Practical Approach to Nutritional Support of the Dysphagic Foal

Coordinating suckle-swallow and breathing activities requires a complex integration of motor and sensory signaling. This ability is only partly perfected in the newborn, and disease can disrupt this process easily, resulting in hypophagia or dysphagia. Nutritional support is an important component in the treatment of the sick foal, whether the animal is an orphan or accompanied by its dam. Indwelling feeding tubes designed for use in the equine neonate facilitate the delivery of enteral nutrition to foals that have developed dysphagia due to a variety of diseases. Providing nutrition through the enteral route is a relatively safe and inexpensive method of supporting the dysphagic neonate through its disease process. Careful management of the feeding tube and diet is essential to prevent complications such as enteritis or aspiration pneumonia in the foal. Author’s address: Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Duck Pond Drive, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0442; e-mail: [email protected]. © 2012 AAEP.