pot bellied foal??

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foxtrot

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I have been looking at a 5 month old foal to purchase, but it is slightly pot bellied....should alarm bells be ringing??
It is currently unweaned and is not of yet eating hard feed. it's mother is an older mare who is not in the fittest of condition. i have been told the mare has been wormed but do not think the foal has been wormed directly. it is however on a large expanse of grazing.
overall the foal seems bright and happy apart from being slightly hairy and pot bellied.
Could the pot belly be due to lack of milk and nutrition??...and will this have a long term affect?
 
By this age it should have been wormed at least twice, with Panacur, now it may have a problem, this is not ideal, as it indicates lack of care.
Personally I would find another foal. Ask your vet if it is likely to have long term damage.
 
The foal should have been wormed a few times by now. It really should be on creep feed by now too as the mares milk will not be sustaining it. If you are interested in buying it you want to encourage the owner to have it on feed so that once it's weaned it continues to get all its nutritional needs.
 
...or, it's on a field that has just had a flush of autumn grass and at 5 months old, its gut is still not fully able to digest the grass effectively...
Weanlings often have a slight pot belly. Doesn't necessarily mean they haven't been wormed properly.
 
I had a foal with the exact same problem. He was a rescue case that I took on last year.

I gave him all the wormers recommended by the vet and he still had a pot belly. The vet came to the conclusion that his belly had bloated out when he had been weaned too early. Apparently it happens to calves.

He's now a yearling and now that his bum and shoulders are filling out it's hardly noticeable.
 
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