ENTERAL FEEDING OF SICK NEWBORN FOALS

There have been significant advances in the understanding of nutrition al requirements and in the availability of new methods Of providing nu tritional support to ill neonatal foals. Such support is essential in a:foal that is unwilling or unable to Suckle on its own. Enteral nutri tion involves the delivery of nutrients into the gastrointestinal trac t, where they are partially or fully absorbed or use by the patient. F or long-term nutritional support, enteral feeding is the preferred met hod because it is less expensive than other methods, promotes gut matu ration, and provides nutrients to sustain gut epithelial integrity. Ev ery 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 ener gy ata level of at least 120 kcal/kg/day (6000 kcal/day for a 50-kg fo al). Because mare's milk contains approximately 0.5 kcal/ml, a foal mu st ingest approximately 12,000 ml/day. Most complications associated w ith enteral feeding occur during the introductory phase and involve ab dominal pain and distention, gastrointestinal reflux, diarrhea, consti pation, dehydration, or hyperglycemia. Mild Gases of abdominal pain an d distention respond to withdrawal of the diet for 2 to 4 hours follow ed by gradual reintroduction. If continuous pain and distention are ob served, enteral feeding should be replaced by parenteral nutritional s upport. 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.