Nutritional support for neonatal foals.
In recent years, equine neonatal medicine has made significant advances. The importance of nutritional support for the sick neonatal foal has been recognized, and methods of providing that sup-port have been developed. Today, the clinician has many options when designing a nutritional plan for the neonatal foal. When the foal's gut permits, enteral diets are an inexpensive source of nutrients. Under conditions where the gut requires rest, methods for delivering nutrients by the parenteral route have also been developed. In this article, the nutrition of the normal and sick foal is described. Guidelines for designing a nutritional plan are also reviewed.
Buechner-Maxwell
Virginia A
VA
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Phase II, Duck Pond Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0442, USA. bmax@vt.edu
D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006736:Horses / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D018529:Nutritional Support / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D015430:Weight Gain