stomach tubing a calf

_Brian

Coccidiosis is a possibility but surely the vet would have thought abkut that.

It’s frustrating but keep the electrolytes going in. While they can live a time on little food they die quickly from dehydration.

charolais0153

Stomach tube in electrolytes and natural yoghurt. 3 or 4 times a day. Dose for coccidiosis too

Sami23

charolais0153 wrote: »

Stomach tube in electrolytes and natural yoghurt. 3 or 4 times a day. Dose for coccidiosis too

What dose would be best for coccidiosis ?

She was actually weaker this evening so it's not looking good at all

Lime Tree Farm

Sami23 wrote: »

What dose would be best for coccidiosis ?

She was actually weaker this evening so it's not look thing good at all

we give Vecoxan at 18 to 21 days old for Coccidiosis. I wouldn't give that to your calf without consulting your Vet.

I would be inclined to think your calf at 10 days old has Rotavirus, To prevent it in calves, we have to vaccinate annually the pregnant cows prior to calving.

charolais0153

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

we give Vecoxan at 18 to 21 days old for Coccidiosis. I wouldn't give that to your calf without consulting your Vet.

I would be inclined to think your calf at 10 days old has Rotavirus, To prevent it in calves, we have to vaccinate annually the pregnant cows prior to calving.

10 weeks

charolais0153

Sami23 wrote: »

What dose would be best for coccidiosis ?

She was actually weaker this evening so it's not looking good at all

We give dycoxan or Vecoxan, ask vet for drip tomorrow am if she's still in it

longgonesilver

How much milk did the cow have?

Packets of electrolytes don't contain enough food to maintain even a very young calf. They are designed to support a calf for a few days only. Consult your vet again on on going treatment and feeding.

whelan2

How is she today ?

The11Duff

Tomjim wrote: »

can you stomach tube a calf a number of times or should it be restricted. Calf with a scour and it is handier to stomach tube

My vet advised me to use a dosing gun. Its far easier.

Sami23

whelan2 wrote: »

How is she today ?

Ah she's worse - flat out in shed not able to lift head. Gave her more electrolytes but no saving her I'm afraid at this stage.
Thanks to everyone for their advice and help.

Westernrock

Sami23 wrote: »

Ah she's worse - flat out in shed not able to lift head. Gave her more electrolytes but no saving her I'm afraid at this stage.
Thanks to everyone for their advice and help.

Stomach tube 3-4 L of electrolytes into her, it sounds like she’s been getting more and more dehydrated. You would never get enough into them with a dosing syringe and are more likely to give them an aspiration pneumonia.

Sami23

Westernrock wrote: »

Stomach tube 3-4 L of electrolytes into her, it sounds like she’s been getting more and more dehydrated. You would never get enough into them with a dosing syringe and are more likely to give them an aspiration pneumonia.

I'll give it a go but can't see her doing any good. Her eyes are well sunkin in and even a muscus starting to form in her eyes now. I can't get her to take much milk at all either

Sami23

longgonesilver wrote: »

How much milk did the cow have?

Packets of electrolytes don't contain enough food to maintain even a very young calf. They are designed to support a calf for a few days only. Consult your vet again on on going treatment and feeding.

The cow has average size bag of milk. A 2nd calver chx

Westernrock

Sami23 wrote: »

I'll give it a go but can't see her doing any good. Her eyes are well sunkin in and even a muscus starting to form in her eyes now. I can't get her to take much milk at all either

The sunken eyes is a sure sign of dehydration, I’d be guessing she’s 8-10% dehydrated if she’s down so you will need to give 8-10% of her body weight in fluids to correct this, never mind what she would need on top of the deficit. 1L is 1Kg so if she was 80kg 10% is 8L, now I know you won’t give that all in one go, ideally she would get 3L of it from a drip and 3L orally then another 3L orally later tonight. You have nothing to lose at this stage by trying to tune her, death usually occurs at 12-15% dehydration. Dehydration kills more calves than the actual diseases that cause the scour in the first place and unfortunately the only way to get a calf over these bad scours is lots of fluids, even if it was only water it’s better than nothing.

patsy_mccabe

By the way, have the water at body temperature when tubing her. I tubed a newborn today that hadn't drank after 3 hours. I hate tubing. You're always worried that you are gone into the lungs, especially with a weak calf.

Westernrock

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

By the way, have the water at body temperature when tubing her. I tubed a newborn today that hadn't drank after 3 hours. I hate tubing. You're always worried that you are gone into the lungs, especially with a weak calf.

You should be able to feel the tube going down the oesophagus when it’s in the right place, ask your vet to show you sometime they are out

Lime Tree Farm

Vet Tommy Heffernan

https://www.google.com/search?q=tips+for+stomach+tuube+a+calf&oq=tips+for+stomach+tuube+a+calf&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.9939j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

patsy_mccabe

Westernrock wrote: »

You should be able to feel the tube going down the oesophagus when it’s in the right place, ask your vet to show you sometime they are out

Ya, I know all that. Still when you're struggling with a lively calf and he goes nuts when the tube goes down, you're trying to hold the calf with one hand, hold the tube off the ground and still try to check the tube is right..... not easy.

Westernrock

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Ya, I know all that. Still when you're struggling with a lively calf and he goes nuts when the tube goes down, you're trying to hold the calf with one hand, hold the tube off the ground and still try to check the tube is right..... not easy.

I know, so many times with different jobs where an extra pair of hands makes the job 10x easier but you always find yourself on your own 🀷*♂️🀔 I usually put the calf in a corner next a gate and hang the bag on the gate then check it’s in the right place before opening the valve on the tube. I find they only really start fighting when it starts to flow into them so I lift the bag off the gate when it’s opened so I can move with the calf abit but trying to keep them fairly still with my legs! Not easy!!

Mooooo

Use the tubes with the screw on caps for the feeder bottles here, much easier to hold than a bag. When we had the one with the bag used to have a hook to hang of a gate for it. Quiet calf grand, but the lively ones that are too stubborn to drink can be a pain. Nearly always end up with either a kick to the head or to the balls!