11/10/10, 12:57 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,808
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First, can’t be coccidiosis – takes about 3 weeks for symptoms after exposure to bugs.
Minor amounts of blood can be from inflammation of the intestine, not necessarily from an infection. For example, overfeeding or use of certain milk replacers results in the excess milk being fermented further down and that can be irritating to the gut lining. If the calf is bright and alert with good appetite, nothing to worry about. Most of us could find occasional blood in our stools if we looked enough.
Somehow, we have to get over the antibiotic habit. Oral antibiotics to calves do more harm than good. Not sure why a vet would recommend them unless just to give you something to do. Here’s one article discussing scours, from which I took excerpts below. Would be good to read the whole thing.
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/cat...l/em/em8513-e/
Quote:
Antibiotics are commonly given by mouth to treat calf scours. Researchers and veterinarians now believe the overall effect of oral antibiotics is detrimental to calves. The common diarrhea agents mentioned here are either not affected by antibiotics or are highly resistant. The agents do not respond well to most antibiotics commercially available for oral use in calves. Furthermore, K99, E. coli, is routinely cleared by the calf as long as fluid therapy is provided to keep the calf alive. The bacteria that invade the gut lining and move into the bloodstream (E. coli and Salmonella) generally respond better to antibiotics given systemically (intramuscularly (IM), subcutaneously (SC), or IV).
Antibiotics given orally alter the normal population of organisms in the gut and sometimes predispose the calf to super infections or fungal infections. Some antibiotics used for scours actually inhibit glucose absorption and alter the cells that line the gut wall. In these cases, continuing to use antibiotics prolongs diarrhea.
Summary
The most effective treatment for scouring calves is to administer fluids. Because affected calves may be weak and chilled, additional nursing care can be very important. Providing warmth, dryness, and adequate nutritional and fluid support are critical.
Fluid therapy is most effective when given aggressively and early in the course of the disease. Caught early, most calves respond to oral fluid therapy. More severely affected calves, for example those too weak to rise and the very dehydrated, require other routes of fluid administration, such as intravenously, to save their life. Other treatments may be beneficial, but they are far less important than fluid and electrolyte replacement.
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