Help!!!

[Anonymous]

I hope someone can help.I have a 7 week heifer calf.About 1 week ago I noticed she had loose stools,2 days later I brought her and Mom in the barn.Gave calf,penicillin,electrolytes,and scours tablets.Did this for 4 days.I gave her some probios also.Some days she seems like she is on her death bed,moaning like she is in pain,breathing is labored,then the next day she seems a little better.She has always ate off mom.No temp so the vet says its not pneumonia.The vet says she just needs a few days to work whatever she has out of her system.But I wonder if I can afford to let her go that long.I hate seeing her in pain.Can anybody suggest anything else.

Thanks in advance

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[Anonymous]

Had a bull calf with similar symptoms this spring, but he had pure water scours. We were dumping electrolytes down him and treating to firm him up with no response. Turned out that he had been stepped on and had a lacerated intestine...nothing we could've done to save him. Things like that can be awful discouraging.

Hope you have different results.

 

[Anonymous]

I think we all have had one like this a time or two. Ours acted the same way, finally the vet listened to his heart lungs. He thought maybe the lungs were scarred or something. Turned out he had a defective heart valve. If she doesn;t show marked improvement in a couple of days, get the vet out again, or take her to him/her/it and have her checked out real thoroughly. Our vet has been around for a good number of years and even worked for MARC for a while, he said this was only the third claf he had seen with this problem, so it can happen. When the obvious fails, start checking the unusual, just make sure the obvious has been completely checked out.

dunmovin farms

> I hope someone can help.I have a 7
> week heifer calf.About 1 week ago
> I noticed she had loose stools,2
> days later I brought her and Mom
> in the barn.Gave
> calf,penicillin,electrolytes,and
> scours tablets.Did this for 4
> days.I gave her some probios
> also.Some days she seems like she
> is on her death bed,moaning like
> she is in pain,breathing is
> labored,then the next day she
> seems a little better.She has
> always ate off mom.No temp so the
> vet says its not pneumonia.The vet
> says she just needs a few days to
> work whatever she has out of her
> system.But I wonder if I can
> afford to let her go that long.I
> hate seeing her in pain.Can
> anybody suggest anything else.

> Thanks in advance

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like an abomasal ulcer. Has she been licking? (This could be from a hairball from having lice.) They're hard to treat, but your vet should be able to help. Good Luck V

 

[Anonymous]

> Sounds like an abomasal ulcer. Has
> she been licking? (This could be
> from a hairball from having lice.)
> They're hard to treat, but your
> vet should be able to help. Good
> Luck V How can I found out more on Abomasal Ulcer??Also I was just wondering about Coccidiosis?? Calf seems better today.Eating pasture,off Mom and eating some mineral?? Thanks

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

Abomasal ulcers would likely be researched on google.com under a title such as bovine abomasal ulceration. Coccidiosis generally doesn't cause pain but can kill, esp Eimeria zuernii. You can look that up on google as well. Good Luck V

 

[Anonymous]

Everything I've ever found on antibiotics said that penicillins and tetracylines shouldn't be given together (the only Scour Tablets I've ever seen were Oxytetracycline).

Ann B

> I hope someone can help.I have a 7
> week heifer calf.About 1 week ago
> I noticed she had loose stools,2
> days later I brought her and Mom
> in the barn.Gave
> calf,penicillin,electrolytes,and
> scours tablets.Did this for 4
> days.I gave her some probios
> also.Some days she seems like she
> is on her death bed,moaning like
> she is in pain,breathing is
> labored,then the next day she
> seems a little better.She has
> always ate off mom.No temp so the
> vet says its not pneumonia.The vet
> says she just needs a few days to
> work whatever she has out of her
> system.But I wonder if I can
> afford to let her go that long.I
> hate seeing her in pain.Can
> anybody suggest anything else.

> Thanks in advance

 

[Anonymous]

The reason for this is that penicillins are bacteriocidal (kill bacteria) and tetracyclines are bacteriostatic (stop them from dividing) so frankly, they stop each other from working properly. Many scour pills are NOT tetracyclines. Sulfas, neomycin etc are much more common here. Just on a tangent, I rarely use tetracyclines on young (esp heifer)calves, since it causes enamel hypoplasia, which will cause "broken mouth" later in life from the permanent, unerupted teeth being damaged during formation. Sulfas are causing a problem in the food chain, with many rendering (dead stock) plants refusing any carcass with sulfa residues, so this use as a scour tablet is not universal. I live in Canada, so this may not be pertinent in your area.