Bella and baby update Thursday 1 pm
Sorry I didn’t get this out last night – I had it about done and got the blue screen of death and was too tired to start over.
Mom and baby arrived and unloaded ok last evening. The mare dropped her head immediately and started grazing. She has the kindest eyes. And her baby is adorable.
Welcome to Beauty’s Haven little one…
You can see he has issues with his front legs – he does break over with his front right at times but he catches himself.
His mom, Bella, really loves the grass but for now they will have to be confined to a stall. We’ll do a small amount of hand walking but not much. The baby’s immune system is not what it needs to be. He is susceptible to infection/disease related to failure of passive transfer – he didn’t get the antibodies from momma’s milk in the first few critical hours after he was born. He could develop infected joints, pneumonia, diarrhea, etc. He is on antibiotics and we are monitoring him closely. Babies can crash pretty quickly but he seems to be feeling better this morning. He sleeps a lot.
The baby is pretty small. Bella is very careful around him and she loves him dearly. She will get a bath today, I hope.
Bella needs to put quite a bit of weight on and get stronger – she’s given baby her all. She has very little milk to offer but this should improve – she’s been started on some meds to help with this.
Dr. Tanya examined the baby and drew blood yesterday. Blood tests were also done on momma. The baby still had some retained meconium which is of some concern. At 3 or 4 days old the meconium should be gone.
The little guy was very good for his exam.
He got fluids and the catheter was left in so that we can run fluids and administer meds. We monitor his temp, HR, etc. His temp was up last night, 102.7. It’s down a bit this morning. It will take time but he’s getting what he needs and Bella is getting a good diet and supplements.
We are now getting their new stall ready – he’ll be on the camera so we can have more eyes on him. They will be stall bound for quite awhile.
These two need sponsors – would anyone like to sign up to help with their care by sending a monthly amount (i.e. $10, $20, etc.)? They will be using a lot of shavings which are $4 a bag. The dentist will be out over the weekend to do Bella’s teeth – they are pretty bad. We will have more to do on the baby’s front legs – time will tell.
Thank you all for caring and for helping. They have a long way to go – please keep them in your prayers.
Sincerely,
Theresa
Beauty’s Haven Farm & Equine Rescue, Inc.
A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization
www.bhfer.org