1 day old foal pooping yellow liquid, is this right?

[Renascence]

Guys I've only bred one foal, and she is now 6 and I am now 47, so you know how it gets hard to remember...

My friend's mare had a surprise colt yesterday, and she says it already passed the sticky black stuff. Today I went over to see it and was concerned about the yellow liquid...I do not remember that with my filly.

She says the vet says it fine, but this is an ex race vet new to repro who did not even figure out the mare was pregnant....so I need to ask some real experts...the COTH Sport Horse Breeders!...do you think its ok? Other than that the colt looks fantastic to me.

[Molly Malone]

Most foal poop is bright yellow and runny when the mare is in heat and for the first day or two when the post partum enema is still on it's way out.

Liquid manure, however, would make me nervous. Thin diahorrea would have me calling the vet.

[selah]

Does not sound right at all...I'd be calling the vet.

[VirginiaBred]

Do you have the baby on Probotics, or any support system?

[Summit Springs Farm]

Scours are next if you don't get that cleared up, you might want to get some desitin, for human baby diaper rash and put it on his butt around the tail.

You do want to get that poo firmed up, so call the vet, a good foal vet and see what they recommend.

[Summit Springs Farm]

you know we would all love to see pics of the little guy!!

[amdfarm]

I remember foal poop as being a darker mustard colored paste, not bright yellow liquid. I give both the mare and the newborn probios paste at birth and then the foal again at 4 days. Helps keep the scours and such at bay.

Definitely protect the baby's bottom from scalding or he'll be hairless back there... if it is at the point of being liquid and running down his bottom.

[Fairview Horse Center]

Yellow mustard like paste is quite common. I don't worry about it as long as the baby is nursing well, keeping the udder from getting filled, and their energy level is good, bucking and playing.

If it becomes total liquid, the foal can become dehydrated VERY fast. I will usually still closely monitor them for nursing and playing - even sitting at the door for hours to decide if I have a serious problem or not. Don't assume that you just caught them down. Make sure they react normally, jumping to their feet, and staying on their feet to play for longer and longer periods, not shorter. Foals will often do fine even with liquid diarrhea, but you have to stay on top of it to know quickly if they stop nursing, and lose their energy level. That is often an emergency call.

If they get dehydrated, you can lose them within 2 to 12 hours. You can't do skin pinch tests on foals, but you can monitor their gums for moistness. Severely dehydrated foals will have a "sunken" eye look. They will need immediate IV fluids to save them.

ANYTIME a foal stops nursing, it is an emergency call. Keep a good eye on the mare's udders, because a sick foal will often stand there, for comfort, and you may think they are nursing, but they are not really.

Sometimes with diarrhea, comes a bit of a tummy ache, and that by itself will make them stop nursing. In that case, banamine will make them feel better to begin nursing, but will also give them ulcers, so you have to begin gastrogard at the same time.

Most of the time, it is a simple thing of just getting used to new bacteria in the environment, or if the mare was not dewormed with ivermectin at birth, worms from the milk can cause scours.

Make sure you have bio-sponge &/or VBG gel on hand in case you need it, but I try to avoid treatments, as I would rather have diarrhea, than impaction. .

[Oakstable]

I'd call the vet.

They go downhill really quickly and very difficult to recoup when they are this young.

[ise@ssl]

Hang on people the foal is one day old - this isn't a foal heat situation.

The color troubles me. Yes after the Meconium (black) the foal will often have a lighter colored poop which is the first "milk poop" after they have nursed. A very yellow loose poop could be clostridia. It's very important that your friend keep an eye on whether the foal is nursing. Check the mares udder. Sometimes with clostridia they don't spike a fever right away but stop nursing and you might see them try to nurse but not swallow.

Did she have the Vet out to do an IGG TEST?

GET A VET IF THIS HAPPENS. You will need Metronydizol (sp?) to manage this bacteria. SMZ's don't work. I wouldn't give a foal banamine unless a Vet had checked out the foal first.

We've had to take 2 to the clinic with this - it can kill a foal in 48 hours.

[Renascence]

You helped me so much w/ advice on my first foal years ago and now she is 6 and we are schooling 3ft hunter courses and going to our first hunter show in 3 weeks! I was mountain girl then and she is Spirit of Romance by AFR. It is making me teary,lol.

I just put a call in to my friend to ask about the foal today, and I am going to try to get her to come online and read this thread. She is also very concerned about her fencing, how to teach it to lead, avoiding accidents, its breeding, it is linebred by accident, it turns out...etc. She has not had experience with foals, and wants to do best by the colt.

