Foal Scouring

mynutmeg

mynutmeg

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Yet another question :eek::p:D thanks for all the patience with my worrying :D:D

5 day old foal has started with moderate scouring. I'm quite happy it's not infectious as Milo's quite happy bouncing around etc. Have treated by cleaning his butt and smearing him with udder ointment and will get some vasiline tomorrow.

My question is as to the cause of it - he's already picking at mom's feed and haylage and I was wondering if mom's feed might be causing it? He's too young for it to be the foal heat plus mare was wormed within about 8 hours of foaling with ivermectin.
Do I need to be concerned if it doesn't clear up within a few days even if he's still fine within himself?
 
Does she have a LOT of milk? If so, it's just that foalie is a greedy little pig. As long as the droppings are 'loose' rather than straight fluid, and that they are still morangeyin colour (not black) then I wouldn't be too worried while foalie is bright! And don't worry if you see it eating Mom's poo - that's normal and part of getting their guts active!
 
Dolly went rather runny not liquid when she started eating her mums Poo and nibbling on grass :) Could be that ?
 
Well hes certainly drinking s lot - hes a greedy little monster.
Hes loose rather than liquid and normal colour.

Im not overly worried as hes bright in himself but if theres somethibg we can do to prevent it then its better :-)

Hes investigating the grass as well now so may well be that or how much milk hes drinking
 
Our foals are all a few days older than yours and one has light scouring, the rest don't. They are all out at grass now and we have a lot of grass so all of their poops have slightly changed colour. If you can feed mum higher up for the time being that will help little one as he won't be able to reach her feed. For sore bottoms I use Sudocreme on them. I personally wouldn't use Vaseline on foals but I do live in a very hot country as it would burn them if I did, so maybe it's okay to use in England?
 
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Just as an out of interest for you; all of my mares who foaled came into heat and were bred yesterday on their foal heat; 10 days, 9 days, and two mares at 8 days post foaling. Two were just about to ovulate, the other two will have ovulated today.
 
Good luck with your mares taking :D

Shall try and get hold of sn over the door feed bucket for her.

Sudocream is my usual go to but wasnt sure if it would provide enough of a barrier. Would prefere that as it helps heal the skin as well tho there is most def no risk of burning here at the moment - it was about 5`C this morning at the yard
 
It's perfectly normal for foals to develop scour when their dams come into foaling heat. You are doing the right thing cleaning it off and putting on a barrier, otherwise the hair will come out.
 
i have never bred a foal of my own, but when my mare (now 6yrs) was born to my friends mare it was such a steep learning curve. when i was 16 and working on a yard we had about 6 foals in 2 yrs and each foal can be so different
 
hmmm, not sure? my vet warned me it might happen when the mare came into heat (although some people argue this doesnt happen) but it never happened to me. I wormed the mare with ivermectin when he arrived and i've had no problems. Hes also eaten hay, grass, feed, poo, and anything else thats gone into his mouth, so i wouldnt have thought nibbling feed or grass should do it either?
 
He's only 6 days old so i would have thought too early for the foal heat. I did also worm the mare with ivermectin within a few hours of birth.

I'm not overly worried about him as he's bright in himself and doesn't seem dehydrated but it's notpleasent for him so if we can prevent it that would be better. In the meantime shall continue twice daily bum baths :rolleyes:
 
Milo with his nappy cream on :D:D

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