Blood in stool

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cmunsell

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Went to check on a group of heifers today. Happened to see the back end of one ~10 month old while she did her business and noticed blood in her rectum. Manure pile looked normal, not loose at all but there was a bloody mass in with the manure. About this size of a half dollar and slightly fibrous.

She is otherwise acting fine, keeping weight and acting normal - ran across the pasture to the cube bucket when I shook it. Vet doesn't open until Monday - any ideas what it could be?

Will try to post a picture as soon as I can figure out how to do it on my phone.
 
She probably has a small bleed in the rectum, given that the blood is all together with some mucous. She shouldn't need anything.
 
The GI mucosa is highly vascular and it is not uncommon to have a small degree of bleeding from it. I'm not sure what starts it, some sharp roughage that didn't get fully digested? stretching? I don't know. The same thing commonly happens in people where they will occasionally see a streak of blood in the feces. When the blood is in discrete pockets or streaks, rather than well mixed with the other feces, I take that to indicate it happened towards the end of the digestive tract. If the bleed was farther up in the small intestine, it would be mixed with the feces more homogenously. Also, I'm guessing the fibrous material around it is mucous being produced by the rectum. It can collect between fecal balls, I'm guessing he is seeing a mass of mucous and blood that collected between two segments of feces while in the rectum.

When you hear about a calf with blood in the feces, the obvious impulse is to say cocci. But this doesn't sound quite like a cocci calf. Cocci is more often seen in calves younger than that, either the 1-2 month age range or around weaning time. Older calves can and do get it, but less commonly have it severe enough to show symptoms. Additionally there is no sign of diarrhea. And I think cocci calves will have the blood more thoroughly mixed in with the feces. And she is out on pasture where transmission is less common. None of these are guarantees it isn't cocci, but I don't think it is likely. There shouldn't be blood in the feces from a heat cycle either, that should all be vaginal. Theoretically maybe she could of defecated and then leaked some vaginal blood on top of the pile, but this is probably blood from the GI tract.

I wouldn't treat with corid at this point either. If anyone else in the group shows signs that are at all convincing they have cocci, or a fecal is conducted showing decent levels of cocci, then I would medicate the group with corid in the water. But if it is just this one animal with these mild symptoms, I would bet some sustain III pills would clear it up and you wouldn't have to medicate the whole group or repeatedly get this one in and drench her when cocci may not be all that likely in the first place.
 
That kind of blood passed from the rectum is not normal or common. Regardless of whether the heifer in question is 'acting normally' or not, if I'm seeing that sort of bloody mucus passed... I'm thinking 'coccidiosis' until proven otherwise. Older calves can have significant disease... for instance, I've seen major coccidiosis outbreaks in groups of 2-yr old dairy heifers.

Biggest economic losses due to coccidiosis are in the calves that are infected but not clinically-affected... no diarrhea, no blood, but enough damage to intestinal mucosa to significantly impact performance. $$$ losses due to deaths and animals requiring treatment pale alongside losses due to lost growth and performance.

You need to have fecals checked, and if exams indicate coccidiosis, then I would absolutely recommend mass treatment of the entire group. One animal passing blood may be just the tip of the iceberg...and could be the harbinger of a disaster in the offing.
 
A picture is worth a thousand words! Looks a lot like a sample I took to my vet probably 6 years ago. Couldn't figure out which one of my retained heifers produced the bloody stool but treated them all. BTW I used the Corrid pellets in their feed, which was easier (in my case) than the liquid form in their water. Good luck!
 
Thanks all - I'll get a sample to the vet later this week. Any harm in treating corrid while I wait on the results?
 
No, you can start it right away. The sample will degrade with time. If you are submitting some from that fecal pile, you will want to have it looked at sooner than later, but will have a little time if it's been refrigerated.
 

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