STILL scouring! Pics-can you tell if they're dehydrated?

[chicks & ducks]

Hi all, sorry to be so troublesome I think my first two calves had me a bit spoiled, now I'm paying for it with these 3. They've all been scouring since I got them a week ago. 1 had pneumonia and was VERY sick-has bounced back from that but still has scours. The other two(whom I've separated from the one with pneumonia) have since scoured about 3 days ago. Wasn't sure if over feeding, general stress from move from sale barn or what. Been treating them with an electrolyte mix from the coop that 'firms' them up. Was also offering milk, usually drunk but not always a full bucket-didn't force it, but offered it as per local vet's instructions. She say she NEVER takes away food, always offers it in addition to electrolytes. She also told me to STOP buying the expensive stuff from the co op and start making my own-50/50 dextrose, sodium chloride and potassium chloride. She said to go ahead and add it to their water if they're drinking it(which they were). We also discussed adding an egg to each bottle to help-whites firm them up and yolks have extra protein so she said go for it!

I've looked up a recipe for electrolytes on line and found one that includes baking soda. I know that you can NOT feed this the same time as milk because the soda affects the curd in the tummy so this morning I fed a bottle of water/electrolyte/baking soda mix, 2 hours later offered regular milk(with egg and prebiotics in it). Free access to water during the day while I was at work, milk again(with prebios in it and egg). At this point they all looked ok, 2 had wet noses even. Heffer(one of the 2 with wet noses) was running around like she was the happiest lil cow on the farm Still, they all have that runny(snotty runny, not pudding runny) poo! As they were still all runny I went back at 9pm with bottles of electrolytes again-what they didn't drink was poured into their normal water buckets.

I've tried looking for images of dehydrated cows and I just can't tell what 'sunken eyes' looks like! When I pull their skin it seems to go back pretty quick.
Took some images and was hoping someone could have a look and give an opinion. The vet says it's likely nutritional scours and they just need time to adjust to new farm/diet etc. I'm wondering how long this can go on before I should be concerned.

Anyway-images! Taken on a phone, sorry about quality.
This is Holy Cow when we first got him-he was sick with pneumonia(one of my many previous/recent posts)
Poor baby.

Holy Cow after Draxxin, much improved, still scouring though. Temp was 102.3 tonight

Heffer, scouring but still has good sucking reflex and wet nose. Temp was 102.6 tonight

Bull calf, Dry nose and temp of 103.3 tonight

Heffer and Bull together

 

[jhm47]

Hard to tell from pictures, but they look fine to me. Keep them hungry, get them on a good quality starter feed with either rumensin or bovatec. Let them have a really good quality hay, and they likely will be just fine. Good luck!

 

[she-earl]

A home-made remedy to "plug them" is up to one cup of flour to a quart of warm water. I would try about half a cup and give it to a calf with the bottle. It doesn't provide nutrition but it does stop the runs. How much is "a full bucket" that you are feeding them? I would not feed them more than three pint right now. Are you feeding milk replacer or whole milk? If it is milk replacer, I would stop feeding them that. Is there a farmer near you that has milk that they can not put in the milk tank? If so, I would get this type of milk from them to feed to these calves. Sometimes that is needed to help get them over the scours. I would again only feed three pints twice a day to each calf of this milk warmed. Our vets have told us that you there are times when a calf may need the cow's whole milk to knock it. Once they are over the scours, then gradually switch back to milk replacer. Use one pint of milk replacer mixed with two pints of whole milk for several feedings or a few days. Then go to two pints of milk replacer mixed with one pint of whole milk. I would do this for close to a week. Then go to all milk replacer. I would not bump them up to four pints of milk replacer twice a day until you have done this and their poo is normal.

 

[Cricket]

Have you had them tested for coccidiosis? Is the poop greasy/clay looking? I've had to treat 2 of my last 3 calves with Corid, even though they're on medicated milk replacer and eating a little calf starter. RTG always recommended having the poop tested, but where I live it's like $40. for a fecal, so with the coccidiosis I just treat them.

When my calves scour, I take them totally off milk. The first day they get strictly electrolytes. I liked the First Response, but last time used the Durvet and added a tablespoon of Metamucil and it seemed to work just as well. The second day, they get half milk replacer and 1/2 electrolytes, less milk if they're still loose. I bump up the milk slowly. If their poop is in the white to orange range, you may be feeding them too much.

 

[chicks & ducks]

Posted pics on a new thread

 

[california cowgirl]

Hello,
I see your photos and I see it has been a while but they sure looked like calves I was dealing with last winter and winter before. Same symtoms and looked the same. It was so hard to find the problem and we used the state vet hospital and the state vet to help us thought we had a bad bug. Constant scour symptoms and would eat then not eat would eat then not eat grinding teeth which means their bellys hurt. Thought maybe ulcers. Finally found out it was our calve milk replacer since all the tests came back normal for disease. I have found out the hard way that Soy products in the calf milk replacers causes scour symptoms bloating and fermenting in the gut since they do not have the enzymes at that young age and not for months to digest it. It acts like scours....so check your ingredients and labels on your calf milk and check for Soy Flour, Soy protein concentrate, Modifed Soy flour and Soy Protien Isolate which is better more protein and has been processed to take out the fiber and make it more digestable. sorry for all your troubles and I see it is so sad my calves actually died from bloat or diarreah which cause malnutrition and organ failure. I didn't want to think my name brand milk replacer was bad and it had soy flour in it which is the worst and the cheapest. google soy flour in calf milk replacers and see the info on the guides to milk replacers or the calf notes about soy flour and read how they make this stuff and the good and not so good ingredients. It is sad that we have to educate ourselves. The other trick I learned was raw egg and plain yogurt full fat with activated charcoal in the mix to take out the bad bugs. The egg is protein and antibodies and the yogurt is the good probiotics. Baby calves are born with NO immune system and they get it all from the cows milk and that does not happen till around 4 months of age. Also Fasttracks is a good probiotic too. Looks like ground up cereal. Another company I found with good products all natural for scours and the GI tracts of calves is VanBeek naturals so look that up too. Their scour tubes and products were great. I saved my last calf by switching milk and will never make that mistake again. I am hoping to help educate more people and save some calves lives.