Scours in a calf, weak calf, calf that is also being treated for pneum

[heatherlynnky]

Holy cow can we pick them. My dad decided it was time to get a cow. So he bought a 5 month old heifer jersey calf in horrible shape. I mean seriously horrible. Ribs showing. Hips stick out so bad, sides sunk in, running eyes. BAD. ok so I have been feeding her, she has lots of room to roam now, lots of grazing. plenty of hay. Not that she can afford to lose anything. Then she started coughing along with the runny eyes. Vet had treated for pink eye. Now he thinks its pneumonia. Great. LA200 every other days for 4 doses he says. I add to that shove probiotics between shots. She developed scours. So now I have to back her off the grain for a couple days. She got her la200 and a vit b shot yesterday. She got probiotics yesterday and today. We also got some scours meds. She got all her vacinations the morning after we brought her home. I just don't know what to do for this gal. I have pics on the camera if I could get my card reader to work. She is scrawny, not active at all, lays around alot the past day. Ran around like she was drunk right after we gave her the shot. Working my rear off trying to get this calf on the right path. Ideas? help? Our farm vet is not interested in treating farm animals anymore so he is doing the bare minimum. He doesn't even wanna run fecals on anything but a dog or cat. I paid for one to be done on my goat and it took 3 days. So in between farm vets right now. Could worms cause scours or could it just be the grain? Not sure how much if any she was given. Not even basic care seemed to be given.

 

[redtailgal]

I would hit her with some Ivermec pretty quick. Load her up with probios for a couple days afterward and then repeat the process in three weeks. Doasage depends on what you get, so look to the label for instructions.

I get the scours when I am on antibiotics too, I eat lots of yogurt to help with it. A little pepto drench may help her as well. (um, honestly, the last time I had a large calf scouring from antibiotics, I just poured a bottle of pepto down her throat. the whole thing. She had just kicked me and I didnt feel like playing nice )

And, to be blunt, right now quit worrying about putting weight on her. She needs to have all this other mess straightened out first, THEN she can pack on the pounds. She's getting all these meds and her already weak system is just overloaded. She NEEDS the meds, but the weight is just not an issue right now. Go easy on the grain until she is off the antibiotics.

One step at a time is all you need to focus on right now.

To recap:

Take a breath.

Ivermec

easy on the grain

probios probios

pepto (you may want to be a little nicer about it than I was, btw)

Once she is off the antibiotics, EASE her grain up to where you want it.

And name her "Patience" ..........It helps. She will learn her name, and when things get rough you just repeat "Patience Patience Patience" it will sooth her and remind YOU of what you need.

I've had lots of calves names Patience (and a few named stupid dumbutt)

 

[heatherlynnky]

haha stupid dumbutt. Ok sorry that just hit me just right tonight.

Ok well we got some kind of yellow pill that had to be crushed for scours from the vet. My mom picked it up so no clue what it is( memory does not last long) but i got all 3 pills down her. She gets 3 more pills tomorrow. They said to go ahead and give the wormer tomorrow so thats what we are going to do. Her belly is big and the rest of her is Mrs skeleton cow so, worms are pretty likely. Wish they would do the stupid fecal. I gotta find another vet soon. She has medicated feed so just did a small amount of that with some molasses on it and then pour my yellow powder over it. She licked the bowl clean so I know she got every bit of the meds. She got la 200 yesterday and b12. She is getting another dose tomorrow. Thats for the cough and the eyes which already look and sound better. The vet wanted 4 full doses though. She got powdered probios 3 times since the first antibiotic. Tomorrow after the shot I am going to pump some of the gel down her. I can get more down her that way. I guess its still a good thing she is eating and such. My dad is just convinced that with my tlc she will be fine. So no pressure.

Will the b12 help her like it helped my goat?

 

[redtailgal]

Yes, I'd give her the B12.

The yellow pills are sulfa pills. it's a good thing to have them, they may help.

I think she'll be ok.

 

[heatherlynnky]

The sulfa pills did help alot but after a couple days without it she is back to runny. Granted we are still having to give the anitibiotic. Her last dose was to be today. We held off giving it until tomorrow when an experienced cattle guy is coming for a visit. Hoping he can shed some light on what we are dealing with. I got some sulmet III pills I think. lol not positive on the spelling, I might be confused a bit. Supposed to shove 6 huge pills down her if I listen to what I am being told. Again that comes in the morning when the cattle guy comes. Her poo is dark green and runny but still there is some body to it. Not much but she is still active enough to try to run me over and she is still eating. Still shoving probiotics down her. So we are holding our own. The cattle guy is someone who normally we buy our hay from but he is a nice older guy who has been raising them all his life so if he can't help me, well me and my jersey are in trouble at that point.

So between the goat and the calf I have learned that buying an animal that is not in top shape is more headache than it is worth. Its worth the care to the calf but its a lot of heartache and stomachache for the new owners. I lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks just with all the extra running and worry this calf has caused me. Upside to spending so much time with her is when she is not trying to run me over, she will now eat out of my hands some.

So what you guys think? Is this still antibiotic caused or am I dealing with worse. When do I get wicked worried. Despite all this she still seems to be looking better than she did but I know the poo is not right. So confusing.

 

[Cricket]

Did you get the fecal? Does she have Coccidiosis? I know people that use Sulmet for it, but it doesn't seem to work as well as Corid on cows.

 

[heatherlynnky]

Vet didn't feel a fecal was necessary. I am a bit irritated right now with our farm vet. They went city on me and getting the other vet we know of to return a call is not happening. I am actually considering learning how to do a fecal myself in the future, thats how irritated I am. So no, no fecal yet but there will be one done tomorrow come heck or my mother chewing out the vet ( think 4'10" austrian grandma who strikes fear with just the use of her little pointing finger). The cattle guy wants to come look at her and the poo though anyway. The vet just gave us pills and said to use them last time. I have both meds sulmet and cordid and one other that turns the drinking water yellow in my little medicine locker. Thats the other lesson I learned. Emergencies needing meds always happen when the stores are closed. Her cough is gone, her runny eyes are gone, we are just finishing this last dose of antibiotics tomorrow and then we are down to just runny poo.

I almost considered locking her up and making her just eat hay, that maybe her hogging out on all the grass is causing so much issue. It took a very healthy goat I bought a week to get over lush grass being available. This calf was not very healthy so maybe between antibiotics and lush grass?? is that possible. she was in an all dirt small pen before. She only got hay and a tiny amount of grain. I did cut her grain down in half which seems to have helped......I never thought having lots of good green stuff to eat would cause me issues.

 

[jhm47]

Lush green grass will nearly always cause runny stools in cattle, especially if they are not used to it. I'd get her back on a normal ration of grain ASAP if you wish to add condition to her.

 

[heatherlynnky]

My mom took a sample to the vet for me. The vet was wrong, a fecal was needed. What was causing this was some sort of water born parasite and what he gave us and what we could buy would not have treated it. We have 3 tubes of meds to give orally for the next 3 days. He said its normally found in some fouled ponds. Well ours isn't so sorta thinking she came to us with this issue and maybe the stress, heat, change in food, anitibiotics made whatever this is get an upper hand. Who knows, but she should be good after this. Considering her improvement the vet also said that the 4th dose of antibiotics was not needed. Thank God, cause this heifer hates me already because of those shots.

 

[redtailgal]

keep us posted.......I'm hoping this is it and it all works out for ya.