Dummy Foal Prognosis

[wikkid]

Hello everyone! My first post on the site, desperately looking for some feedback from people who have gone through the dummy foal saga! I will give the full (sorry for length) situation - would appreciate your insights!

On Saturday 19 November at lunchtime, my warmblood mare gave birth to a filly. Many things went wrong that day. The mare had a red bag birth, the vet was already on another call and the stable manager had to cut the bag. The foal was born a while later. The mare suffered a prolapsed uterus and nearly died. Luckily, the stable manager and help were fantastic and nothing ruptured and the vet was later able to reinsert the uterus and today (27 Nov), the mare is 100% fine. Later we were to find out that it was at this time that the foal suffered some oxygen deprivation.

The foal was born premature at 315 days, and had collapsed fetlocks/pasterns (which is not unusual in preemies). because of this (or so we thought) the foal was unable to stand properly and kept losing her balance. She couldnt suckle as a result. Vet came out and between replacement colostrum and milking the mare, they managed to bottle feed the foal that day and through the night. However the following morning the foal was not right and she was fairly floppy - our vet diagnosed dummy foal syndrome and recommended specialist treatment. Her and the mare were driven at lunch to the specialist hospital 6 hours away and foal was put on drips etc as soon as they arrived. The foal also lost the suckle reflex at this time and a nasal tube was put in.

Foal has now been at the hospital for 7 days and is still being tube fed. She is now able to stand on her own but still is being fed by tube. Only today has she started to show a slight suckle reflex, but almost non existent. She gets full meal though via tube but is still lying down a lot and vets are now doing physio to try help with muscle exercise. They say she seems tired lots. Her organs are fine, and she is passing faeces and urine ok. Apparently she is showing SLIGHT improvement signs in her alertness and activity but she is still a long way from “normal”, however she does seem to be “with it” ie she nickers at mom, responds to movement etc.

So we are now at day 7 post start of treatment (and day 8 from birth). Very slow progress, but no backward sliding.

I guess my question is has anyone else had a dummy foal that has taken a long time to come back to normal? I dont mind keeping her in the hospital if this is a slow and steady wins the race situation, however if it is futile, I really know Im just setting myself up for huge heartache if this is, in fact, going nowhere… At what point do you say “enough”?

Would really love to hear from any of you…

Thanks

[fordtraktor]

So sorry. If I were you I would post this on the sport horse breeding forum to make sure the most knowledgeable people see it.

[wikkid]

Thank you - Ive done that too

[candyappy]

My neighbor had this happen to her. The foal ended up being alright in the end. He seemed a little " slow" but he was gentle and was eventually broke to ride and has been just fine.

I think he was in the hospital a while too after birth.

[merrygoround]

There has been some compression work with dummy foals but I am sure your clinic is aware of it, and I’m not sure if there is a time frame for it to be effective.

http://equimanagement.com/article/madigan-foal-squeeze-procedure-neonatal-maladjustment-syndrome-27269

[Glyphica]

I have nothing useful to add, but I wanted to send good vibes your way. I hope everything turns out as well as possible given the situation.

[BroncoMo]

While I can’t give real helpful advice, I can say that it does not sound like a death sentence. Several years ago my sister had a mare who had a red bag birth, resulting in a dummy foal. The baby spent a considerable amount of time at CSU, and ended up with a plethora of other issues; she was an absolute train wreck. But she pulled through (this was long before the “squeeze” methods used today). She made agonizingly slow progress. I can’t remember the specific timelines as I was out of town for military purposes. But it was very slow.

I know hospitalized foals can be a huge financial drain but I’m of the mind set that if they’re making progress, keep going as long as financially feasible. Of course you’re the only one who can make that decision.

I guess if the vet team feels she’s making progress, that’s the best news that can be expected. Small progress is still forward progress. I think my sister’s filly was in the hospital two or two and a half weeks. She has been rendered a pasture pet due to a broken pelvis sustained in the hospital, and blindness (she was born with cataracts). But she otherwise came out of dummy foal syndrome perfectly fine.

Not sure if any of that helps…

[wikkid]

Thank you to all you kind people who took the time to reply - I really appreciate it!

For the moment as long as there seems to be forward movement, and no negative issues (such as organ failure, sepsis etc) I think Im going to keep going. Ive already told my husband that for this christmas, we are giving each other vet bill payments as presents