Bottle Baby! I have questions!

[dun]

I think this is a first, but I have to disagree with Larry here :help: .
Don't worry I'm still the worlds biggest "angie" fan .
I am of the same mind as TB on this one. The milk from the store does nothing good for her, is even bad for her. She needs to get off of it and onto MR ASAP. When switching from one MR to another, then switch slow. But from store milk to milk ~ just do it. I think 4 x 2 is not ideal. It is "adequate", but 3x3 would be best. She is getting smaller amounts, and getting more. Now we have confused you maybe ~ sorry. Anyone else have a thought on this?

YOU GOT A BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[angie1]

YOU GOT A BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Lord dun ~ is nothing sacred!? :roll:
Sorry Larry, cats out! ;-)

 

[FutureFarmer]

I think this is a first, but I have to disagree with Larry here :help: . I am of the same mind as TB on this one. The milk from the store does nothing good for her, is even bad for her. She needs to get off of it and onto MR ASAP. When switching from one MR to another, then switch slow. But from store milk to milk ~ just do it. I think 4 x 2 is not ideal. It is "adequate", but 3x3 would be best. She is getting smaller amounts, and getting more. Now we have confused you maybe ~ sorry. Anyone else have a thought on this?

She is doing good. I am getting PLENTY of electro. in her but not much of the MR. Spoke to a vet in the area, he said she should be fine as long as i am getting plenty of electro. and fluids in her, but i do need to push the milk. He also said he wanted to come out to the house to give her some Antibio. (Sec. was suppose to call me back to set apt. and never called me back, 2 hours went by and i called her back, and she said she had to get with the vet, well that was yest... and they still havent called me.) I know now which vet NOT to call when i need one at the house.
I got her to drink ONLY 2 pints of the MR today, she turned the rest down, and spit it out.
She is not wanting to eat feed, nibble's and licks EVERYTHING....

Thanks everyone for the help. I sure hope she does ok. I will keep everyone updated !

Devon

 

[Roadapple]

Ask your vet for some bio-sponge for her. Mix 1 tablespoon in some warm water in a 50 cc syringe and squirt in ,a little at a time, in the back of her mouth so she has to swallow it instead of spitting it back out. Most of the time 1 or 2 times will firm her right up. I also give a 500 cc tetracycline capsule to kill whatever bug is in her stomach. Most of the time 1 time does it. Works for me. Good luck in your new adventure. But I agree with Larry. If she was being fed store bought milk, I would have switched her slower. You can't expect her to go from basically water to a rich milk replacer, at twice as much, to not scour.

 

[angie1]

She is doing good. I am getting PLENTY of electro. in her but not much of the MR. Spoke to a vet in the area, he said she should be fine as long as i am getting plenty of electro. and fluids in her, but i do need to push the milk. He also said he wanted to come out to the house to give her some Antibio. (Sec. was suppose to call me back to set apt. and never called me back, 2 hours went by and i called her back, and she said she had to get with the vet, well that was yest... and they still havent called me.) I know now which vet NOT to call when i need one at the house.
I got her to drink ONLY 2 pints of the MR today, she turned the rest down, and spit it out.
She is not wanting to eat feed, nibble's and licks EVERYTHING....

Thanks everyone for the help. I sure hope she does ok. I will keep everyone updated !

Devon

Is that her in your avatar? Sure is a cute little thing! Anyhow ~ your vet is full of it if s/he said they will do fine so long as she gets plenty of electrolytes. Anything will starve to death on water, it just takes longer than dying of dehydration. How much electro is she drinking? You say she is healthy short of not drinking her MR? Wait her out. Don't give her electrolytes, and see if she is more willing to drink her MR (don't try this if she has scours). OR you could mix the MR and the electrolytes together and wean her off the electrolytes. Are you still concerned she has scours or is that now she is just not drinking her MR? Vet wants to give antibiotics why? Is she running a temp at all? I am hearing you say she is fine now shy of not drinking her MR.

As was asked ~ what kind of grain are you offering that she won't eat?

 

[dun]

Just sort of spit balling, but have you tried mixing small amounts of replacer in whole milk to see if she'll drink that? If she does you can gradually increase the replacer and cut the milk.

 

[FutureFarmer]

She is doing good. I am getting PLENTY of electro. in her but not much of the MR. Spoke to a vet in the area, he said she should be fine as long as i am getting plenty of electro. and fluids in her, but i do need to push the milk. He also said he wanted to come out to the house to give her some Antibio. (Sec. was suppose to call me back to set apt. and never called me back, 2 hours went by and i called her back, and she said she had to get with the vet, well that was yest... and they still havent called me.) I know now which vet NOT to call when i need one at the house.
I got her to drink ONLY 2 pints of the MR today, she turned the rest down, and spit it out.
She is not wanting to eat feed, nibble's and licks EVERYTHING....

