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Discussion on Worming a foal with diarrhea
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Member: cmcrill
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 5, 2008 - 3:57 pm:
I have a 6-week old foal that has not yet been wormed. He developed diarrhea a week ago, paste-like consistency but is acting normally with no fever. Shortly after birth the mare accidentally stepped on him and he suffered some rib fractures. He spent 2 weeks in the hospital with the mare but did well, has been home for 4 weeks and we just started limited turnout for a few minutes twice a day. He also has some anemia (Hct = 24.9, we are thinking anemia of chronic disease). He is also losing hair coat but that may simply be foal hair loss as there is no irritation on the skin. My question is, should I go ahead and worm him given his diarrhea? Or will this perhaps upset his GI system too much at this point? Thanks very much.
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Moderator: DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Jul 6, 2008 - 9:27 am:
Hello Connie, Both pyrantel or ivermectin based dewormers are very easy on the digestive tract also to consider is that in general worms are much harder on the digestive tract than dewormers. Since the foal is ill the answer must be given by someone who has examined the foal. DrO
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Member: babychop
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Posted on Sunday, Jul 6, 2008 - 10:25 pm:
I highly recommend also giving him a dose of pro-bioK equine formula (you can get it from your vet as well as proper doseage). It's excellent in treating diarrhea in young foals and my vets rave about it. I've used it on both of my last babies and it's cleared them up. Of course have your vet take a look but I'll bet they agree.
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Moderator: DrO
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Posted on Monday, Jul 7, 2008 - 8:59 am:
The truth is diarrhea in foals is almost always a self limiting disease that will get well whether treated or not making evaluation of efficacy difficult. Concerning the work supporting the use of live Lactobacillus casei (Pro-BioK) in foal diarrhea there is no research. The one piece of published work in adult horses is not that encouraging but there is very little research at this time. There is some indication of benefit in humans is some conditions, particularly antibiotic associated diarrhea but recent research reviews indicate further study warranted. For more on subject see, Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Probiotics and Yeast Culture Products. DrO
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