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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | I have a mare that has witch's milk, she has been checked for cysts, preg checked and that came back negative. I have had her since May and she had witch's milk then. I don't have any prior history on her as to if she had just had a foal or not. So fast forward to yesterday, her belly is very swollen and she is bagged up and still producing witch's milk. I ran her this past weekend and the ground was shallow and slick underneath so she was really trying to find decent ground, and she wouldn't load in the trailer. This horse never gives me fits about loading. She was "off" throughout the rest of the weekend and on Monday her abdomen was HUGE from swelling on the right side and her teets were swollen, but not hard or hot and she had no fever. Took her to the vet yesterday and she has pulled/torn ligaments in her abdomen that connect to the mammary glands and/or teets, so she is out for the rest of the year until spring. The vet says that because she is still producing the witch's milk it's not allowing those ligaments to fully tighten up underneath and she is worried that any riding will leave her prone to a hernia or for her organs to fall out of place eventually. So until she is dried up all the way this will be a problem.
I've been watching her like a hawk all summer trying to get her to dry up and checking her for fever, hot teets or any signs of mastitis, which she has not shown any signs of. And even now she shows no signs of mastitis, no hot hard bags, no fever. I know that typically mares will dry up on their own, but I am at a loss as what to do to help that process along. Any advice would be fantastic.
Edited by Girls_Gotta_Jet 2015-10-07 8:20 AM
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 Jr. Detective
    
Location: Beggs, OK | Is she on pasture? I think white clover will cause this, so there are probably other grasses that might cause it as well. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | She is on limited pasture and getting grass hay, 1 lb of alfalfa pellets and 1 lb of ultium once a day. She is supplemented with exceed 6 way, and raspberry leaves and get Pentosan injections once a month. There isn't any clover in the pasture she's on, and it's a one acre lot so it's very short hence the hay feedings. And we spray the pastures for weeds and clover so there isn't any of that in there. |
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | I think the raspberry leaf is your problem. It'll affect a mares cycle and I bet she's thrown off hormonally.
Or did you have her on raspberry leaves to try to dry up the milk?
Edited by rachellyn80 2015-10-07 8:18 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | She has horrible heat cycles so I put her on the leaves to help tame down the heat cycles and to help dry her up some. She would bag up more when in heat and the raspberry leaves seemed to help some, but I switched from Renew Gold to Ultium and that helped even more in the drying up process. I've looked online and it can be a side effect of Cushing's but she tests negative for Cushings, and I don't want to add a Dopamine agonist just yet to help her dry up, especially if she isn't a Cushing's horse. |
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