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Over the weekend I was asked to help with a 5 week old foal whose mom had died 
on Thursday night from colic.  He wouldn't drink from the bottle - formula milk 
for horse babies - but would lick / drink it from a bowl if mixed with some 
grass hay.  He was grazing quite happily but would ask the gelding babysitter 
very nicely for some milk to which he of course objected!

We tried for about 2 hours to get him to drink from the bottle, but eventually 
he was so tired that he just collapsed and slept for 10 minutes.  I then 
suggested that they don't battle anymore with the bottle and that if he is 
drinking the milk from the bowl, that they carry on like that.  His stools are 
fine and he drinks quite a bit of water - pee is fine as well.

So, how long should they keep him on this milk substitute and is there anything 
else they can give him?  They wanted to start him on concentrates and mineral / 
vitamin supplement but I told them to hold on with that and just to stick to 
the milk, grass hay and grazing for now.

The one foal pellet brand we have here has a protein content of 26% - not sure 
if there are other brands I don't know of but will try and find out.

Thanks
Kristene


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