Help please! Anyone here dealt with wry nose in a newborn?

[murph]

Just when you think you’ve seen everything…last night we had a foal born with wry nose. Rare major facial deformity caused by uterine malpositioning. Too exhausted to type much but for those who haven’t seen it, do a google search. Foal cannot nurse due to the deformity but can suck from a bottle.

My first thought was it will have to be put down but vet says some can improve enough to be pasture sound and with surgery can even be rideable. Surgery is mucho dollars and not many vets are familiar with it, I’m still looking into it.

The major hurdle right now is trying to get her to nurse off the mare. She’s trying really hard but can’t latch on and can’t control her tongue well enough. Vet says the tongue control should improve over the next couple of days. For now I’m up around the clock milking the mare out and bottle feeding.

Wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with this and what their outcome was like?

[tucktaway]

No advice here, but HUGE jingles for you and the baby! I’m sorry you’re going through it, but it sounds like the first days are the worst of it. Use the bottle and get more information.
My heart goes out to you! Best of luck!!

[Miichelle]

Oh my. I did Google it and those were some of the saddest looking foals I’ve ever seen. On a brighter note, some of the post surgical babies looked quite normal. Take it one day at a time. Good luck and HUGE jingles for your baby!

[TrueColours]

I am so sorry Brenda! What an awful thing for you and the baby to go through

Thankfully Ive never had to deal with it and didnt even know of its existence until now

{{{HUGS}}} and good luck in making the right decision for this little one …

[Kerole]

My neighbour/good friend had a wry nose foal some years ago. It was their first ever foal, a tragic start to their breeding endevours. The foal was a very big colt born to a smallish maiden mare. His face had developed around the shape of the foreleg and was pretty badly misshapen. He stood and was otherwise healthy but the internal oral deviation was so bad he had no chance of suckling. He was euthed at 10 hours old.

I know surgeons can do great things these days. Take it a day at a time and assess your options once some of the shock has worn off.

Best of luck and please keep us updated if you can.

[gabby.gator]

OMGoodness!! very sorry you are having to face this!! jingles for you and the precious little one!!

[JB]

I recently saw a sales ad for a beautiful Welsh mare with wry nose, so obviously it can be dealt with Good luck!

[clint]

Top Kat, who posts here, dealt with a wry nosed foal two years ago. If she doesn’t see this thread, send her a PM. She elected to have the surgery but I don’t know how she dealt with nursing issues when the foal was born.

[Home_Again_Farm]

I bought a mare whose first foal had a severe wry nose. The previous owner elected to euthanize the foal. This was a person who always went above and beyond the norm in taking care of her horses. She had learned that the surgery is quite drastic and a really bad case of wry nose could require more than one operation. With surgery there was a good chance that the foal would still not survive. She opted not to put the foal through more pain with a risky prognosis at best. If I ever faced the same situation, I would euthanize.

Incidentally, the same mare has has several foals since then that were all totally normal.

[Laurierace]

I haven’t seen a newborn with the condition but I was part of a rescue who saved a 3 year old from slaughter with the condition. The surgery was over 20k and she breathes through a tracheotomy due to a complication. In hindsight we wouldn’t have put her through it but she is alive and well today.

[EquusMagnificus]

I have never had to deal with it, but if the best scenario is pasture sound… I’d have it put down.

There are too many horses out there ending up in bad situations; an “only pasture sound” horse has the deck stacked against him. Unless you can keep him forever and ever.

[TrueColours]

Brenda - check out this thread on HGS

http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/wry-nose-in-foals-475367.html

might be a few links and suggestions there for you as well

[Lynnwood]

Our general medicine vet breeds APHA and his wife’s best mare had a wry nose colt. They opted for the operation and the colt wore an external fixator much like head gear on braces and every so often they’d tighten it. By 2 other then a few scar’s you’d never know he was born wry. They left him with the mare and just pumped and bottle fed.

