Foals drinking water..... diarrhea

[New_Image]

I read in Blessed are the foals that they shouldnt drink water, if they do it can cause diarrhea. Well first, when should they be allowed to drink water? And second.. maybe thats why there has been so much foal diarrhea going on this year that we have all noticed, maybe there drinking water because its so hot. Seems to be hotter this year EVERYWHERE. Just a thought.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

From day one- drinking water will not cause diarrhoea. NOT drinking water can dehydrate and kill the foal quicker than almost anything else.

 

[hhpminis]

Nicole

That is what I was trying to say on the other thread that perhaps we have more "stuff" in our water and it is giving these foals bacteria that they cant handle. I did notice my baby drank at a very early age this year.

I use an in line water filter on my hose always at shows but I am not so sure it wouldn't be a bad idea at the barn as well, especially for babies sensitive systems.

 

[hhpminis]

But rabbitsfizz, I mean really drinking water not just playing in it and sticking their nose in it. At 1 day old I saw our foal put her head in the bucket and take a nice long drink. I honestly have never seen a foal so young do this and I believe that is what Nicole is referring to.

 

[Miniv]

I'd have to re-check the book to see at what age the author is talking about in regard to drinking water.

We don't like to have a newborn drinking water while it is still learning about how to nurse successfully. However, after a few days we don't discourage it.

In my opinion it is very important for a foal to learn that there is another source for rehydration. Foals can have problems as they get independent and start sharing mom's food if they don't know about drinking water and can colic.

MA

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I would never limit access to water- it has never been a problem. If I thought a new foal was drinking too much I would be far too busy worrying about why it was feeling the need- ie, checking the milk supply. I have had foals drinking at a day old, and I would worry if they were not drinking by a week old- as with everything, each animal is different.

 

[New_Image]

But rabbitsfizz, I mean really drinking water not just playing in it and sticking their nose in it. At 1 day old I saw our foal put her head in the bucket and take a nice long drink. I honestly have never seen a foal so young do this and I believe that is what Nicole is referring to.

That is what I meant, foals who are actually drinking the water.

This is just what the book says, what I have been wondering about.

"Some foals for various reasons start drinking water from their mothers bucket at a early age. Every effort should be made to prevent a foal from drinking water because this will decrease ilk intake or it may even stop nureing if its fluid requirements are satisfied by the water.

Intratable, debititaing, diarrhea will soon develop in foals that substitute water for milk." Bla bla bla (Its in Blessed are the brood mares, not Blessed are the foals)

It was just a thought, if foals were drinking really young that might be where there diarrhea was comming from, since its been so hot maybe they are drinking too young or something. But then maybe not, just a thought.

 

[Cathy_H]

We've foaled out around 90 foals since the 80's & they all have had a water source usually on day 2 or 3 (depending on how well they were nursing). I think it has been just as hot in previous years as this year. Odd that two of our four got the diarrhea. These are foals from the same dams that have given us 6 plus foals........ We did not give the tetnus antitoxen to the foals this year but I do not see what that would have to do with it. Nothing has changed drastically in our routine, etc since moving here in 89.

 

[Minimor]

Preventing foals, even the very young ones, from drinking water if they wish to is a bunch of hooey.

We've had foals start drinking water at 1, 2 or 3 days of age other years, and have never had a diarrhea problem. This year some of our foals started drinking young, others did not.

Our filly that is the worst for diarrhea this year, was not one of the early water drinkers.

I've yet to see any of our foals drink so much water that they don't want to nurse, but yes, some of our foals do "really" drink water at an early age. This year is no different from last year.

 

[disneyhorse]

Hmmm... I'm not sure that I'd "buy into" the "foals drinking water would get diarrhea" line of thought... it sounds like an old wives tale. I have an automatic waterer installed in each stall... so my foal had access the second he was born. He has not had a day of diarrhea, not even during the foal heat.

Doesn't drinking more water cause more URINATION?

