Question- 1 month foal has hard poo

[Sandy B]

I need mentoring- Gracie's lil 1 month old filly was going poo tonight and I noticed that she was really having to push. I went and inspected it and it was very dry, hard, dark green fecal balls about the size of a small blueberry (sorry- lol, only thing size wise I could come up with). She is acting fine completely otherwise. Her momma gets free choice meadow grass with a small amount or orchard grass twice a day as well as a 1/2 pound of Stable Mix in the evening with her vitamins. Fresh water is available all the time of course plus they are getting turned out for two hours daily on grass pasture. They are kept in a stall and large paddock otherwise. This filly has been eating (or at least trying to eat since we got her at a week old). I notice she is constantly nibbling on the hay, every waking moment, and dives in to the pellets in the evening and grazes when she is not playing when turned out in the pasture. Momma's udder is not the largest and the filly keeps in drained completely all the time.

My question is, what should I do? I do not like the fact that her stool is that dry and hard. I like to address things as soon as I notice them, but I do know a 1 month old foal should still have soft stool. I am wondering if I should give her an enema to see what comes out and then call my vet in the am to check in with him. I appreciate all advise or experience.

 

[AnnaC]

Is there a reason why Momma and baby cant be out on grass at least all day. It sounds as though Momma could do with a boost to her milk supply and it would be far better for the filly to be nibbling green grass than dry hay all day, her youg system is naturally geared for grass eating and would give her the moisture she obviously needs.

Would certainly check with your vet as soon as possible.

Good luck!

Anna

 

[REO]

I agree with Anna.

But at that age, my foals eat hay and feed and their poo is firm, not soft.

That is the age that some foals eat dirt, which makes their poo hard also.

Foals get colic so easily, it's good to keep on top of them like you are

 

[bevann]

Hard small balls of poo is not enough liquid intake-either water or milk for a foal.I have the same issue if I don't drink enough water.You might try something to entice baby to drink water if she is not getting enough milk since she is eating dry hay.I use molasses in small amounts in warm water to entice my non drinkers.Has saved me lots of money in vet bills by avoiding colic impaction issues.Good luck-you are a good mom for keeping such a watchful eye on baby.

 

[shelia]

I just had the same problem with my colt. He spent 2 days at the vets in ICU. enemas, IVs and also tubed. He wasn't nursing much either. the blood test came back fine, but we wanted to get right on things before it was too late. Over the 2 days he passed about a foot of rock hard poo. He also has the problem of wanting to eat everything. We now have to keep everything out of his stall except grass hay and feed very soupy equine jr to mom so he can get moisture if he does eat it. He just yesterday started eating her manure so I am hoping he will leave the other stuff alone a little more. He is not that interested in the Equine jr much. i am hoping he will soon take a liking to it.

I suggest an enema.

 

[Sandy B]

Thanks guys! My vet pretty much said the same thing. To keep an eye on her and especially her nursing. I did give her a homemade warm water enema last night of about 50cc's and watched her for 90 minutes and she never pooped, just urinated twice (good volume and clear). This morning there are several more piles of her poop, all the same looking as last night. While I watched her, she nursed frequently, and she nursed like a strong hungry foal. I have removed her 24/7 meadow grass hay, my gut tells me that it may be a bit too stemmy for her to munch on and we soaked the orchard grass and fed it to them wet this morning. I was worried about too long on turnout on the grass pasture I guess because they are minis (mainly momma) and did not want any issues with founder or such, but I will double their turnout.

Those of you who mentioned soaking the pellets (or grain) I thought about the same thing and will do that tonight. I started feeding wet hay our stallion and gelding a year and a half ago, when right after we got them(our first minis), Gracie's little gelding coliced and spent several days in the clinic with an IV. They get fed wet orchard twice a day since they are stalled. Sometimes when we have extreme weather changes, we also soak hay for the mares too. It's really cheap insurance to add moisture to their gut with their food. I just never thought we would have to worry about a foal since they are always nursing.

I did notice when we first brought her home that she was licking dirt and immediately placed a mineral block and a salt block where she was licking. That seems to have stopped, but we are watching her extra now again now that you mentioned the dirt eating. Yes, she is like a year old child putting everything in her mouth we have noticed. She seems to have to try everything. At least I have not seen her eating her mommas mane or tail, thank goodness. We gave her a mini(made for dogs) Jolly Ball and she does play with that now.

Again, thank you guys so much for the advise! I love to learn and then be able to teach Gracie in return about these minis. If any of you have a full sized horse question or problem or question, I would love to be able to reciprocate. Thats where my 35 years come in to play

Also thank you for the kind words about Cowgirl! Gracie thinks she is the most beautiful baby girl ever, and well I do too

 

[shelia]

My vet had told me that soapy water helps the poo to slide out better. I would use something mild, like shampoo and just a little in the water. I would only do it if she seems to be straining or seem uncomfortable. The baby enemas have something that make it slippery.

She sounds like she is doing great otherwise! My foal was only 6 days old and a premie.

 

[Sandy B]

I did use a few drops of liquid hand soap last night with the warm water (for the enema), I guess I left that part out. The only other liquid soap I had on hand was Ajax and I think it is a bit too harsh. Someone mentioned I could add a bit of non iodine salt, but I just wanted to use a mild enema since filly is not really complaining about her hard stool, I just want to take pre-cautions now not later. I will pick up some more store bought enemas to have on hand, I used my last one on a uncomfortable mare a couple weeks ago, but I hate to use them unless absolutely needed. Someone also mentioned putting mineral oil in the water too to help lube the rectal canal when making a homemade enema. We just brought her in from 3 hours of grazing, but its been raining so hard Gracie could not stand to leave her out any longer. I think it was an excuse for Gracie to towel her baby off and get away from her school work for a bit

, but she did feed them lunch with soaked orchard grass hay again.

I will give a poo update when we clean stalls tonight.

 

[albahurst]

In addition to what the others have said -- I have had to squirt in orally 3 ml mineral oil once a day for a few weeks to young foals in the past for hard poo. (as per vet)

 

[Sandy B]

Well poo report is that it is still tiny hard balls but she is still going as there were multiple piles before Gracie cleaned her stall and then a fresh pile(still little pebbles) when I checked after all chores were done. I did soak the pellets tonight (looked like a wet bran mash) which both mom and foal happily inhaled. I then syringed some mineral oil down her mouth (careful of aspiration) and soaked their orchard grass hay for 20 minutes prior to feeding. So I am hoping by tomorrow I will see a difference in her poop. She is still acting completely normal. Maybe I am just panicking, but I do not think a 1 month old foal should have that dry and hard pebbles of poop.

 

[Sandy B]

It is crazy but even with all the added water in to their diet (soaked hay, soaked pellets and green grass), neither mare of foal's poo is changed at all! I do notice that their actual water intake is less though with the added water in their feed. I got to watch the baby poo right before we turned them out to graze and she made an obvious push & groan but it came out fine and was little hard green balls. What the heck? Both mom and baby should be squirting at this point.

 

[Sandy B]

We got our first pile or moist poo!! Yeah!!!!!!

 

[bevann]

Our non-horsey friends must think we are really wacked out to get so excited about poo.Glad your news is good.Keep us posted

 

[albahurst]

We got our first pile or moist poo!! Yeah!!!!!!

Good news!

 

[AnnaC]

Hooray!! Well done you!!

Keep the wet food and hay going and as much grass and exercise that you can give them - you shouldn't have to worry about possible founder (you mentioned this earlier) in the mare with your filly 'milking' her Momma of all the nutrients that she needs to grow into a strong youngster.

Anna