This is a new one for me. I have a 1 month old Clydesdale filly. She has started sucking on her own teat and a milk like substance has started. Apparently this is not a common thing. The vet was in and check her. She recommended putting on muzzle on her at night to help stop it. The mother is producing all kinds of milk so that isn’t an issue. The foal is eating hay and small amounts of feed. Has anyone ever had this issue? What did you do to help stop it? Thanks
Is there nothing you can put on her teats that tastes awful to discourage it? If you muzzle her at night she won’t be able to nurse off the mare either and that is not desirable at her age.
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I can’t imagine why a vet would suggest preventing a 1 month old foal from nursing all night 
How does that prevent her from doing this during the day?
I totally agree with putting something safe/non-burning/etc on her udder to make that undesirable. I would also strongly consider ulcers - “nursing” on inappropriate things at that age would tell me something is not right, and simply preventing the behavior isn’t looking into that.
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Can you try some kind of a physical barrier? Maybe wrapping strips of cloth around her flanks and between her legs to cover her udder? You’d need to figure out how to wrap them so they wouldn’t fill up with pee and poop, but it might not take much to break the habit?
Not a foal … but … I purchased a doe from a dairy that self-sucked. In this situation it turned out to be a mineral deficiency. Her eyes were always red and teary because, I believe, they had tried to put something on her teats to prevent sucking and it hurt her eyes; be careful with whatever you put on her teats. An Elizabethan type collar worked to keep her from being able to self suck before I finally realized it was a mineral deficiency.
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Please do not muzzle the foal at night. That is terrible advice! I agree with putting something on her teats that tastes bad but isn’t irritating and treat for ulcers. Pursue the reason why.
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Could you apply Desitin to her teats? I know it is safe around the eyes so the issue Redemption faced shouldn’t happen here. I doubt she would like the taste or smell of it (my horse certainly doesn’t).
I agree with others, muzzling at night could set you up for so many other issues I am shocked the vet recommended that! Could you do a mineral panel on her? Maybe call another vet out to do this as the first one may not be inclined to explore that possibility.
Strips of cloth is a binding injury waiting to happen 
There’s no way you could make things tight enough to safely keeper her from her teats.
Honestly, I would just treat for ulcers first and see if that changes things, without doing anything to coat her udder. Look for and treat the cause. Foals don’t just decide to suck on themselves like this.
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I would run a CBC/Chem panel to check for the big nutritional deficiencies, and treat for ulcers. If that doesn’t do it, you’re better off looking into neck wraps that will limit just enough flexibility to stop it than muzzling.
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I don’t have anything useful to add other than my filly tried to nurse on my colt when she was weaned! :lol:
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