5 day old Calf REFUSING to eat

[Auntina]

Oh oh....I have a problem with one of the calves. She is refusing to eat today. She is tonguing the nipple, chewing on it and pushing it to the side of her mouth. She refused this morning, at noon and again this evening. I normally feed 2x a day but since she didn't eat, I made an attermpt at noon.
I just saw her wandering and sniffing around the barn. I ran to the house and made a 1/2 bottle, came back out, she was lying down. Tried to pick her up but she refused to stand.....and refused to eat again. Her stools are yellow, soft, not watery. My hubby thinks I need to give her some Penicillin just in case. I have no idea if I should or how much to give her. Subcutaneous or intramuscular? 20g or 18g needle? Any suggestions or am I in a panic for nothing?


I'm not positive but I believe she is 5 to 6 days old

These are Hereford/Holstein Cross

 

[ksalvagno]

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21695

I hope this post may help you. I don't know anything about cows. I hope she starts eating for you.

 

[redtailgal]

Oh oh....I have a problem with one of the calves. She is refusing to eat today. She is tonguing the nipple, chewing on it and pushing it to the side of her mouth. She refused this morning, at noon and again this evening. I normally feed 2x a day but since she didn't eat, I made an attermpt at noon.
I just saw her wandering and sniffing around the barn. I ran to the house and made a 1/2 bottle, came back out, she was lying down. Tried to pick her up but she refused to stand.....and refused to eat again. Her stools are yellow, soft, not watery. My hubby thinks I need to give her some Penicillin just in case. I have no idea if I should or how much to give her. Subcutaneous or intramuscular? 20g or 18g needle? Any suggestions or am I in a panic for nothing?


I'm not positive but I believe she is 5 to 6 days old

These are Hereford/Holstein Cross

Hi there.

Can you give a little history on her? How did she come to be on the bottle and when? What and how and how much have you been feeding her ..... The bolded question is very important.

I would hold on on the Penicillin. If she does not need it, giving it to her will only create a resistance problem later down the road. This is a pretty normal thing with calves, and if treated promptly, usually clears up fairly easy. It sounds as though she may be trying to get a little dehydrated. If you cannot get the electrolytes I mention later in her, you will need to tube feed her. Dehydration will kill a calf quicker than.....well, alot of things.

Yellow poop indicates a milk scour.......she may not be in full blown scour yet, though. For now, I would take her completely off milk, and grain (leave hay out if she has already been eating it).
Give her a big dose of probios (found at your farm store, get the paste kind) or give her a carton of Activia yogurt (any flavor or any other brand that boasts digestive health or ACTIVE culture).
Do this once a day until she is back to normal, then continue for a couple more days (you'll be able to mix it in her milk then).

Instead of giving her milk, for the next 24 hours, give her electrolytes. You can find bovine electrolytes at your farm store, or you can use pedialyte. She should get a quart to a quart and a half three times a day, tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow, her poop SHOULD start looking better. If not, get some sulfa pills, or a powder based stuff usually called "Scour Halt". Give a dose of scour halt. NO milk. Continue the electrolytes, but add a little molasses (just ONCE) if you have to use them the second day. (about 1/4 c per quart and a half of electrolytes)

If her poop DOES look better the second day........give her HALF her normal portion of milk, but make up the difference with water. FOr example, if she drinks a 2 quart bottle, make one quart of regular milk and pour in another quart of water. Do this for one day.

On the third day, if the poops look worse, back up to electrolytes and scour halt or sulfa pills.

If they do look better, try her at full strength milk in the morning, and check her poop a couple times during the day to make sure she isnt back sliding.

At her age, she should be drinking about 1 1/2 quarts to 2 full quarts of milk twice a day........

Many things can cause milk scours........giving too much milk (its EASY to do, they NEVER seem "full"), mixing the milk too rich, using dirty equipment, or leaving a soap residue in the bottle/nipple.

 

[Auntina]

We acquired the calf Tuesday evening from a beef/dairy farm. We have been feeding her Dumor Supreme,medicated--- 2qt, 2x a day. She was quite the aggressive eater until this morning. All my calves poops are the same color so I thought it was normal at their age. Kind of a yellowish/orange. I thought this to be normal for milk fed calves. I would have never expected it to be scours since she was not runny. wow!
Alot of good information you have given to me. Problem is...how do I get her to eat it? Guess I'll pick up a drencher, too.

Thank you for your help. I will update.

 

[redtailgal]

When we have one refusing to eat, I just tube feed. It's easier than drenching (in my opinion anyway, lol) with less risk of aspiration. It's not a hard thing to do, its actually pretty easy once you get past the nervousness.

When you pick up the drencher or tube feeder, go ahead and see if they have any B12 injectible and a couple needles......I go with an 18 gauge. Follow the dosaging on the bottle, it should help bump up her eagerness to eat.

Whether you drench or tube, ALWAYS offer the bottle or bucket first or you'll end up with a lazy calf that wants you to just pour it in.

If she continues to have trouble taking the bottle, try switching her to a bucket. Just put her milk in the bucket, and if she will suck your fingers (try dipping a finger in some molasses to encourage), lower them into the bucket. Just a word of warning........dont have your face over her head while you do this. I've gotten seriously "bonked" a few times when a calf gets a mouth full of milk from the bucket and jerks their head back in surprise.

If he wont suck your fingers, get a helper to hold the bucket and poke his little nose in the milk. Dont torture him.....this isnt waterboarding........just dip his nose and maybe splash a little into his mouth so he'll get the taste.

 

[Auntina]

Good News! This morning we took a bottle out and I'll be darned if she didn't nearly knock my son over to get to that bottle. Maybe we overfed the previous day? Not sure why she refused to eat before but I am going to stock up on most of the items that have been shared within these replies. And still may give her some electrolytes just in case.

 

[Auntina]

My local CO-OP does not sell Pro-Bios but he gave me some Neomycin Oral Sultion instead. He said it was to treat scours. Can I or should I mix it with some Re-Sorb or just with the milk? I now have another calf that is definatley scouring out. (liquid poopies) He is about 10 days old, the other 13.

 

[redtailgal]

I've never had any luck with Neomycin oral. As for as mixing it, the calf shouldnt be getting milk while it has scours, so I'd mix it with some electrolytes.

Probios is not used to treat scours. It's a probiotic used to help level out and enhance the healthy bacterium in the gut. It wouldnt cure scours, but would help prevent it from getting worse and help prevent it reoccurring. If you cannot get probios, you can use active culture yogurt. It must be active culture. Activia is what I usually get, but any of the yogurts that boast "regulating" or "digestive health" would work. I'd give about 1/2 to a whole of the small containers for a couple days, then move down to a tablespoon (I dont measure I just slap in a glop).

 

[Auntina]

Redtailgal: How are you giving the calves the yogurt? Bottle, syringe, plop it on their tongues?

 

[redtailgal]

Redtailgal: How are you giving the calves the yogurt? Bottle, syringe, plop it on their tongues?

um......well. yes. However I can get it in them. If they are taking a bottle I will mix it in the contents of said bottle. If the calf is strong but refusing to take the bottle, I drench it. If a calf is weak, I will tube feed it along with meds and electrolytes.