Mimito2

Last weekend I bought 3 bottle babies from a local dairy. 1 was supposed to be 3 days old. Well I lost him this morning. He took scours which we treated and fixed. At one point he had small blood streaks in his stool. The whole time he had a clear runny nose. When he would lean his head to the side they would stream water. We gave him antibiotics and fed him alternating 1 quart of milk sub and glucose mix every 4 hours. Last night at 10:30 he ate well and looked better. Still nothing worked. Just so sad, he was such a cute little fellow. Anyone got any advise as to what it could have been and what warning signs to look out for next time? I am thinking he was taken form mom to soon.

bluteddi

i agree, he was taken from the mom too soon. I had better luck with goat milk replacement milk. I never had a calf get scours on the goat milk.
My dad used to mix in eggs for calves that did get scours,,,,,

when they are so young, they need to be feed every few hours, in smaller feedings

Mimito2

Thanks for the tips. I questioned the farmer when I got them about ages and how much he was feeding at one time. He was giving 2 quarts of diary run milk to all 2 x a day. The other 2 were 5 and 8 days old at the time of purchase and seem to be doing fine. Oldest is now eating small amount of sweet feed (about a cup) and nibbling hay and grass on his own, just tasting. I was just afraid it might be contagious and the other 2 could contract it from contact.

SuzyQ

I've got a bottle baby now myself. His momma tried but I swear this calf is just plain STUPID! No way he would have ever lived if we'd left him with her. I've had him in the barn for 3 weeks now an I'm still not sure if he's going to live. Sometimes not matter what you do you just can't win. Good luck with the other 2.

Susan

Rose L

I wonder it the calf was given any colostrum as soon as it was born? It sounds like pneumonia and scours combined. It's been my experience that you can't save them no matter what you do. I often will keep one alive for a few weeks with treatments but they just never seem to get strong and eventually die anyway. Sorry you lost the little fella.

sisLH

I just had a baby goat whose mom rejected it. I gave him goat milk by bottle every two hours around the clock for nine days. He slept next to a woodstove for extra warmth.We had given him a steroid shot and an antibacterial shot but he still got scours and then pneumonia. I had given up but then the vet finally gave one last shot for the pneumonia. The scours ended the next day. Within two days, he was eating and now is 9 weeks old, full of 'piss and vinegar' (as Grandma would say) and follows me everywhere!

Jagsd3

For the last five years I have taken in my Dad's bottle calves that for one reason or another (one mother prolapsed and died day after given birth, one the mother absolutely would not have anything to do with, one was a twin and it's legs were twisted back and he could not get up and mother did not have enough Milk, one would just bunt the little guy so we ended up just taking him away.) Anyways all, but one of them when shortly after getting them started on milk replacer would get sickly. Whether it was stress, overeating, or a touch of other illness I can not totally say. But they all made it and the only thing I can come up with is after mentioning this to some good friends of mine they came and gave them a shot of "C&D Anti-toxin".

Now the calf I had last year I swear to the Lord above we did absolutely everything for her that we could from antibiotics, to you name it within three days she was laid out. My son and I went out every half hour made her get up and move to keep everything moving. I finally called my friend and he brought over a shot of the C&D Anti toxin. His medicine was outdated but we used it anyways. Now this was at about 10 o'clock in the morning that the shot was givin,, off and on thru out the day we would move her, and just keep buggin I guess you could say. About 3 pm I had lost just about all hope, she wouldn't even help try to stand anymore. Though we kept moving her. About 5 oclock that evening my son came running out of the house(we were on the side hill raking) and watching he ran to her she jumped up and followed him.
I swear to you this is true, and if I would not of seen it I would not have believed it! They were inseperatable after that. So I would really check into this stuff It was called
C & D Anti-toxin. It has worked for every one we have used it on.
The year before I had one of my friends' calves the mother wouldn't take it, we bottle fed her and then when the green grass started coming up she would eat on it she ended up sick they came over and gave here a shot of it. They said they may have to do two doses and maybe a dose of pepto too if she didn't show improvement by the next morning. She was much better so didn't need more. There again it ws the same medicine.
It's worth a try. I wouldn't be without it now.

I really don't think it was from taking away too soon. Sometimes there is no choice in the matter wich was the deal with most of the ones I have ended up with.
When these little ones are first born go little amounts, ( 1/3 bottle) more often, in other words 1/3 to half a bottle and work up to the normal. Also, if you're unsure if they have gotten mothers first milk, you can purchase that also.
The twin I had last year we were able to milk the mother and give to him while the other twin did his own. I also purchased some for him, because I was not sure how much my dad was able to get into him.

I have not personally bought it( the anti-toxin), but from what I understand it is a big quanity that is why I would just call my friend rather than purchase a whold new bottle for one calf.

I hope this helps.


PS: I just was thinking if you watch their legs depending on which stage you catch it in, they will lift slightly and do a twitch with it, usually the back like they are trying to kick their stomach though it is not real noticable, also you may notice a Slight and Really depending on the circumstance a slight swelling in the stomach area. Ears may start to droop a little too, and holding in of tail.

raedar63

Sounds like the calf had something else going on. I have raised bucket calves many times. Went out of the cattle business a few years ago. I don't think taking it away too soon was the problem as I have raised several that the mama died or rejected . Hopefully the other two are doing fine. I had a colt one time this happened to we did IV's and everything. vet did some testing for his own curiosity ,pato came back e-cloi he was just two days old ,you just never know.

MommaDorian

You ladies inspire me!! You put forth such hard work to save these little babies. :)

Tulip

Mimito: The blood in the stool is indicative of coccoidea, nasty bacteria. We had a calf once, tubed it twice daily, pumped it full of meds, went on for almost a week before we decided to put him down. Did a necrospy and found his liver was spotted by the coccoidea. Bottle babies have a tough time making it through this, if pneumonia doesn't set in, you can sometimes get lucky. Sorry for your loss
Tulip