It's important to make sure that the diarrhea is actually caused from Foal Heat and not from a virus or infection that indicates the foal is sick and needs treatment. A foal suffering from scours due to Foal Heat will still nurse, be active and will not have a temperature or appear sick, from what I understand - some things to look/watch for are:
- A nursing foal will produce a yellowish pasty manure, a sick foal with diarrhea will produce a yellow/brown water manure
- Watch to be sure the foal is nursing and active (you can check the mare and if her udder is very full and dripping milk, it's an indication the foals not nursing and may have lost it's appetite due to illness
- Check temperature, it should be between - 99º and 101.5º F.
- If you're not sure whether your foal has diarrhea, skin scald is a tell tale sign (loss of hair on bum)
If you not sure, or certain, contact your vet, illness in a young foal can be fatal and if sick the foal may need antibiotics, or iv to re hydrate etc.
If you have in fact determined the foal has scours do to Foal Heat some treatments are:
- Clean the area with soap and warm water, dry with a soft towel
- Apply petroleum jelly or Preparation
- Repeat, 2 to 3 times a day
We didn't have petroleum jelly on hand, so what we did was clean the area and then treat it with baby oil, not only did it clean up his rear, but it provided moisture to sooth the scald and a slick coating to prevent or help to prevent manure from sticking to his bum. Below you can see the before (left hand side) and after (right hand side) photos.
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| Before |
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| After |
for more information visit this websites: American Association of Equine Practitioners
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