Answer: Pneumonia The
following morning I performed a necropsy on the dead foal. The chest
cavity was full of yellow fibrinous fluid and his lungs consisted
of mostly inflammatory tissue. There was no functional lung tissue
in any of the lung lobes. The foal’s trachea was full of frothy
fluid. Samples of the foals lungs and tracheal fluid were submitted
for histopathology, culture and sensitivity. Results verified that
the foal died of a severe pneumonia caused by streptococcus bacteria
species. This ranch was a Thorobred breeding facility with approximately
70 head of horses on the property. Examination of the breeding facility
showed that 3-4 month old foals were kept in the same pasture as
8-9 month old foals. Several of the older foals appeared to have
a chronic cough. They were brought into the barn were they could
be treated with antibiotics for 7-10 days. The owner and ranch help
were schooled on proper husbandry techniques for age grouping their
herd and how to identify potentially ill animals and separate them
from the herd.
The
following morning I performed a necropsy on the dead foal. The chest
cavity was full of yellow fibrinous fluid and his lungs consisted
of mostly inflammatory tissue. There was no functional lung tissue
in any of the lung lobes. The foal’s trachea was full of frothy
fluid. Samples of the foals lungs and tracheal fluid were submitted
for histopathology, culture and sensitivity. Results verified that
the foal died of a severe pneumonia caused by streptococcus bacteria
species. This ranch was a Thorobred breeding facility with approximately
70 head of horses on the property. Examination of the breeding facility
showed that 3-4 month old foals were kept in the same pasture as
8-9 month old foals. Several of the older foals appeared to have
a chronic cough. They were brought into the barn were they could
be treated with antibiotics for 7-10 days. The owner and ranch help
were schooled on proper husbandry techniques for age grouping their
herd and how to identify potentially ill animals and separate them
from the herd.