# Why I need a microscope!



## Cricket (May 9, 2012)

My 2 week old calf Bean, his mom is 1/2 Ayrshire, 1/2 Jersey.  His dad is supposed to be purebred Jersey, but has thrown some pink (Guernsey) nosed calves.  He had scours once at 3 days, reasonable poops since then except for one bout of splat greeny/brown, followed a day later by brown pudding with blood streaks, now 2 days of good poop.  Which coincides with catching on to eating grain that's medicated for coccidiosis.    He is getting 2 qts milk replacer 2 x a day.  At noon he gets 1 qt with yogurt.  I bought a package of Corid ($22.00), but haven't opened it yet.  My vet charges $39.00 for a fecal, not to mention must drive 50 miles round trip and wait 'til next week for results.  

Does it sound irresponsible to ride this out awhile?  He's obviously feeling good.  I'm aware he's thin, as it took a little over a week to get him up to the 2 qts  a feeding without loosening up and now that he's beginning to eat grain I don't want to increase milk.





Was going to name him Target, but he shook his head violently.  4 days old




We're calling him Bean for LL Bean Boots.  2 weeks old


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## redtailgal (May 9, 2012)

Yeah, I got my microscope and love it for a situation like this.

I think your right. I wouldnt panic yet,  I'd keep a close eye on things for a day or two.


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## Cricket (May 9, 2012)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> Yeah, I got my microscope and love it for a situation like this.
> 
> I think your right. I wouldnt panic yet,  I'd keep a close eye on things for a day or two.


Thank you!  I've been looking at microscopes online--the 400x doesn't seem as though it's that much more $ and think I'll do that.  I saw the one you had can take photos of the slides, which I was thinking I didn't need.  But bet it's be really handy for when you want advice of the 'OMG, what is THIS?' nature.  

I'd really like to try a more organic approach to things, but without being able to monitor it myself I don't see that working.  I like my vet and they do chinese herbs as well as western medicine, but the fecal tests alone would kill me.  Plus they don't really seem too interested in discussing acceptable worm loads.  

The only downside I can see at this point is that I could miss some obscure thing and the fact that I can't really afford it right now, but, oh, well!


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## redtailgal (May 9, 2012)

This is the one I use:

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-443...NGCK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336589471&sr=8-1

I highly recommend it.  It works wonderful.  here are some pics taken with it:


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## kelsey2017 (May 10, 2012)

I love that calf!  He is so cute with his 'boots'! I hope you are able to tell what's living in him and evict it, rather I hope there is nothing bad in there (if I am going to hope for you, I should do it right!)
 I have to drive my cow and calf to the vet in order to get her seen. ( I need more than just a fecal though)  He is very nice but will charge me $3 per mile to come here and I am about 70 miles away!  Everyone please raise your children to be large animal vets, for the sake of our pocket books, lol.


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## Cricket (May 10, 2012)

I am already wondering why I decided on the cute, smart, calf instead of sticking to the big galunks!  He ain't looking like food right now, is he?!  He's got good poop now--can't beat that!
$3.00 per mile!!!! He better be darned pleasant!  My vet lives 1/4 mile up the road (but his office is 25 miles away now) and he charges $28.00.  I can hear his truck start when I'm doing chores so can wait 'til the last minute to snag whoever I need.  AAAGH!


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