2 Month Old Dairy Calf With digestive problem

[ptb]

We have a 2 month old Holstein calf we have recently purchased and that we took it to the vet and it is being treated for Listeria. The calf was bottle raised. We have given it Rebound electrolytes according to directions. We have given it milk according to directions and being very careful that the liquid is going into its stomach and not aspirated. Three hours after morning feeding it has spit up the liquid. In the morning after checking on it, it has spit up the liquid from the evening feeding. The vet recommended creep feeding sweet feed or tube feeding We put some sweet feed into its mouth, it chews and swallows small amounts. A couple hours after eating the creep feed, it belches, almost a bellowing strain sound several times and seems to regurgitate this food and rechew it and swallow it but never vomiting it up like the liquid feed. Also there is a very strong gassy smell accompanied with this. Is this the normal way a calf should digest solid food? I have read in "Storey's Guide to Raising Cattle" that soemtime's when a calf has had an infection that it may need lactobacilli (rumen bacteria) to get proper digestion going again. I have put in a call to the vet today about this and and waiting their call, but I thought someone out there may have had this digestive problem and could over some advice. Thank You

 

[dun]

There is some stuff I think called probiotics that a lot of people feel helps after antibiotics. Feed store should have some. Supposed to repopulate the guts with the right stuff

dun

 

[Alice]

There is some stuff I think called probiotics that a lot of people feel helps after antibiotics. Feed store should have some. Supposed to repopulate the guts with the right stuff

dun

Oh heck yeah! Macrobials...brand name Probios, altho there are other macrobials with different brand names cheaper than Probios. Anytime an antibiotic goes into one of my calves, it is followed up with a squirt of Probios...

Alice

 

[msscamp]

You can also repopulate the bacteria with plain old yogurt. Give the calf a tablespoon a day for a few days, maybe a week.