Thanks everyone for the help. I sure hope she does ok. I will keep everyone updated !

Devon

Is that her in your avatar? Sure is a cute little thing! Anyhow ~ your vet is full of it if s/he said they will do fine so long as she gets plenty of electrolytes. Anything will starve to death on water, it just takes longer than dying of dehydration. How much electro is she drinking? You say she is healthy short of not drinking her MR? Wait her out. Don't give her electrolytes, and see if she is more willing to drink her MR (don't try this if she has scours). OR you could mix the MR and the electrolytes together and wean her off the electrolytes. Are you still concerned she has scours or is that now she is just not drinking her MR? Vet wants to give antibiotics why? Is she running a temp at all? I am hearing you say she is fine now shy of not drinking her MR.

As was asked ~ what kind of grain are you offering that she won't eat?

Yup, thats what the vet in the area said. Vet wanted to give her antibiotics to give her a boost (as he stated) Have not checked her temp. She is acting fine, stool looks good, she just does not want the MR

:banana: This morning, i went out there and she drank her whole bottle of MR!! :banana:
As for mixing he electrolytes and MR together, Bounce Back Electrolyte supplement says NOT TO. ( Inwhich i only have 1 more pack of, and tractor supply cannot get anymore for a least anoter 21 days. (Great! :? )

Yes that is her in my avatar! ! I will try to post some pictures, that picture was takin on my cell phone.

As for Grain, i can not think of the name, and the tag is no longer on the bag (it must of torn off) A well trusted feed store recomended it. But since she shows no interest in that i am going to pick up some Calf Manna today.

 

[FutureFarmer]

Just sort of spit balling, but have you tried mixing small amounts of replacer in whole milk to see if she'll drink that? If she does you can gradually increase the replacer and cut the milk.

I thought about that..
She drank whole bottle of MR this morning, so hopefully she will get where she wants it.

Thanks for your input.

 

[FutureFarmer]

Ask your vet for some bio-sponge for her. Mix 1 tablespoon in some warm water in a 50 cc syringe and squirt in ,a little at a time, in the back of her mouth so she has to swallow it instead of spitting it back out. Most of the time 1 or 2 times will firm her right up. I also give a 500 cc tetracycline capsule to kill whatever bug is in her stomach. Most of the time 1 time does it. Works for me. Good luck in your new adventure. But I agree with Larry. If she was being fed store bought milk, I would have switched her slower. You can't expect her to go from basically water to a rich milk replacer, at twice as much, to not scour.

i will keep that in mind. She drank the MR this morning with no problem.
Thanks for your input! :tiphat:

 

[FutureFarmer]

Her eyes are a little runny today.. the reason i bring that up is because i was reading about IBR. :???:

She pulls off her bottle while drinking (like to take a break, but goes right back to it..., is that normal?) And her eye's are runny. But her stool is not runny anymore. With IBR wouldnt she have a runny stool at all times :?:

It does not sound like she has any problems breathing.

Sorry for being a pain in the rear, i am just learning about everything, and honestly i have no one that i know that i can go to with questions regarding cattle.

:tiphat:

 

[FutureFarmer]

:frowns: Looks as if i spoke to soon. Her stool is runny and has changed in color. (pic attached to this message.) She is up moving around but not as active as she has been. I think i will have the vet come out tom. to look at her.

 

[milkmaid]

That'd be scours. Mind if I borrow the pic and add it to my files?

(Note: I wouldn't get too concerned about IBR. A little bit of tearing from the eyes isn't that unusual. I've never had IBR in my animals so I tend to think it's not that common. If you are concerned about IBR though, take a peek in her mouth... this is occasionally a symptom of IBR:



It's called white plaque -- in this case under the calf's tongue. Not sure if you'd call it a growth, but it's kind of like that.)

As far as the scours go, I suspected that when you mentioned she was pulling off the bottle, because that's not "normal." Chances are her digestive system just got thrown off by the drastic change in diet. Contrary to what appears to be popular opinion, I wouldn't have made such a drastic switch unless I really felt like dealing with scours. Animals get used to poor quality feed and if they've been undernourished for a long time (months, years, etc), you can actually kill them by changing to a high quality diet immediately. In this case you ended up with a mild case of scours that's easily treatable.