[Stonebridge_Farm]

Wow! Hard to believe I’m not the only one! Mine was born 5 weeks ago. I had never heard of it either. The mare usually foals at 343-5 days so were very surprised when we found this foal, born at only 323 days. There she was, still wet, but up and nursing! My vet was pretty adamant about putting her down. Since the mare was bred this year by a friend the decision wasn’t solely mine to make, & she wanted to take a wait and see approach. After looking at all the pictures on line we felt her’s was a mild form that could potentially improve on it own. I do have good pictures if anyone wants to see them I can e-mail them. You can definitely imagine her nose forming around a leg. One eye is lower than the other, and now that she has her teeth, you can see she is off by one. She has never had a problem nursing and she breaths through both nostrils. We have talked to several vets about the various surgical alternatives. Tomorrow she is headed to the hospital to have a simple procedure, where the vet will slit the periosteum, I hope I have that right, which in theory will cause the bone to grow more quickly in that direction and hopefully correct or minimize the deformity.
It is so sad that these things happen and I wish you the best whatever you decide.

[gumtree]

A client of mine had a TB, by a top sire at the time, Nureyev, $150,000 stud fee, out of a multiple stakes winning mare. He spent upwards of $20,000 in “plastic surgery” to have it correct. It was a pretty severe case. The horse looked pretty good in the end but was not worth anything and never raced. Tough call, sorry

[Home_Again_Farm]

It goes without saying that the decison will largely depend on the degree of deformity. My mare’s foal had a nose that was at a 90 degree angle to its head. That degree of deformity would have involved drastic and complicated surgeries. The owner of the mare at that time did not want to put the foal through the pain that those surgeries would have involved. Every case will be different and there are probably no definitive answers.

[Krallen]

I had a mare that had one, but it was one foal prior to me owning her. The mare ended up having a cesarean as the neck was fused as if the foal was looking behind itself. At least it sounds like your mare gave birth okay.

[Nootka]

[QUOTE=JB;6413637]
I recently saw a sales ad for a beautiful Welsh mare with wry nose, so obviously it can be dealt with Good luck![/QUOTE]

I saw her last week too…

[RSW]

I have had one Murph, kept him for 6 yrs before I euthanized him. Make sure yours does not have a cleft palate as well, it will not be able to nurse if it does. I should have done the surgery when mine was a baby, he learned to nurse, eat grass grain etc. his molars lined up but the upper arcade was almost at a 90 degree angle by the time we put him down. If you don’t elect the sx really the best thing to do is euthanize him. You will have horrible teeth issues, the incisor will have to be almost cut flat to the gum or he will not be able to chew properly. We thought we could put some type of prosthesis in his nose to keep the airway patent but it was twisted deeper inside. What happened then is one nostril grew very large to compensate for the partially blocked airway. My bet was his heart was enlarge over time compensating as well. He could do anything just sounded horrible once he got out of breath from running. I wouldn’t listen to anyone when he was a baby about euthanizing either, I wish I had. He was never really right in the head either and there were so many near misses when other people handled him it is amazing to me looking back how much I ignored them all. He finally hurt someone and I knew it was only a matter of time before something serious would happen so I finally elected to euthanize. He was 17.2 h and boy he could move. I also thought I could try to ride him in a bit less bridle…so sad thinking about it. The sx is expensive and no gaurantee’s, but his life without it will be super tough, expensive and not fair to you or him as he will only be a yard ornament. If you need more info. PM me and I will give you my phone #. You are the only person now that I know that has had one. Best of luck, my heart goes out to you!

[Sportpony]

I had one several years ago with a severe wry nose, would have had issues nursing and possibly even breathing. Had him euthanized.

However, I have also seen a lovely Hackney Pony stallion (then in his teens) who had a wry nose and apparently did not have any real difficulties because of it. He was in excellent condition (I didn’t ask about his feeding program) and he was the sire of a number of top winning show ponies.