ABSTRACT
The neonate is born into a world filled with pathogens, and the acquired immune response takes some time to develop its full protective potential. For this reason, nature has provided for the very young to obtain immune protection passively from the mother. Depending on the species, this protection may be provided in utero, or after birth in the colostrum. This chapter presents the case of Diamond. Diamond is a three-day-old Hanoverian colt. He was slightly weak at birth and had to be assisted to stand and nurse. The foal's history of having difficulty accessing his dam's colostrum during the critical hours for colostrum absorption makes a provisional diagnosis of failure of passive transfer very likely. Diamond was diagnosed with failure of passive transfer based on the history of difficulty nursing and on additional information provided by the SNAP® and single radial diffusion test results, which confirmed that the foal had not consumed sufficient colostrum to provide protection.
