Enteral feeding of sick newborn foals

There have been significant advances in the understanding of nutritional requirements and in the availability of new methods Of providing nutritional support to ill neonatal foals. Such support is essential in a:foal that is unwilling or unable to Suckle on its own. Enteral nutrition involves the delivery of nutrients into the gastrointestinal tract, where they are partially or fully absorbed or use by the patient. For long-term nutritional support, enteral feeding is the preferred method because it is less expensive than other methods, promotes gut maturation, and provides nutrients to sustain gut epithelial integrity. Every effort should be made to provide a neonatal foal with a diet that is at least partially composed of mare's milk. Sick foals require energy ata level of at least 120 kcal/kg/day (6000 kcal/day for a 50-kg foal). Because mare's milk contains approximately 0.5 kcal/ml, a foal must ingest approximately 12,000 ml/day. Most complications associated with enteral feeding occur during the introductory phase and involve abdominal pain and distention, gastrointestinal reflux, diarrhea, constipation, dehydration, or hyperglycemia. Mild Gases of abdominal pain and distention respond to withdrawal of the diet for 2 to 4 hours followed by gradual reintroduction. If continuous pain and distention are observed, enteral feeding should be replaced by parenteral nutritional support. This column considers methods for providing enteral nutrition to neonatal foals and focuses on management of nutritional support in sick foals that cannot suckle voluntarily.