Antimicrobial therapy in neonatal foals

There are several differences in treatment of neonatal foals with antimicrobials, compared to mature horses. Firstly, the dose of many antimicrobials is different in the foal. For orally administered drugs, this may also affect their efficacy, due to different enteral absorption. Secondly, neonatal foals are not yet hindgut fermentors and this allows antimicrobials with a high propensity to cause colitis in mature horses to be used. Thirdly, toxicities are different and some antimicrobials used in mature horses, such as enrofloxacin, are not suitable for use in foals. Foal-specific information is therefore needed for their safe and effective treatment with antimicrobials.