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Re: [RC] Orphaned Foal - jcheardMy 15 year old gelding was given to me at 7 days old to raise as an orphan (mare rejected him). Using the milk replacer diluted in warm water worked fine given in a bowl. Kept him on that until 'weaning' time. He was happy & healthy. My mare immediately adopted him as her own so he turned out to be a reasonably normal horse. Carol Kristene Smuts wrote: 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 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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