After work yesterday we decided we needed to go out on the town. Farmer John took me out to a local restaurant where we enjoyed a tasty meal as well as a chance to catch up with some acquaintances.
The next stop of the night was at Tractor Supply. We had some feed to pick up for the chickens and cats. Then we headed over to the medical supply area. The blind calf has diarrhea. Farmer John called our large-animal vet and he recommended a treatment. However, his treatment is for scours.
Scours is a very common disease in calves. The main symptoms of scours is diarrhea, so this diagnosis makes sense. However, our calf looks very healthy. She's eating normally, is active and alert and is plenty strong (especially when I'm giving her a bottle). So, as opposed to buying everything the vet recommended we bought what we thought would be the best for treating her symptoms.
We'll give her some pro-biotic, to get some good bacteria back into her system. We also bought a treatment specifically for diarrhea. Everything I've read about scours emphasizes that the calves need electrolytes. I've given her a couple bottles with just a little bit of salt mixed in with water. The stuff we got is more like Gatorade for cows.
We'll keep our fingers crossed and a close eye on her over the next few days to see how all this stuff works. After that, maybe we'll stop being stubborn and listen to the vet!
Could you get the outdated gatoraide from the stores at a reduced price to help bolster her? Or what about a salt lick? This is amazing Mollie!
ReplyDeleteSusi - We read something last night about mixing an egg in the bottle she gets. The protein is supposed to help her system. We may try it as she does not seem to be getting much better. She loves the cow Gatorade :)
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