Calf vomiting

sucklerlover

Hi everyone.
I bought 25 fresian calves and I'm rearing them on the teats.
One calf went off his milk so treated him with nuflor and I stomach tubed him cos he wouldn't suck. Here's the thing. When I put the tube into him and before I release the milk into him he vomits up about 2 gulps of milk. There's a smell off it too. I feed him 1.5 litres 3 times a day.
Anyone know what's causing this. He's drinking water and chewing the cud and looks ok but is not 100%.
Tia

greysides

It would be better to bottle it in, if that's possible. Tubed milk can end up in the developing rumen which is by-passed if he sucks it, and it ferments in there, irritating the stomach and affecting its digestion, causing scour and bloat and inappetance. If he's old enough and eating enough nuts you could just wean him.

If the milk is fermented that could cause a bit of a smell.

longgonesilver

Can he drink? He could be a bucket fed calf and forgotten/prefers not to suck.
Give him a feed of water and see if his stomach settles down.

Is he bloated before you feed him?

sucklerlover

greysides wrote: »

It would be better to bottle it in, if that's possible. Tubed milk can end up in the developing rumen which is by-passed if he sucks it, and it ferments in there, irritating the stomach and affecting its digestion, causing scour and bloat and inappetance. If he's old enough and eating enough nuts you could just wean him.

If the milk is fermented that could cause a bit of a smell.

When you say bottle it in do you mean like use something like a long neck whiskey bottle. He's not scouring or is bloated. He's not old enough to wean either. Thanks for tips.

sucklerlover

longgonesilver wrote: »

Can he drink? He could be a bucket fed calf and forgotten/prefers not to suck.
Give him a feed of water and see if his stomach settles down.

Is he bloated before you feed him?

He was drinking on the 10 teat feeder for a while until he went downhill.
He's drinking water out of trough. He doesn't be bloated before I tube him.
He just seems 2 have lost his suck reflex. There's probably something not right inside when he's vommiting and doesn't want too suck because of it.

greysides

Yes, a bottle was what I had in mind as he has to physically swallow it himself. Could you bring him to the vet in case there's something you've missed?

sucklerlover

greysides wrote: »

Yes, a bottle was what I had in mind as he has to physically swallow it himself. Could you bring him to the vet in case there's something you've missed?

I gave the stomach tubing a miss today and he drank a half litre from the nipple bottle an hour ago. It's not much but it's a huge improvement in my eyes. He might start to turn the corner now. Thanks for the tips.

Kiltris

greysides wrote: »

It would be better to bottle it in, if that's possible. Tubed milk can end up in the developing rumen which is by-passed if he sucks it, and it ferments in there, irritating the stomach and affecting its digestion, causing scour and bloat and inappetance. If he's old enough and eating enough nuts you could just wean him.

If the milk is fermented that could cause a bit of a smell.

You hit the nail on the head. Persistent stomach tubing is a bad job, I know it sometimes seems like the only option but it can be detrimental to a calves rumen development.

sucklerlover

Just to update he came up 2 the teat feeder this morning and had a good drink but not as fast as his comrades.the constant stomach tubing was obviously affecting him. So he's well on the recovery road. Thanks all for hints/ tips

greysides

The Nuflor is a 48 hour injection so I'd repeat it today. A touch of pneumonia nay be behind his unwillingness to drink and the improvement could be due to the antibiotic so I'd give him a full (4 day) course.