can penicillin.......

[adashky]

I am treating a 21 day old calf for a navel infection. Since we started treating her with penicillin she shows no signs of an appitite at all. Before we started, she would go to the cow some. But now all she does is lay around and I have to continue to tube feed her. She is alert, bright-eyed, twitches her ears at the flies, is able to get up on her own (which she doesn't want to do unless you force her into it). I am giving her plenty to eat so I know she is not dehydrated. She is just content to lay around.
Could this be a side effect of the penicillin? It just seems strange that it got more noticable since we started this treatment regimn.

 

[1982vett]

I am treating a 21 day old calf for a navel infection. Since we started treating her with penicillin she shows no signs of an appitite at all. Before we started, she would go to the cow some. But now all she does is lay around and I have to continue to tube feed her. She is alert, bright-eyed, twitches her ears at the flies, is able to get up on her own (which she doesn't want to do unless you force her into it). I am giving her plenty to eat so I know she is not dehydrated. She is just content to lay around.
Could this be a side effect of the penicillin? It just seems strange that it got more noticable since we started this treatment regimn.

:secret: Probabaly a side effect of being sick and running fever..........

 

[Lucky_P]

'82vett's nailed it.
Unless an individual is allergic to penicillin(and related antibiotics) - in which case you'd probably have a dead calf - you can literally give them enough of it to increase their weight just due to the sheer volume injected.
That's a bit of an exaggeration, but truthfully, there are virtually no adverse side-effects associated with appropriate dosages of penicillin in non-allergic individuals.

 

[TexasBred]

It will kill a lot of beneficial bacteria in the gut.