Nutritional management of the foal with diarrhoea.

Summary

Diarrhoea remains one of the most frequent clinical presentations in neonatal and nursing foals, yet nutritional support during these episodes requires a nuanced approach based on the foal's age, diarrhoea severity, and concurrent systemic involvement. Barr's review examines the evidence for both enteral and parenteral nutrition strategies in managing affected foals, establishing that enteral feeding—whether via continued nursing, bottle feeding, or nasogastric administration—maintains superior gastrointestinal function and represents the physiologically preferred route of nutritional support. Parenteral nutrition becomes necessary only when foals cannot tolerate or receive enteral feeds; formulations combining dextrose with amino acids and lipids can sustain metabolic requirements during this transition phase. Practitioners should recognise that parenteral support serves as a temporary bridge rather than a long-term solution, with the goal of reintroducing enteral nutrition as soon as clinical stabilisation permits. Understanding these principles enables more targeted nutritional decision-making during treatment, potentially improving outcomes by preserving gut barrier function whilst meeting the foal's considerable metabolic demands during recovery.

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Key Findings

• •Diarrhoea is a common problem in neonatal and suckling foals requiring management based on foal age, severity, and systemic manifestations
• •Enteral nutrition is superior to parenteral nutrition as it is the most natural and physiologically sound nutritional support method
• •Parenteral nutrition with dextrose alone or combined with amino acids and lipids is appropriate when enteral feeding cannot be tolerated
• •Enteral feeding should be reintroduced as soon as the foal stabilizes

Conditions Studied

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