My weaned foal isn't eating hard feed. Is it safe to buy him?

Hello and thank you very much for your question. Cavs that are not on their mother until fall weaning age of 6 to 8 months are susceptible to infectious gastrointestinal and pulmonary diseases. The scours could be due to a variety of diseases like E. coli, infectious colitis, coccidiosis, other internal parasites, etc. Most likely the cough is due to an acute or chronic calf pneumonia. The coughing may or may not have anything to do with the scours and can be due to Pastorella, IBR, RSV, PI3, etc Both of these clinical symptoms and their associated diseases can cause your calf to become quite sick and in some cases die. I urge you to schedule an appointment with your local large animal veterinarian as soon as possible so that they can do a full physical examination. they also may want to do a fecal analysis to get a diagnosis for the scours also. Your veterinarian will most likely prescribe something anti-inflammatory to get the fever down enough to eat, A strong antibiotic like naxcel/excenel etc, and antiparasitic medication. Thanks for the question.

You should do a 5 day Panacur PowerPac dewormer. I'm not sure where you can buy it there. It is the only dewormer to kill encysted small strongyles which can cause ill thrift and decreased weight. ( https://www.ubuy.za.com/search/index/view/product/B0035IWHKA/s/panacur-paste-horse-wormer-powerpac/store/store ) We'd like to help you but you really should ask your local veterinarian about how to help him pick up weight. We do not know what products you have available to you in South Africa. Your local vet would know. In the U.S. we use Beet Pulp quite a bit to help horses gain weight. If he wild he may be burning off all the calories he is taking in. It is best to have him gelded if he is not going to be used for breeding. That will also help him to gain weight.

Poor Molly! It sounds like she's very sick. Mucus dripping from her nose could be caused by a severe respiratory infection, a problem called choke which is caused by food blocking the esophagus, or some other type of illness. Her lack of appetite and weight loss may be related to this, or could be due to a separate problem. Regardless, if she hasn't eaten in several days, this is an extremely serious problem - she may die without prompt veterinary care, so I would recommend calling an equine vet out to come and see her immediately. He/she can do a complete exam and some diagnostic testing if needed to help determine what's wrong and get her started on appropriate treatment. The foal should start to become used to you the more you are around - feeding and handling Molly, etc. Over time, he will become less afraid and you can begin gently handling him as well. Go slowly and take your time to earn his trust.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on your description, I would recommend having the puppy examined by a veterinarian. He may have a respiratory infection that requires an oral antibiotic for treatment. The sooner you get him seen and treated the better so that the infection has less of a chance to spread through the rest of the litter. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help!

I would be concerned about purchasing the puppy with such a history, there is a possibility it may be an indication of additions issues such as swallowing difficulties, weakened immune system or other internal causes, especially if this pup is smaller than the siblings

I wouldn’t recommend attempting to feed witha syringe - this can lead to food aversions or aspiration. You may want to consider restarting the nausea medication since nausea could lead to a decrease in appetite and I can’t think of an anti-nausea medication that would affect mucus. You could also consider asking your vet about an appetite stimulant medication for the short term.

Hello. If it has been quite some time since the surgery, then the alfalfa pellets are fine to feed. To get his weight up, you can try feeding him an extra meal during the day. This should help. But some horses that undergo colic surgery always seem to remain a little thin ( while others seem to put on too much weight). Adding an extra meal would be a good place to start as well as plenty of good quality grass hay. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.