare and their small teats.] At least consult with your vet.
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Thank you. We are starting antibiotics and bute. Treating as if for 7 days. She is true to her namesake so this ought to be fun!
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ALWAYS better to err on the side of caution. Keep us posted!
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For powders and tablets, I mix with applesauce and administer with a 35 or 60cc catheter tip syringe (they can often be found in the sheep section, as they are used for tube feeding lambs). [Crush tablets with a pill crusher or mortar and pestal.]
It can be a little messy until you work out a system that works for you. If only medicating for a short time, I use the single serve applesauce cups; otherwise I buy a bigger jar of unsweetened applesauce. I mix in a small dish my powder med (or crushed tablet) with 2 spoons of applesauce (I use a table dessert spoon). I pull the plunger out of the syringe, put my finger over the tip hole, fill the syringe with the mix, carefully put the plunger back in (just enough to plug the hole), turn up right and tap on the counter (with finger still over tip hole) to knock the mix to the plunger end, then you can usually move your finger so you can push the plunger in a bit (no matter how careful, I still usually get a little spurt of mix, so do all mixing over the sink). My mare readily accepts her applesauce mixture and will usually suck it out of the syringe.
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Thank you! I will start pen by injection this evening. If not I will switch to pills. I never thought of applesauce, great idea!!
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Thank you! I will start pen by injection this evening. If not I will switch to pills. I never thought of applesauce, great idea!!
Lately, most of my meds have been powder or tabs, I haven't had to do much injecting. [I have two needle phobic horses, so glad oral antibiotics are an option for some things.]
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Ive gotten so used to doing large horses with injection that is easy for me. I dont know how she will react, but if bad I will switch for sure!
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Ive gotten so used to doing large horses with injection that is easy for me. I dont know how she will react, but if bad I will switch for sure!
I hate giving shots, but it was easier with the big horses, at least it was for me when I needed to give shots. [Perhaps the height issue, as I'm 5'10", so I'm closer to saddle horse height, so just easier for me to give them their shots, then to bend down to give to the minis.]
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Poor sassy! Definitely looks like mastitis.
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Her udder already looks better this morning. Not as tight. she is eating moving fine. Hope this is all cleared up soon. Poor Sassy :(
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Poor Sassy, hope she feels better very soon. Please keep us updated.
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Hoping she's doing even better tonight!
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Her udder is down to about 1/2 the size it was now. I am so thankful. Thank you for checking in on her!!
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That's great news!
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Poor Sassy , Glad she is on the mend ;pray
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Yes much better today !
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Great news!
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Glad that Sassy is on the mend!
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Yes! Her udder is almost completely back to normal now
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Thank goodness!!
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Good news is Sassy's udder is back to normal. Even a bit smaller than when she came. She should have returned to heat and hasnt, so here is hoping she is bred. I dont know if she would cycle anymore this year anyway, so if she didnt take spring isnt to far away :)
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Crossing fingers she's cooking something for you! And great to hear she's back to normal!
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".....so if she didnt take spring isnt to far away :)"
Geeeeee, thanks Holly. You know, of course, that by saying this you've delayed spring by at least six weeks, don't you??!! ;D ;D
(I won't tell anyone else, but I already suspected this from what the Farmers' Almanac and my critters were showing me.)
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(I won't tell anyone else, but I already suspected this from what the Farmers' Almanac and my critters were showing me.)
Hey Julie friend! U R only 45 miles away from us. What are your critters showing you and how?
Our ponies started "hairing up" in August - but for this time of year their winter coats are VERY, VERY light this year. Nothing like last year at this time. Everyone keeps saying it's going to be a "hard, long, cold" winter and ours aren't showing it - for the first time in years. Even Cat, our farrier, was surprised yesterday by how light the coats are on all of the senior mares - usually the first ones to hair up heavily.
The only two that have appreciably thicker/longer coats are Bit and Kechi and I feel more because of their issues than because of indices of winter...
Some of our birds are getting a bit fluffier, but again, rather on the slow side.
I have lots of acorns on the ground - the squirrels are jumping tree to tree (I think I've identified at least 3 different ones) but they don't seem to be too industrious. Usually, by now, a lot of the acorns are gone. Of course, some of that may have been due to "Mathew" beating the trees right out of their produce? Not sure...
Working on a couple of pics I took yesterday. Hmm, going thru pics, I don't have any good representations from previous years - in same time frame on same ponies. Maybe Cheri, doing her pics now and will post. These ponies will hair up more going into winter and they should be heavier coated before really severe weather hits in January/February, but it's surprising to see how "light" they are when it's already November and they started growing coats clear back in July/Aug and were so miserable in the heat wave we were having then.
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Holly - how is Sassy doing now?
Our 3 mares still have udders - which surprised me UNTIL I realized that 2 of the mares are sidling up to the round pen where the babies are and allowing them to nurse. That is more KoKo than GG - Koal is still "crying" for his mom, too, where as the fillies, even Jynx, have stopped. Kechi also still has a bit of an udder BUT she didn't get her feed stopped which would have significantly reduced the udder size faster.
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Sassy is back to normal, thank God!
Back to her Sass a frass attitude. We are making headway with her but it's slow going. I look forward to continuing to connect with her.
Our ponies are not very fluffy either. But we haven't had much cool weather at all.
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I started a weather predictions thread, but to keep up here (and move me up from Jr. Member status LOL!) I'll comment here too.
Spanky is like many others. He has a moderate chin beard, and very short, plush hair. No feathering started, but mane and tail are very long and growing quickly. Ants aren't burrowed very deeply, squirrels are not chubby and don't appear to be stashing much, and my wild birds aren't really looking for hand-outs yet.
I'm thinking that the Farmers' Almanac is on track for this area....a long (into late April) winter that's very wet and average cold. *shrug* As it's my first winter on this micro farmstead, I'm still learning the signs. Trees have only just started loosing their canopy leaves, and the rest of the undergrowth is currently looking like evergreen stuff. I know it's not, so it'll be interesting to see how things change during the next month.
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And we're so happy that you are posting more and sharing with us!! I just love it!