What do you have in the way of antibiotics? even something like oxytet and sulfas would be perfectly acceptable in this case. Keep offering her small amounts of milk replacer mixed with electrolytes to keep her hydrated. Also, if you have some kaopectate or bismu-kote/asprin or banamine, give her that orally about every 6 hours to get her digestive tract calmed down and get her feeling better, and then she'll be more willing to drink. I suspect you don't know how to tube or IV? in that case it'd definitely be essential to keep her hydrated and feeling good. No worries about asking lots of questions; we don't mind.

Best of luck with her.

 

[FutureFarmer]

I Pm'ed you milkmaid!

Thanks for all your help!

 

[spinandslide]

I Pm'ed you milkmaid!

Thanks for all your help!

Future Farmer

Your calf is adorable! She looks like my Bottle Calf, Jewel.
I went through an awful time with scours and illness with my calf..in fact the thread angie referenced was started by me!

First off, I agree that the sudden switch from water-milk to a good MR could/will definantly cause some intestineal issues...I "over proteined" Jewel..to much milk and feeding her straight calf manna..She may have had some coccsydlious as well, as she developed blood in her scours too.

I gave her a round of Resorb electrolytes, a round of Excenel(antibotics), Bio sponge, Corrid for the Coccsydlious, and ended up syringing alot of her MR down her throat..I halfed it, so it was more watery.

Ended up dosing her another round of Excenel, Resorb, Corrid...also gave her some lactated ringers under the skin, some b-12 to stimulate appetite and some banamine to make her comfortable. Also found some BP-1 paste, better then probios, it REALLY helped firm her poo up. also some peptobismol to help calm her stomach down.

I also ended up making the nipple hole abit bigger as well.

My vet never saw her, he gave me meds after telling him what was going on. HE basicaly said I was doing everything he would do, so there was no sense in him seeing her, unless I wanted to "donate" some money to him Scours is NOT uncommon in BC's IVe been told.

Try the resorb, I liked it alot and you can mix it with MR. IT smells really good, like Sprite. my calf loved it.

Mine pulled through and she looked awful.

 

[Tep]

Oh my god, I am having the same exact problems with my bottle calf. Except she got on the other side of the fence and didn't eat for two days. When I got her all she wanted was electrolytes, no milk, and it had to be cool. We are slowly day by day adding more milk and less elecs and warming it up. Today I gave her 3 pints this morning of milk with salt water and she went after it like my kids with a sucker. All gone!! I am only adding 1/2 to 1 tsp salt. Plus I gave her scour pills. They worked for a day and then back to the runs. Will try again today or tomorrow. On my bag of milk replacer it says NOT to give them hay until they are weaned just calf starter, try sprinkleing a little milk powder on calf starter to get her interested. Good luck!

 

[FutureFarmer]

Vet came out this morning. Gave me some anitbiotics (sp?) to give her. (5 days worth) She told me to keep the MR weak. (meaning it says 2 cups for 4 pints) put 1 cup for 4 pints. And she told me to give her small feedings throughout the day of Electro. Vet told me Calf Manna was a good feed for her, and i got some more hay. Instead of me keeping her in her pen she told me to let her out in the yard to pick at the grass,etc.

All is good, I have to leave work in a few to make sure all is well with her. (lol) Glad i have a boss that LOVES animals and knows i will make up the hours!

Hopefully she will get through it. The vet had to have 2 of her assistants to hold her still while she got her meds. She was like well she is full of energy and no where near being dehydrated, you did a good job at keeping fluids in her.

I will keep everyone posted!

How are ya'lls calves doing!?

Devon

 

[spinandslide]

Vet came out this morning. Gave me some anitbiotics (sp?) to give her. (5 days worth) She told me to keep the MR weak. (meaning it says 2 cups for 4 pints) put 1 cup for 4 pints. And she told me to give her small feedings throughout the day of Electro. Vet told me Calf Manna was a good feed for her, and i got some more hay. Instead of me keeping her in her pen she told me to let her out in the yard to pick at the grass,etc.

All is good, I have to leave work in a few to make sure all is well with her. (lol) Glad i have a boss that LOVES animals and knows i will make up the hours!

Hopefully she will get through it. The vet had to have 2 of her assistants to hold her still while she got her meds. She was like well she is full of energy and no where near being dehydrated, you did a good job at keeping fluids in her.

I will keep everyone posted!

How are ya'lls calves doing!?

Devon

Devon
Understanding bosses are GREAT! Mine was great when Jewel was ill and when my mare foaled in the AM, in the mud and water and we spent half the morning getting the foal to his feet.

