Foal with Diarrhea

[carlenehorse]

My little filly is 3 weeks old today and she has diarrhea. The only thing that is different is that her mom has been eating shredded alfala with my older mare. The older mare is 18 and she has a hard time keeping her weight. Would this cause the filly to have diarrhea by making her mom's milk richer?

I have treated the filly for the diarrhea.

Carlene

 

[muffntuf]

Has your mare already had her foal heat?

 

[Lexi]

My filly at about five weeks had the same issues so I called the vet out. They said it was normal and my mare had already had her foal heat and it could be from eating sand or shavings.

Also. My mare is 18 and just had this filly and all of her weight dropped. You can see her hip bones really bad. Vets advice was to worm her so I did and she eats more than enough. Any suggestion with that since we both have older mares? Are you going to re breed yours?

My little filly is 3 weeks old today and she has diarrhea. The only thing that is different is that her mom has been eating shredded alfala with my older mare. The older mare is 18 and she has a hard time keeping her weight. Would this cause the filly to have diarrhea by making her mom's milk richer?

I have treated the filly for the diarrhea.

Carlene

 

[HGFarm]

On those older mares... make SURE their teeth are checked annually in case they need floated! This is important on the geriatric ones..

How is the foal doing? Foal heat should have been sooner than 3 weeks... but watch the foal closely- if it is another problem, they go downhill FAST!

 

[Matt73]

Last year my first filly -and first foal ever- had "the squirts" on and off for a few months. Only lasted a day or two each time; I gave her some probiotics or pepto and it cleared -whether it was because of that or not, I'm not sure-. I think it's pretty normal. Today she's happy and healthy and FAT lol! A bit of "softer" stool is normal if they're drinking milk. If they have "violent" diarrhea for more than a day or two, that's when you'd need a vet I think. You know when it's not normal -intuition-.

 

[carlenehorse]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes mom has had her foal heat. The 18 year old mare is not the mom. She is pastured with mom and filly. I usually feed them seperately and didn't notice that the older mare didn't finish her alfalfa. Well mom is more than happy to finish it for her.

Baby still has some diarrhea but not as watery as this am. I will treat her again and keep mom away from older mare's feed.

I checked my older mares teeth and the vet said that she is just a hard keeper in the winter. We get very few cold spells her in Southeast Texas (Orange, TX).

Since she is on the alfalfa and getting red cell (per vets recommendation) she has put on a ton of weight.

Lexi I didn't plan to breed her but my stallion broke down the pasture gate and was in with the mares for one day. This filly is the result of just one day. LOL Than my son let the stallion out with my older mare in August so if she is bred it would be a July foal.

I am not sure if my older mare is bred or not. She doesn't act like it but you know how sneaky these mares are.

Carlene

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

Since we started using Foal Response at birth (and deworming the dam at foaling too) we've only had one case of foal diarrhea (this year out of three years so far) and that was a foal that nibbles on everything! She's had two cases of it so far but no fever, is bright, nurses and plays so I'm assuming it's her tendency to taste things that don't agree. But as far as 'color' goes its just liquified normal poop.

The only thing I would be careful of when it comes to diarrhea is the really nasty yellow/brownish/orange color smelly one - we call that the death diarrhea here as foals go down fast and crash from it. It can be a rotavirus, or septic problems or some other serious problem - all require fast veterinarian intervention and generally IV fluids as well as immune system support.

As for weight on older mares - definitely they should be de-wormed (we do this the first 12 hours after foaling - another help in fighting off foal heat diarrhea), and if the teeth look good - then up the feed! If you're expecting a mare to produce quality milk, prepare her body for another foal and meet her own nutritional needs you really need to be providing her excellent forage and possibly a great grain supplement as well.

We feed alfalfa 2x a day with a bale of high quality grass hay available 24/7 - we go for the softest grass hay for the foals that like to test grazing and for the mares that are in need. Nutrena Senior is a great feed for minis and we supplement mares and foals with that as well. And yes I do have a very 'fluffy' herd of horses - but they're shiny-glossy, alert, happy and have excellent fertility so they can carry a few extra pounds - I hate to see skinny mares trying to grow a foal - it's cruel IMHO!

I have one mare that is 19 and if she drops her weight this year I won't rebred her its just taking to much out of her. She came out of last year thinner than I'd like and we've been free choice feeding her since - she's naturally a lean mare so keeping weight on her is a bit of work - she's not like the rest of the chunkers here!

 

[carlenehorse]

Michelle I also used the foal response and wormed my mare right after foaling. The filly's diarrhea is the normal poop color not like you described.

The reason I am thinking it is the alfalfa is that they never get it. My vet recommended it after examing my older mare. She does have pasture grass.

I am hoping she is not bred but if she is this will be her last one.

She is the world's best baby sitter for the weanlings. She was my very first miniature horse and she will stay with me forever.

Filly is more alert this afternoon. I just went outside and made sure she was nursing and she is. Also checked mom's bag and it was not tight so she has been nursing. I gave some pedilyte also and she loves that.

Thanks for all the help.

Carlene

 

[Jessica_06]

I'm not sure if this is the reason but 2 years ago I was worried because one of our foals had bad diarrea all the time,after foal heat and her tummy looked kinda bloated. I asked the vet about it and the vet said that the foal was (not sure how to spell it) lactocin tolerent, just like some people get sick after consuming milk products. Well the vet wanted us to wean her at 2 months because it wasn't good on her but we slowly started to at close to 3 months. I noticed drastic changes when she was pulled off of mom for a half of a day. And she's fine now and lookin great

I would ask your vet if this is a possibility

 

[carlenehorse]

Well just got home at 10:30 PM due to son's baseball game. I went to check on her and she is doing much better. No diarrhea piles in the stall and bum is dry. Talked to my vet while at the gave and she wants me to give her Probios and something called Bio-sponge? I think that is what the second one is. I am going in the morning to pick it up.

When I checked on her she showed a little attitude by bucking at me.

So I know she is feeling better. Will set my alarm and check on her in a couple of hours.

Carlene

 

[Jill]

Yay! I'm happy to read she is doing better

 

[carlenehorse]

Yes those babies can scare you.

I don't usually keep any of the babies but I am keeping her to train for my therapy horse. She should mature around 28" and we will visit the nursing homes, children's hospitals and schools if everything goes as planned. She is so layed back and friendly and I think she has the best desposition for a therapy horse.

Carlene