Non preg mare dripping milk!

Karen · Non preg mare dripping milk!

Hi...don't know how many of you remember Amy, my 8 yo paint mare that began to develop enlarged teats about 3 years ago...

1 year into the teat enlargement in AUg 2008, I had her ultrasounded, palpated and hormone bloodtesting done....everything came back normal levels in the bloodwork for estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.....ultrasound showed smallish ovaries with no folicular activity and he couldn't palpate her cervix as her hymen is still in place!!

July 13th 2010.....this is what I came to the barn and found with Amy's teats....yes, she is dripping milk...

Click to see full size image

Vet says it's the estrogens in the plants...we have been in a drought for the last 6 years here in Georgia and fall/winter of 2009, we had a ton of rain and it lasted into spring and early summer...

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

ElaineC

* boggle * I've heard of old broodies firing up with foals around, but I'm not convinced of that, but what you've got? Thats very odd. Are you able to get second opinions? It does sound like some kind of hormone imbalance.

I know for sure I'd be interested in knowing what you find out, and how you get her to dry up. I know if she's not nursing (obviously) I'd be concerned about her teats getting infected and gucky, did the vet advise you in any way re. hand stripping?

Keep us in the know

Yes_But_Neigh

Karen

I did get a second opion and she concurred that if an ultrasound, exam and palpation and normal bloodwork hormone levels were found, even in 2008, that it most likely was estrogen in the plants she is consuming...

They are already not as big as they were and they are still dripping, though not as much....

Both vets did say if any heat could be felt in teat or udder or she began running a fever, to watch carefully as that could be a sign of infection or mastitis...they both said NOT to strip her of milk as it would just cause her to produce more....both said that in a couple of weeks to a month, it would subside as the estrogens in the plants change...

However, this mares teats virtually enlarged overnight in Feb 2007, and continued to enlarge until they hit a size and have stayed that way ever since...hence the reason for the bloodwork and exams/tests in 2008....but she has never 'dripped' milk...we have been able to express a cloudy substance at times...

Karen

Clarissa

Looks horribly painfull to me! Has the actual milk been tested to make sure it is infact milk? It could be some sort of serum from a lump or the milk glands malfunctioning but it's not actually milk.

However what about if you thought laterally about the situation & milked her for her milk & sold it to cheese makers! At least she would be paying for her vets bills.

karmikacres

Just saw this thread. We have a 15 year old mare who is doing the same thing. She has however done this since she's been 5 years old - never this bad or for this long. It's always seemed to be around her heat cycles and then would go away. I've asked our vet several times over the years and she said it's nothing - don't worry about it (LOL). Sonet (our mare) has gotten mastitis once - not fun so we're worried about that again.

I did have another vet over here that suggested that it could be an early sign of cushings and I JUST read that somewhere again last night. So I am going to have Sonet tested. We also just pulled thyroid and insulin/glucose on her because she has also started to get a cresty neck and odd fat deposits. She has always been an easy keeper. Will let everyone know what we find out. Oh, also started her on 5mg of Chromium a day and her crestiness has gone down some. Still producing milk - going on 2 months.

Karen, since you've ruled out everything else you might want to check to see if this makes sense for your mare too.

Karen

Karen

bit

Sounds like Eclipse. Kelsey has me feeding her the smart pac suppliments for ir, and her cresty neck and fat deposits are diminishing. The ir supplement also has chromium.
Her crest isn't as hard, and her fat pads are starting to go down. She wears a grazing muzzle am to sunset.

creekwood

http://www.smartpakequine.com/productclass.aspx?productClassid=6460

karmikacres

You can order human Chromium off the internet. The vet we use who really believes in it says to only use Chromium Picolinate and to use 5 mg a day. You can buy 500 mcg tabs and give them 10 or 1000 mcg tabs and give them 5 a day. Our eat them right out of the feed so they must not taste too bad.

Since adding Chromium, Sonet's cresty neck looks better and smaller fat deposits.

I agree that your mare is young for Cushings but what I've read and been told is that this is often an early sign of what's to come.

BTW, Sonet's endocrin tests and Insulin levels came back perfectly normal!

Karen

thelmanelle

My mare, Belle, was thought to be pregnant. Either was and we loss the foal? But, she gained weight, her belly was lop-sided, she teats enlarged and began to drip and her cervix got enlarged after softening at he dock. I stay close by her for almost 2 months and finally...she got checked, no baby.

Third time we lost a foal with her, so I quit trying and bought Flint. He was my baby.

I have all the birthing supplies for all the horse farms hear by to share. I just send it to the next farm if they have a pregnant mare along with the books, Blessed Are The Brood Mares and Blessed are The Foals.

Karen

I fed SmarkPak IR supplement for 3 months with no changes in teats or fat deposits...

Amy's latest bloodwork came back within normal ranges too....

If you begin reading about estrogens in plants and feedstuffs that we normally feed horses....she is overrun with it!!!....

I will order and try some human chromium....

Thanks Karen

misstux

I put Dusty on the VitaRoyal protocol and it changed the last 12-18 months of his life. He was hard to transition on, but once he was there, he was able to eat untested grass hay again, not just the tested low sugar hay pellets. We did the whole bit, the food, detoxing, supplements, filtered water, white hose. Linsey and VitaRoyal made a HUGE difference for Dusty.

karmikacres

I have a friend who is just starting the VitaRoyal program. She has a couple IR horses. It will be interesting to see her results. We've considered trying it for Sonet.

Karen

Karen

zag04

My mare is doing the exact same thing. I am waiting for a cushings test to come back. But I have been working with Dr. Tomas with forloveofthehorse.com

Lactation and other odd things can take place due to malabsorption syndrome. I have my mare on FLOTH Nourish digestion herbs for a few weeks and she has never done so well body wise, muscle wise and attitude wise. It seems to be helping the lactation as well. But we will know if there are other things going on once Dr. Tomas looks at her blood results. I have come to really enjoy working with FLOTH, it might be worth a shot to contact them.

On another note:
Flax has estrogen like hormone effects and if you are feeing anything with fenugreek seed in it. Fenugreek has been used to induce lactation or promote heavier lactation in women.