[Foxtrot's]

If he starts to strain that may mean some of the meconium is still in there and the liquid is being forced by the "hockey puck" that can be left behind. You will know this by day two, but it is an emergency if it happens.

[Oakstable]

I had a foal shooting yellow liquid when the mare was coming into her foal heat.

Thot it was normal enough.

Another 24-48 hours and I got worried about it. Got the vet to investigate.

Foal was put down later that week. The gut had shut down.

I spent thousands on vet care before realizing it was hopeless. My vet is a fighter but ...

[fivehorses]

I had a surprise foal last june from a pony I had rescued. 5 vets said she was not prego.
So, I was totally unprepared, and although I learn as much as I can about health issues for myself or my horses, I never read foal, or prego threads since I never have any intention of breeding.
Tell your friend to do on line searches regarding training, etc.
I have owned horses for over 40 years, raised a fair share of weanlings but having a suckling, omg, I was so scared I'd screw the thing up.

Now, in regards to your health question. I do recall my foal's birth, and first few days. weeks. He had normal looking brown poop, just wicked tiny. He never got diarhhea.

I did have the vet out after the colt was born to examine the mare and the colt. On the second day, she came again to do the IcG test to ensure he rec'd all the right stuff from mom.

Honestly, I do not recall any health issues, and if my colt had yellow poop, well, I would need a good explanation why that was normal or ok.
I can't even recall reading anything like that.
What about doing a search on yellow manure in a foal and see what comes up.
Hope all works out ok.
One thing about foals, and what many here said, they can go downhill really quick.
I feel very blessed to have a vigorous colt born to a rescued pony who did not get any prenatal vitamins or care. In fact, she got evitex, liquid chasteberry for most of her pregnancey, and it is contraindicated in pregnant horses!!!

[florida foxhunter]

I was at a friends today with a two day foal......who's IGG was below 400 so she had the plasma done last night. The foal seemed fine today......but had watery yellow dirreah.........

I offered her Biosponge, but her vet said not to use it at this point..........

[Renascence]

I talked to her an hour ago. She came home from straw and foal halter shopping, and I had a phone message and email in to her to read this thread. After reading it she sat with him for an hour and a half to watch him poop, which he didn't do. Though he urinated and ran around and jumped all over her until he passed out. Now she is worried he may be impacted because of seeing no bowel movement, though her husband is a MD and thinks this foal looks very healthy.

She is going to give the colt probiotics tonight and says she wormed the mare a few months ago, though not with ivermectin.

Is IGG when the vet takes a blood test to see if the colustrum is ok? Because she didn't want the colt to get that needle and not trust humans over it.

This mare was just diagnosed a few months ago with that disease where the muscles store too much sugar, and the horse ties up all the time, so the mare has been living on a high fat diet, don't know if that affects the milk or nutrition. The colt has a very shiny coat, instead of those fuzzy dry ones.

Tomorrow I will check in with my friend about the poop situation again.

[Dressage_Diva333]

Yes, IgG tests to make sure the foal got sufficient antibodies from the colostrum. IMO, it should always be done. We've done it on every single one of our foals, and it hasn't negatively effected any of them. How many days gestation was the foal born at? I had a filly born at 320 days a couple years ago with a very shiny, thin coat, she was a bit dysmature ... and I remember her having a little bit of diarrhea in the first couple days (not bad, it maybe lasted 48hrs, then she was fine), even though her IgG was excellent.

[YankeeLawyer]

Originally Posted by Renascence

Is IGG when the vet takes a blood test to see if the colustrum is ok? Because she didn't want the colt to get that needle and not trust humans over it.

Please dear God get a vet to give this foal a checkup, at least. ALLL of our foals have bloodwork done at birth and none are needle shy as a result. If anything, handling them makes them more, not less trusting of humans.

Foals are very delicate. A problem that is no big deal in an adult horse can escalate within hours in a foal and kill it. They can crash that fast.

[Fairview Horse Center]

IgG test is an absolute must!. It makes them better for shots, and handling, not worse.

Foals/horses live in a very dirty environment. If they did not develop antibodies from the colostrum, they have nothing to fight any bacteria or disease with.

We hold them still for a quick stick, and they learn that humans are stronger than they are. Something that is very good for them to learn. They also learn that although scary, they were ok, and it begins to develop their trust in humans.

[bugsynskeeter]

Originally Posted by Renascence

Is IGG when the vet takes a blood test to see if the colustrum is ok? Because she didn't want the colt to get that needle and not trust humans over it.

Seriously? I work at an equine hospital and have stuck a countless number of foals and a vast majority of them will still meet me at the door for scratches.

I agree with it sounding like Clostridium. Of course, due to where I work, anything with diarrhea is a huge red flag for me.