First time for a newborn

[Alan]

As you may have guessed we have a month old foal, this is our first foal. He has been eating moms hay for about a week and a half, along with being haul to breeders farm, hauled home and worked at training to lead. He was imprinted. He has had diarrhea for the last week and a half (yea the hay). We did take his temp it's normal but I have been told that foals can have steady diarrhea for a couple of months. He always has water and seems normal except for a chaffed butt...ooch! which we clean on a daily basis. How normal is normal? He has had two doses of probiotics in the last week.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[CattleAnnie]

Foals will sometimes get diarreaha when the mare cycles. I've noticed it on my foals as well when the mare comes into heat, but if in doubt it never hurts to ask a vet.

Take care.

 

[Anonymous]

How long has the foal had diarreaha? Sounds like he's been thru a lot since he was born, including exposure to another farm in the process. It is common that the foal have diarreaha for a few days, but not longer. The mare in heat will cause it, but there can also be a foreign organism involved. This condition should not be prolonged. The foal is losing not only fluids, but important nutrients as well. Probiotics probably won't help much. They are good to bringing the gut back to normal, not fixing a problem. You have to fix the problem first. I suggest you call the vet and get this fixed as it will slowly drag on the health of the foal if it continues. I had this problem a couple of years ago and the vet told me to give him a couple of big syringes (needless) orally of Kaopectate and it straighted him right out. So call the vet and good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

P.S. Hay will not cause diarreaha. Hay is fiber and does the opposite.