# HELP! Sick calf please hurry



## dwbonfire (Aug 6, 2013)

I have a jersey bottle calf a week and a half old. Has been doing good on the bottle and i have been slowly increasing. Right now both calves get 2 pints in am and 4 pints in pm. They are on the medicated powder for pneumonia and scours. This am he didnt finish the 2 pints and was doing like a hacking after eating. Not sure if he inhaled air. I was gone for the day and came to check and he was laying down with a puddle if diarrea behind him. I forced him up and hes been arching his back and stetching. Has not walked much and seems weak. Also is shivering, maybe from abdominal pain? Hes back down now. Feed store closes soon, what can i do?!


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## elevan (Aug 6, 2013)

Personally I'd give him some livestock pepto and a whole lot of probiotics to start.

Hopefully someone with more experience in cattle will come along shortly to give more advice.


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## elevan (Aug 6, 2013)

Have you checked his temperature?


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## Cricket (Aug 6, 2013)

This is RTG's scour page.  Hope it helps.
I am still having trouble with getting my pages to show in the correct form for other browsers.

Heres is the info on the page:

Scours in a calf
Scours can and will kill a calf, and will do it quickly. Be alert for scours, and be prepared to react quickly.
Signs to watch for:
dirty rear end, tails, hooves, bedding, etc.
puddles of poop
excessive gas
fatigue
lack of appetite
swollen belly
treating scours:
YOU MUST USE ELCTROLYTES. WATER ALONE WILL NOT SAVE A SCOURING CALF.
First notice the bowel movement. Is it very thin and watery? what color is it?
What sort of odor does it have?
A dietary scour can be green from having too much pasture time on new or wet grass. This scour may have a slight odor. Yellow or white scours often are the result of getting too much milk, or being introduced to milk too quickly. The white or yellow scours may have a sour milk smell to them.
A black or brown scour can be due to worms, coccidia, poisoning and a wide array of other things. An immediate fecal check is in order if the bowel movement is overly foul smelling, bloody, has visible worms or undigested grass.
There are many types of scours treatments available. I dont tend to use them unless it is absolutely needed. If needed, I will used a product called "Scourstop" or just plain pepto (bovine formula from the farm store) and electrolytes. I will not use any type of treatment other than a Sulfa tablet and electrolytes until I am certain of the reason for scouring. 
I will use a Sulfa tablet, twice a day for 7 days in most cases. You can find these at your local farm store, and use the package for guidance on dosages.
For electrolytes, you can use a powderded electrolyte replacer, or a gelling electrolyte, both from your local farm store. You can also use pedialyte (the kind for humans) as an electrolyte replacer. 
So how do I use all this stuff?
At the first sign of Diarrhea, stop feeding milk completely. Follow this schedule:
day 1: all bottles with electrolytes for 24 hours. offer 1 quart of pedialyte in the am, at noon, and in the pm.
day 2: make your normal mix of powered milk. Use only half of what you would normaly feed in one ration, and add an equal part of electrolytes (for example, if you normaly feed a 2 quart bottle, mix 1 quart of your milk with 1 quart of electrolytes). 
continue with this mixture until poops are "puddiny" (literally looks like pudding).
After poops are puddiny ....give one quart of full milk (no electolytes) in the am and in the pm.
If the poops are still good, bump the feedings up to a quart and a half in the am and pm.
Then go on up to two full quarts in the am and pm.
If at anytime the poops return, go back to day one or two , depending on the severity of the situation.
Take your time in building them back up to full ration, if the calf is very poor or the bowels very loose, I will often take two days for each step.
Use the sulfa for the full recommended time, even if the symtoms are gone.
Keep the scouring calf off of the grass if possible. Once everything is back to normal, reintroduce them to grass a little at a time.
Let the poop on their rear dry and then brush it off. Dont get it wet......you will be in a really gross and ooey gooey stinky mess. Do watch that your calf doesnt end up with poop drying and "sealing off" their butthole, making it impossible for them to poop.
Keep the calf warm, dry and calm.
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Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.  Ephesians 4:25
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