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Discussion on Premature Foals | |
Author | Message |
New Member: Dreamon |
Posted on Friday, Jun 3, 2005 - 2:27 pm: What causes a foal that has been carried to term to be diagnosed as premature? We have a week old foal that was born on the mares due date (that we are sure of) and he has been diagnosed being premature because the cartilage in his hind fetlock did not form as it was supposed to. The prognosis is not good at all for him. Another instance I heard of this year was a mare that carried to term and delivered a still born foal that was obviously premature. |
Member: Warwick |
Posted on Friday, Jun 3, 2005 - 2:45 pm: Shari, I can't answer your question but interestingly enough I was speaking with my repro vet a few days ago and he mentioned a mare that foaled out at his clinic recently that was past 365 days gestation but the foal was categorized as a premie when it finally arrived.Just more food for thought I guess. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Saturday, Jun 4, 2005 - 9:04 am: Hello Shari,There are known causes of prematurity and dysmaturity in full term foals and sometimes it occurs for unknown reasons Shari. Hypothyroidism is one we talked about recently and the article has some other rule outs for similars diseases in the diagnosis section, see Equine Diseases » Endocrine Disorders » Hypothyroidism in Foals. DrO |
Member: warthog |
Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 - 9:54 pm: what exactly characterizes a premature foal. Our latest foal, a filly, was absolutely tiny, had "lop" ears that DrOpped at the tip like a doberman or collie dog and could stand under her 13 2 mother and reach up to suckle. Her coat was short but normal looking. She was a bit down in her legs but not much really and within a couple of days was up to normal. Her ears stood up by the first evening after she was born and looked normal. She had very little mane and forelock but a normal looking foal tail.She probably weighed less than 25 pounds at birth and had a respiration rate of well over 100 even when resting. She slept most of the day but did run around normally when she was awake. It was two months before her respiration was normal in both rate and the way she breathed. Her heart rate was quite high also. She would urinate lying down as well as standing up and she urinated frequently. Her hooves were tiny but hard and normal after the first day. She had three successive major (would not weight the leg or would only weight the tip of the hoof) leg injuries in the first two months - hip first, then stifle on the other rear leg, then fetlock on the other rear that had had the injured hip. The injuries healed in two weeks each with rest in a triple sized stall with mom so by two months she was totally sound. Causes of the first two injuries were unknown. The third was caused by catching a leg under a board and yanking. No sign of any residual problems from injuries. At nearly three months old she is probably six or more times her birth size, extremely active and has a good weight for her size. So does this sound like she was a full term preemie or just very small??? |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 - 9:11 am: This is as much a problem with semantics as it is medicine warthog. Premature is defined as a foal born before the normal gestational time has gone by even if the foal appears normal. Some peg this number as 320 days since many normal foals are born between 320 and 337 days the often stated "normal" gestational length. However foals with some diseases or conditions born after day 337 may have the same appearance of a premature foal and we call these foals "dysmature".Signs of prematurity would be organ systems not developed to the point of a normal newborn and this is most easily seen by:
DrO |
Member: warthog |
Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 - 10:29 am: My concern is that this is the second time this mare has had an unusually small foal. She was ultrasounded both times and no problems were noted. The placenta was normal size and appeared to be normal. The first foal was actually slightly larger than the second and had a bit more coat and a normal respiration rate for a small foal.This mare will be bred again this season and we are of course concerned because this last foal was so small, had such a high respiration rate and was so injury prone. mom is very fat. we thought it was the pregnancy. It wasn't. they were not stalled and mom had plenty of exercise and only 2.5 pounds of grain per day even at term so I guess she's just a very easy keeper. She's "on a diet" and still hasn't lost a lot with a suckling foal who is 3 months old. I don't know if there is anything else I should be doing other than getting her weight down. She was not fat with the first foal - just the right weight. The stallion has three foals on the ground other than the filly and only this one mare, bred once before we got her but no foal from the breeding, has had a very very small baby. |
Member: dres |
Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 - 10:59 am: I guess i would be wondering why do it again.. 2 out of 2 are not such good odds.. ?? Is the finished product this great to take a chance once again.. ??On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots.. |
Member: warthog |
Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 - 11:26 am: good question but Oh yeah - well worth it. filly is doing great - I just aged ten years worrying about her. both foals are fantastic and mom is one of a kind worth her weight in gold wish I could clone her, main riding mare, wish I could afford to do ET with her, endurance, can do anything, speed eventing, great ride, show mare etc. but just a real keeper. and gorgeous and funny too. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Sunday, Jan 25, 2009 - 11:13 am: Within reason high rr are not abnormal for the newborn. What makes it abnormal is if it does not start moving toward 60. Neither small size, high respiratory rates, nor high injury rates necessarily have anything to do with congenital disease warthog. If after a careful examination your veterinarian pronounced the mare and foal healthy I am uncertain what you need to address other than the concerns you have expressed. We recommend you study our articles on taking care of pregnant mares and if you are doing anything remarkably different I would try and find out why.DrO |
Member: gsmangus |
Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - 8:33 pm: FYI: Our one mare foaled last night 1/25/09 - she has a history of foaling 2 weeks early but this year was just shy of THREE weeks early...and only bred once on foal heat in 2008 (March 11th). The foal, a colt, has enough muscle mass for a 4 - 6 week old foal so we thought and our vet today agreed. He does NOT have the typical "shrink wrapped" look of new foals. He is down a bit on his hind fetlocks but coming up gradually with obvious improvement over 18 hours already. He is bigger than last year's colt, eating well, precocious, and hitting all the"markers" right on schedule. This mare's other 3 foals (2006 - 07 - 08) are ALL point earners at AQHA / PHBA shows !!Sometimes Mother Nature doesn't read the text books! Susan Mangus |
Member: mrose |
Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - 11:57 pm: Susan, so true! When the foal says it's ready, it comes! Congratulations on your new foal. I love looking at pictures (hint, hint) It lets me relive our foaling out days vicariously. |
Member: leslie1 |
Posted on Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009 - 12:19 pm: Congratz Susan!I second Sara...pics plz L |