Mare Close to Foaling - Temperature

[Supernova]

I have a mare who is less than a month away from foaling who usually will lick her feed tub clean is now only eating half her grain and hay. Took her temperature and she is at 102. Could this just be some sort of bug or should I call the vet because she is close to foaling?

[Mood Swings]

Did she have any pre-foaling vaccines given to her in the last couple of days? If not I'd take a CBC. 102 is significant for a mature horse. Are there other horses feeling under the weather in the barn?

FYI - there are a lot of cases of strangles in the area

[Supernova]

All other horses at the barn seem fine. She was due for her vaccines anyway so I called the vet out and he had a look at her. Decided not to give her the vaccines while she is under the weather. He's hoping maybe the foal moved and is making her uncomfortable to explain the not eating? As for the temperature, we are going to keep an eye on her throughout the day to make sure it doesn't get worse.

The foal is alive and well though! He palped her and touched the little "guys" foot and it gave a little kick which made Maria jump. He's going to be feisty!!

[Pacific Classic]

My mare did the same thing - 2 weeks later she waxed, dripped milk. She had placentitis. We treated her with, what I am told, is the widely recommended course of medication - double dose Regu-Mate, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. After 7 days, she foaled at 308 days - our goal at the beginning was 320 days. We were so incredibly lucky - the foal was fine - he is 6 weeks today and the picture of health. His IgG was very low (<200), so we ran plasma, other than that, he is a star.

If this is your mare's problem and she starts to milk, I would strongly suggest banking the colostrum and tubing the foal within 8 hours or so - something I so regret not doing. The foal will certainly need it - it can't hurt and you can very likely avoid running plasma. The plasma is expensive, the foal must be sedated, there are some very serious risks and sometimes the foal will need more than one treatment. I hear some people run plasma just because - I can't imagine that, but to each his own.

I hope your mare just has a bug, but if it is placentitis, maybe this can help you. I'm sending good thoughts your way...

[Mood Swings]

Pacific Classic - that is incredible that your little guy survived at 308 days!! That is great to hear

Supernova - how's your mare doing today? Has she started to bag up?

[Supernova]

How do we find out if she has placentitis? Or is that something that you only know after the foal is born?

Her temperature is back to normal however she is still barley touching her food. The vet said it isn't uncommon for mare to go off their feed a little bit when close to foaling but he said it usually isn't over night. This is a mare who will run over top of you to get to her feed tub, and she barley touches her grain or hay now. Last year at this time we slightly increased her feed.

Her belly is much bigger this year though. We keep a light blanket on her for the winter. Last year we had to add "maternity" straps to it to allow for her belly to fit. It lasted her till the foal was born. The same blanket this year now looks like a "napkin" on her back. It only comes half way down her sides and the straps were to their limits. We had to buy her a bigger blanket. Checked her yesterday afternoon and there has been a slight change in her nipples. They didn't look as "sucked up" as before, but not bagged up yet.

[Pacific Classic]

In my case, the vet pulled a progestin level and did an ultrasound. Particular areas of the placenta are measured for thickening, which indicates infection. There is a normal range for the progestins. If the level is very high, this also indicates placentitis.

I believe you said your mare is less than a month from term - if she isn't bagging up yet, you may be just fine.