dull calf, sick calf?

[mermill2]

WE took her temperature, 103.5 rectally, As I was taking it, she pulled away, yellow diarhea came out. Scours, I believe. Anyway called the vet, she recommended electroyletes and antibiotics. I have both on hand. I forgot to tell the vet her temp was 103.5 .I forgot how the temp runs for a calf. I remember it can be at least 102 rectally.Anybody know ?

 

[ffamom]

102.5 in normal for a calf.

 

[mermill2]

Are there any other remedies besides optimil and electroyltes for the scours???? gary

 

[Alice]

If by remedy you mean cure, unless the scours are caused by a bacteria, no, there is none.

If the scours are caused by a virus, there is no cure...you just have to keep the calf hydrated and nourished until the virus is gone.

The only way to know if the scourse are caused by a bacteria is to have the feces analyzed by testing by the vet. At that point the vet can prescribe what antibiotic will treat it.

Even then, if the scours become severe, be they bacteria driven or virus driven, the scours will not cause death...the dehydration and electrolyte balance is what causes the death.

Some people swear by pepto and raw eggs and whiskey...any number of things. Maybe they work sometimes. Personally, I've tried them all with no success.

To survive, the calf has to be treated consistently...and the calf has to be made of sturdy stuff...and even then, no matter what you do...even if you go out and howl at the moon, the calf won't make it. At that point, all you can do is chalk it up to the calf having had to much wrong with it to overcome it. At least that's the only way I can keep the stress and physical exhaustion from eating me up.

Alice

 

[Alice]

One other thing...get probios and stuff it down that calf every time you try to feed it...and especially after you've given it antibiotics.

Alice

 

[mermill2]

Thanks for all the replies, we are still checking and working on her. Gary tried to keep her momma away, but has failed. We gave her some milk replacer with optimil in it. took temp it is 102.9 rectally, has stayed that way for hours. Started seeing her nose run out of one nostril. So gave penicillin. WE tube fed her feeding of milk replacer. I would have liked to try the bottle, but Gary wanted to tube her, He holds her down, while I do the actual feeding. I really don't like to do that, I would prefer to try the bottle. I don't want to overfeed her. We will be going over there again, our farm is a little ways from our house.It is pouring down rain, we have the calf in the barn, finally get the rain we need. Is it true that temperatures go up in the evening.? I found that to be true of people, a lot of times. We are going to try the bottle on her, with some electroyltes, hope she will be able to try it at least. I am afraid momma will feed her, and she will not take anymore. but she did have some electroyltes earlier. If momma feeds her, she wil be getting fluids.I hope she doesn;t prove to be a train wreck. Like I said, I did talk to our vet, she figured this was a pretty good way, I hope so. I am open to all comment. I tried to see where there was some probois, none at the place I called. Not much here in this area, that is open on Sunday. I will try to get some early tomorrow. Thanks again for comments.

 

[Alice]

If that calf will take a bottle, use it! As far as I'm concerned, tubes are a last resort. And, let her nurse her mama.

Oh, man, there's so much that comes into play here. Like, if the calf looks full, or if you kind of rub her tummy and it sounds like it's sloshing, don't tube her anything.

Let her nurse her mama as much as she wants to. If you notice dehydration, then make her drink the electrolytes.

Sometimes, in our quest to do all that we can, we can intervene too much. Again, if the calf will nurse her mama, let her...she needs the nutrition and the bond with her mama. Calves can get depressed...and give up.

Alice

 

[msscamp]

Are there any other remedies besides optimil and electroyltes for the scours???? gary

For viral scours - no, all you can do is provide supportive care, keep them hydrated, watch for secondary infections, and hope. For bacterial scours there is SMZ, Spectum, Terramycin tablets, and several others that I can't think of right now, as well. To check for dehydration, pinch a fold of skin and release - the faster it snaps back into place the better hydrated the calf is. 102.5 might be the 'norm' for a calfs temperature, but it can vary by several degrees under different circumstances and still be 'normal'. A temperature below 102.5 is a bigger indication of a serious problem than a temp of 103-104. I would also seriously reconsider using any kind of tetracyclines mixed in milk because the milk reduces there effectiveness and also because they bind with the calcium in milk and can cause broken mouth later on.

If your calf has bright yellow diarrhea, he probably has milk scours and it will probably rectify itself in a day or two.

PS Tubing would be a last resort type thing for me. To many things can go wrong.

 

[mermill2]

I wasn't going to put tetracycline in her milk replacer. From what I remember, they don;t mix. She is resting right now, temp is 102.8. Thanks for all you suggestions. Merry

 

[msscamp]

I wasn't going to put tetracycline in her milk replacer. From what I remember, they don;t mix. She is resting right now, temp is 102.8. Thanks for all you suggestions. Merry

If you check the label on the Optimil you have been using to treat the scours you will find it contains oxytetracycline.

 

[milkmaid]

I wasn't going to put tetracycline in her milk replacer. From what I remember, they don;t mix. She is resting right now, temp is 102.8. Thanks for all you suggestions. Merry

If you check the label on the Optimil you have been using to treat the scours you will find it contains oxytetracycline.

From Vicky the vet....

Well, as information for both of you, terramycin is one of the tetracyclines, which bind irreversably to calcium, which I think you'll agree is found in milk. Thus it will work somewhat, but less than optimally. Also, it will deposit on forming teeth, causing enamellar hypoplasia, which can lead to broken mouth if the animal is kept.

and

Terramycin is an antibiotic which binds to Calcium. Milk has calcium. Hmmmm....why bother using it in the milk? It has been proven NOT to work...

 

[msscamp]

Terramycin is oxytetracycline.

 

[milkmaid]

:nod: I was just posting what Vicky wrote once...confirmation of what'd already been posted. It wasn't a rebuttal of what you'd said, msscamp. ;-)

 

[msscamp]

:nod: I was just posting what Vicky wrote once...confirmation of what'd already been posted. It wasn't a rebuttal of what you'd said, msscamp. ;-)

 

[mermill2]

Sorry, about that folks, don't know what I was thinking about. with the tetracycline. I remember now that it is oxyteracycline. in the optimil. I used it last year in our bull calf's milk replacer. He did fine, had no problems from it. The little heifer calf seems to be doing better, she is pretty strong. Highest her temp has been is 103 , it has gone down to 101.9. Her stool is not diarhea , that helps. Went to the same vet on Monday, that I that I had talked to and got advice on Sunday. Got Neufor(sp) and banamine, she got those yesterday. She seems less dull. Can you give that optimil or advance product( same as optimil) with just plain water???? The product tech guy didn;t know??? I will call the vet and ask her. She was getting a runny nose, I was thinking that she may have had an upper resiratory thing, or getting penumonia. The neuflor should help with that. Going over to check on the little calf and her mom. The calf looks like a charlois, but her mother looks like a black angus. I have heard that charlois, dominate. Thanks Merry