Sounds like your little girl isnt to bad..mine was terriably lethargic when she was ill.
Be SUPER careful the with calf manna..as I mentioned, I had my calf on it and she was going to town, cleaning up the cup I put in front of her and then she fell ill...it might have been to much MR as well, but everyone Ive spoken with has said "icks-na" on feeding straight calf manna..mixing abit with some calf starter is OK. I put mine on a 12% all purpose sweet feed and its helped her eat more, as she likes the molasses. Gave the calf manna to our horses, I wont give her anymore. Im petrified it will throw her system into a tailspin again.

I have been told, as your vet told you, lots of outside time. I turned Jewel out in the yard this weekend, while I bopped around doing "stuff" in the shop. Let her drag her leadrope, she went into the shop to see my husband and then took off at a run towards the goats when she saw them at the fence. she either tripped on the lead or got her legs tangled together and somersaulted over herself to land on her rump. She got up and was looking all bewildered like "What the heck just happened?" :lol: Ate some, bounced around, and then went back and took a nap. Good to see her healthy and happy after being ill for so long.

Sarah

 

[TexasBred]

Vet came out this morning. Gave me some anitbiotics (sp?) to give her. (5 days worth) She told me to keep the MR weak. (meaning it says 2 cups for 4 pints) put 1 cup for 4 pints. And she told me to give her small feedings throughout the day of Electro. Vet told me Calf Manna was a good feed for her, and i got some more hay. Instead of me keeping her in her pen she told me to let her out in the yard to pick at the grass,etc.

All is good, I have to leave work in a few to make sure all is well with her. (lol) Glad i have a boss that LOVES animals and knows i will make up the hours!

Hopefully she will get through it. The vet had to have 2 of her assistants to hold her still while she got her meds. She was like well she is full of energy and no where near being dehydrated, you did a good job at keeping fluids in her.

I will keep everyone posted!


How are ya'lls calves doing!?

Devon

Nothing wrong with Calf Manna...just don't feed it straight. If you think she needs more protein mix a little bit of it into her other feed. The stuff is 25% protein and will scour one quickly if they eat too much of it. Buy a good balanced calf starter and stick with it. Keep the electrolytes going as long as she is dehydrated and increase the amount of milk replacer slowly. Most milk replacer mixing directions are for large calves as well so consider the size of your calf before mixing.

 

[larryshoat]

Vet came out this morning. Gave me some anitbiotics (sp?) to give her. (5 days worth) She told me to keep the MR weak. (meaning it says 2 cups for 4 pints) put 1 cup for 4 pints. And she told me to give her small feedings throughout the day of Electro. Vet told me Calf Manna was a good feed for her, and i got some more hay. Instead of me keeping her in her pen she told me to let her out in the yard to pick at the grass,etc.

All is good, I have to leave work in a few to make sure all is well with her. (lol) Glad i have a boss that LOVES animals and knows i will make up the hours!

Hopefully she will get through it. The vet had to have 2 of her assistants to hold her still while she got her meds. She was like well she is full of energy and no where near being dehydrated, you did a good job at keeping fluids in her.

I will keep everyone posted!

How are ya'lls calves doing!?

Devon

What kind of milk replacer are you using? If you are trying to give this calf a lb of milk in 2 quarts of water twice a day it's no wonder you're having trouble . I think you need to reread the tag .

Larry

 

[FutureFarmer]

Vet came out this morning. Gave me some anitbiotics (sp?) to give her. (5 days worth) She told me to keep the MR weak. (meaning it says 2 cups for 4 pints) put 1 cup for 4 pints. And she told me to give her small feedings throughout the day of Electro. Vet told me Calf Manna was a good feed for her, and i got some more hay. Instead of me keeping her in her pen she told me to let her out in the yard to pick at the grass,etc.

All is good, I have to leave work in a few to make sure all is well with her. (lol) Glad i have a boss that LOVES animals and knows i will make up the hours!

Hopefully she will get through it. The vet had to have 2 of her assistants to hold her still while she got her meds. She was like well she is full of energy and no where near being dehydrated, you did a good job at keeping fluids in her.

I will keep everyone posted!

How are ya'lls calves doing!?

Devon

What kind of milk replacer are you using? If you are trying to give this calf a lb of milk in 2 quarts of water twice a day it's no wonder you're having trouble . I think you need to reread the tag .

Larry

Its FRM Milk Replacer. It says with the cup they provided (2 of the cups of MR in 4 pints of warm water.) The vet even read over it herself. The cup is small.... I will have to look at the bag when i get home, i think its 1/2 pound per 2 quarts. But she is only getting a little over half that right now.

Thanks for your input !

Devon