Friend filly bad again

[auledasacres]

I have emailed a few times for my friend. He foal had diarhea from a month old. She is almost 3 month now. She colicked 3 times during the diarhea period. Well things seemed to improve. Vet felt she had sand colic. Problem is she continues to dig for dirt and then proceeds to eat the dirt. She seems to have a complusion for eating dirt and then turns back into colic over and over.

Only thing I can think of is she is vitamin deffiecent(forgive spelling) in something. She gets hay with 20% alfalfa in it and then grain with vitamins adek. She eats well, hasn't lost weight. If anything she is a little plump for her age. She hasn't been weaned.

My friend has gone to great length to bed her area with heavy straw to keep her from eating the dirt but she always seems to find a way to get the dirt.

She was in full colic yesterday and again this morning.

Any idea why she eats all this dirt. I have never seen anything like it.

Thanks all

Traci

 

[Sue_C.]

Could you try Kelp? As soon as I noticed a foal eating dirt years ago; that is what my Vet recommended, and it what I have used successfully ever since.

 

[Margaret]

There is a mineral suppliment called 12-12 made by purina for horses. You need to call around in your area and see who distributes purina, as all feed stores dont carry it.. it sounds like she is craving minerals as it is found in dirt, and in the wild this is how they got it. 12-12 contains no salt- which is good, as too much of salt for a foal can cause problems. The 12-12 is available in block or loose. I use the block, and hook it on to a fence, as they can get as much as they want that way....For now I would keep her in a safe area, and back off of grain, til she is better.

 

[Sandy S.]

If if were me, I would think ulcer. Foals will also eat dirt when they have ulcers.

 

[auledasacres]

Update. This foal ended up going for colic sugery. She has a severe blockage that the vet felt was about 2 weeks old. The vet cleared the blockage and last I heard she was up on her hooves and they would start walking her. I am very hopfull that she will make a complete recovery. Please keep her in your prayers.

What I am concerned about is the following.

The foal has had problems for the past 6-8 weeks. As this colick thing has been corrected I still feel this is a problem with her. The eating the dirt thing. I recommended to my friend that she ask the vet to pull some blood to

 

[auledasacres]

Update. This foal ended up going for colic sugery. She has a severe blockage that the vet felt was about 2 weeks old. The vet cleared the blockage and last I heard she was up on her hooves and they would start walking her. I am very hopfull that she will make a complete recovery. Please keep her in your prayers.

What I am concerned about is the following.

The foal has had problems for the past 6-8 weeks. As this colick thing has been corrected I still feel this is a problem with her. The eating the dirt thing. I recommended to my friend that she ask the vet to pull some blood to test her for vitamin defiency. Maybe Calcium defien

 

[Becky]

Oh my! I hope she has a complete recovery. Viki (on the Forum) had a weanling filly go in for colic surgery last fall. She has done amazingly well and has been virtually a normal horse this year.

 

[yankee_minis]

When I talked to the vet about my thoughts that one of my horses might have ulcers, one of the questions she asked was if I had seen him eating dirt.

Maybe you should check into ulcers...