Bloody Scours?

Heritage · #1 05/31/05, 03:08 PM

My babies are doing well so far, but I have a problem with one of them now. Instead of the regular yellow scours, he is passing blood. It doesn't appear to be much at a time. Within just a couple of minutes he passed some blood, then what looked like yellow scours, then the next time I saw him, he passed a little more blood. What do I do?

Heritage · #2 05/31/05, 06:48 PM

It looks like it is going downhill fast now with the bloody one. He's just sort of laying there and that's it. He doesn't want to eat or drink. I got almost a pint of electrolites in him, but that was about all he could handle. He just looks wiped out. He was fine this morning, at 4 pints of milk replacer with no trouble. FIL gave him a shot of orthotricycline (something like that) but he's still dragging. He doesn't look dehydrated just wore out. What can I do? I'm afraid he won't make it through the night. Please help me out here.

agmantoo · #3 05/31/05, 08:46 PM

Heritage,
Sorry to hear you have problems. With your thumb and fore finger grasp the hide/hair on the side of the sick calves neck and pull outward then observe the skin as you release same. If it leaves a tent/pyramid the calf is dehydrated. Do not let the calf remain dehydrated. If so. it will die quickly. I will not make any suggestions regarding treatment. Your FIL had his ideas and I have my own regimen. Both may work or both may fail in this situation. It is too difficult for me to give advice without actually seeing the animal. I hope you understand.

Ronney · #4 05/31/05, 09:22 PM

I tend to go with Agman on this one. Your calf has Blood Scours, a condition generally caused by Salmonallae or Coccidiosis. The disease pull a calf down very rapidly. Please, stop mucking about and get veterinary advice for this calf asap and having something on hand in case any of the others contract it - and there is a strong possibility they will as one calf will pass it on to the other through the faeces.

Remove the good calves well away from the infected calf and thoroughly clean anything that the infected calf may have come in contact with.

Cheers,
Ronnie

agmantoo · #5 05/31/05, 09:40 PM

Heritage
Read here regarding you calf's situation
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/animaldisease/g269.htm

Heritage · #6 05/31/05, 09:50 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. His skin doesn't tent nor are his eyes sunken. He took another pint of electrolites about a half hour ago - went a little better than the last time. I didn't see any more blood, he actually got up and walked around a bit, but still didn't want to suck. He is in a separate stall than the others, separated by a tin divider, so the others don't come into contact with his feces at all. The others look much better. FIL is kind of funny about some things - at this point the calves are sort of his, just kept at my house. When they are well, then he will pass the baton - not a moment sooner if you know what I mean. I can't always agree with him, but he did pay for the calves so on some things I'm letting him take charge. He said he had called his vet and the vet recommended the shot. I am having to force him to swallow the electrolites - the calf not the FIL

I am doing what I can do without straining the relationship - like I said, he's funny about some things. Not to talk bad about the man, just understand he is an old-timer and set in his ways, even if he doesn't know what his ways are. I am completely new to calves, so I am here to get the best education from those who are actually doing it. I'll check the calf in the AM and see what it looks like, hopefully things will turn out alright!

Agmantoo, please fill me in on your "regimen". That is why I am here; to learn what others do in these situations. My hands are sort of tied with this one, but if I can learn something here, if the situation comes up again, I will be armed and ready. So please, let me know what you would do. I know you can't make too much of a diagnosis without seeing him, but let me know what it sounds like to you and what you would do about it, please. Thanks so much.

JeffNY · #7 06/01/05, 12:25 AM

Not sure how it will work with blood scours, but try pepto too, or cayopectate. It does work, we used on with a calf with scours. We force fed them, used a syringe (sp) without the needle obviously, and got it down there throat. It went the right way, you rub the neck to force it down, vs letting it go for it. But I don't think pepto or cayopectate will hurt aside from the electrolytes. It will help to make his stool more solid, so he gains nutrients, vs passing them out the other end, Good luck!

Jeff

Heritage · #8 06/01/05, 07:34 AM

The little fellow seems to be doing much better this AM. He was alert, got up with just a little nudging, and took a quart of electrolytes without much coaxing. He doesn't appear to be dehydrated at all and is quite a bit more active than yesterday afternoon. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Heritage · #9 06/01/05, 01:58 PM

My baby looks like he is doing very well compared to yesterday. He is moving around quite a bit, bucking at the bottle again, and just in general looks good. His stool is still very loose, but I don't see any blood any more. He is on electrolytes still and drinking well. Thanks for all the help. Agmantoo, thanks for the link, I used one of those electrolyte recipes and it seems to work well, and the info was very informative, thanks.

Ronney · #10 06/01/05, 04:02 PM

Good news Heritage and I hope he keep going upwards.

That is a good link, very informative and I see one of their electrolyte recipes is one that I use without the Karo.

What is Karo as I havn't heard of it over here although we may call it by another name?

Cheers,
Ronnie

agmantoo · #11 06/01/05, 05:01 PM

Karo is a syrup (fructose) extracted from corn. IMO it is substituted for dextrose in home recipes for scour treatment due to ready availability. If the calf is fructose intolerant then the calf will have a compunded occurence of scours. If you do any research on fructose you will question why any of us eat it! I like the bought treatments such as a product called Diaque. Even better, I like not having to treat.

Ronney · #12 06/02/05, 06:24 AM

Thanks for that Agman although I must admit to being none the wiser. If we have it over here I havn't come across it which doesn't mean to say that it doesn't exist here. I use glucose in my home made electrolyte and that has always done the job. I rarely have to resort to bought treatments but will do if the problem is obviously one that I can't treat otherwise - like you, I would rather not have to treat at all.

My schooldays were over many moons ago but do recall learning about the different sugars. Your comments on fructose have made me curious and I shall have to go away and do a search.

Cheers,
Ronnie