Confirmed, Margo Has Mastitis! :(

My poor mare! After a stressful Friday, with Margo's udder swollen so big (and hot), I called my vet to see when they could fit her in to look at her. They only had open Saturday at 8:30 AM. (Of course!) Fair Grove Vet is an hour away from my farm, and I hate to rush, so Margo and I were on the road Saturday morning at 7 AM. (Yuck!)

So, the vet looked her over. She had a normal temperature (which is good!) and when the vet milked her infected udder, the fluid was clear to white, with no odor. (Pheww...) The vet said the last mare she had in with Mastitis had a 104 degree temp, and when she milked her bag it was green stinking pus that came out. So I caught it in time. (Hopefully!) Also, the vet checked her white blood cell count, and all was well there.

So, I was prescribed Banamine paste, for Margo's pain/tenderness.

Over $32 dollars a tube! Yikes! 1000 lb dose (day one) for Margo, and 500 lb doses the following days until the tube is empty.

My vet also had me put her on Tucoprim, which is an antibiotic.

This stuff was over $42 for the tub! Another Yikes! She is having me give Margo 2 scoops, twice a day until it is gone. Let me tell you, Margo HATES this stuff. The vet said to try and sprinkle it on her feed, but fat girl Margo only gets a tuna can of feed a day, and two scoops of this stuff is a lot! So, I am mixing the two scoops of Tucoprim with a bit of hot water and a big squirt of maple syrup in a giant dose syringe. I shake it until it is mixed, then shoot it in Margo's mouth. She hates it! This morning I had to about wrestle her to get it in her mouth. Fun!

Oh, and the most enjoyable part of the treatment is applying wet heat (in the form of a hot wash cloth) held up to her udder for ten minutes twice a day. Nothing quite as nice as leaning against Margo's fat belly while holding a wet wash cloth against her udder... (Ha!) Lucky though, that other than the Tucoprim stuff, Margo is a nice, polite patient.

After all this, the good news is, on Sunday, after only one round of meds, over 80% of her swelling is down with most of the heat gone! Woo-Hoo! I couldn't believe it! Today (Monday) her udder is the same as yesterday, but at least it hasn't swollen back up. And very little heat. (Big sigh of relief) So, I am not out of the clear with her yet, but I think we caught it early enough that it will clear up nicely. The vet said to call asap if the heat and swelling get worse, as apparently, in horses, if Mastitis isn't treated, it can be life threatening.

So, *fingers crossed* that it will continue to clear up and my mare will be fine!

Oh, the vet also said that Margo is a huge fat whale! (Which I know...) She said I need to basically starve her in a dry lot, with only 2 flakes of hay AM and PM. So, Daniel and I are finally forced to cross fence! More Fun! (More on that later...)