Plus, in the wild... foals would have access to water, right??? Mother Nature doesn't "lower the buckets" after any animal baby turns a few days old....

I guess, as with any question I have serious concern about, I would ask my vet.

Andrea

 

[DunPainted]

Kudos to you, Nicole, for raising a very interesting question!

We're in NE Wisconsin and it's been an extremely hot summer. As best we can, our water buckets are emptied/filled twice a day....and cleaned. Last week, our three week old foal had "the runs", but I attributed it to his mama coming into her 30 day foal heat.

It'll be interesting to see responses to this post. I gave our little fella twice daily doses of Probios and Tagamet microwaved, mixed with water, and placed in large syringes.......amounting to about 2 cups of liquid. Cleared him right up. One of my mini mentors gives her mares coconut cookies......and it really works.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have a FANTASTIC horse book, nearly eighty years old, all my life it has been my "bible" in everything BUT there is NO way I would any longer take it's advice in some areas!! You have to realise that, however knowledgeable the author there are two possibilities- a) Times move on and new information is found every day. b) They can be WRONG!!! *gasp*

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

We lost a foal at less than two weeks this year to renal failure. Excessive water drinking is a sign of this along with the associated diarrhea. What we found from research (ours and the vet's) is that foals with renal (kidney) problems will drink water over nursing, which is what our foal started doing, eventually stopping nursing altogether. The longest a mini foal had survived was less than two months (vet's research again).

It was a congenital problem which usually kills foals the first few days of life.

The kidney's had large cysts where normal kidney tissue should have been. We had hoped that he would survived, but would have had difficulty the rest of his life with the reduce kidney function.

We have water available to all foals from birth on and different ones will drink in different quanities starting from the first day on.

We're also in California and with the recent heatwave - all our horses are hitting the water and salt blocks regularly. We also keep sprinklers going in the main pasture in the afternoon, and squirt down everyone else that wants it twice a day. A few have their mud wallows too. We look like we have a farm of mud brown horses right now!

 

[New_Image]

Do tell me about these coconut cookies you guys - the pepto isnt working to stop the runs, I would call the vet but they would say something like "He is a foal, what do you want him to do?" Or another famous one for foals with any problem is "He has gass"

I was Mollys udder every other day and wash Image's rear dailey - we tried pepto and that didnt do much.

 

[DunPainted]

Do tell me about these coconut cookies you guys - the pepto isnt working to stop the runs, I would call the vet but they would say something like "He is a foal, what do you want him to do?" Or another famous one for foals with any problem is "He has gass" 

I was Mollys udder every other day and wash Image's rear dailey - we tried pepto and that didnt do much.

426466[/snapback]

​

Hey Nicole,

This spring, our two year old quarter horse had the runs for about 1-1/2 months and we tried EVERYTHING......including $127 for a three day course of Diarsynal from the vet and IT DIDN'T WORK. When I gave him some coconut cookies for a few days, it stopped!

You're right about vets not taking foal diaharria seriously....we almost lost a foal once when the vet "forgot" to return after he had been there to run fluids earlier in the day and our reminder call went unheeded! Frankly, with two unsuccessful experiences with vets trying to treat equine diaharria, I've developed my own course of treatment and it works every time and in short order. With the lack of vets with mini horse experience whom we've paid to "treat" our horses on educated guesses, it gets frustrating. However, the positive is this forum and my three mini mentors who have over 75 years total experience behind them, and it's always fun to talk with them.

Our grandmothers had some wonderful, natural remedys for just about everything. When our son had chicken pox at Christmas and posted on the Forum, some folks had some great advice that was passed down from generations. One of the suggestions was instrumental in stopping the chicken pox at his torso, it was absolutely amazing because it was spreading by the hour.

Another forum member shared a remedy to stop the itching.

 

[New_Image]

So what is a coconut cookie ( I mean are the horse cookies or real people cookies or what? ) and where do I get them? And how much do you feed?