have been treating a calf for scours for four days. Just when it seemed we turned the corner and the calf was getting stronger, it now has a thick mucus drooling from the mouth.I have never had this problem before. Any idea's? Thanks Dan
scours
- Thread starter danzangus
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cattleluvr18
Well-known member
so im guessin its on the cow...first thought was crypto unforunetly but then the mucus part threw me off. never had a calf with crypto have thick mucus. you didnt put alot of detail so im also takin it that you have been treating it for scours. all i can tell you is put some more details, call a vet, and hope that someone more experienced can tell you whats wrong.
hillsdown
Well-known member
cattleluvr18":2pse2l3g said:
I may seem dense but what is "crypto" never had ;or heard of this term before?
cattleluvr18
Well-known member
hillsdown":26kup49h said:
crypto is a very sad, slow dying desease. calves get the scours really bad and dehydrate. there is no vaccine for it and the best you can do is pump electrolytes down them. it affects the respitory system also. if you get a good amount of colustrom down them it will provent it most of the time. the long name for it is Cryptosporidium and if you search it on google you can find some good articles on it and its symptoms. and you could do a search of it on here. there have been some threads about it. oh yeah...humans can get it too so if you think that you may have it make sure to wash your hands when your done with the calf.
http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio38/h ... crypto.htm
that is a good website.
hillsdown":1wx6mv4p said:
No, you don't seem dense. "Crypto" is short for cryptosporidium - a type of scours caused by a protozoa for which there is no cure. It tends to be highly contagious, and the only thing that can be done for crypto is supportive care, try to prevent it from spreading, and hope the calves recover. Another name for cryptosporidium - at least in this area - is death scours.
Well it has been over a week and the calf is still alive. I have never had one hang on this long with scours this bad. Yes I have been using electrolytes. At first the cow wouldn;t milk then the calf got so weak. Fortunetly a neighbor had some colostrum , so I did get over a quart in the calf within 24 hours. The calf is now nursing, but very weak. The mucous has disappeared so I guess there;s hope. Thanks Dan
gendronf
Well-known member
msscamp":cpytbzf6 said:
Maybe there is no cure in the USA but in other part of the world there is a med HALOCUR made by Intervet. In Canada you can get it from your vet on an experimental basic. In Europe since a few years.
Marcel
I have just gotten myself through this ordeal, and here in indiana there is a vaccination for crypto. however, I bought a 2 day old calf from a farmer i was not familiar with and this little calf got scours really bad, after two weeks of trying to treat it on my own and the calf severly losing weight i called the vet, they immediately IV'd him and told me to feed him three times a day, take him off of milk for 2 days and give him oral antibiotics, 1 weeks later the calf was much worse and could not barely stand, although he would try, so i called another vet, explained to him what the previous vet had done, and requested a culture test on him to see why he was so sick, so they came out and the test showed positive for E.coli after 3 more weeks of 4 feedings a day and tons of medicine he is over it, My opinion is call a vet ask over the phone, if not have them come out and test him for other things before its to late.cattleluvr18":3950oswi said:
