Contents
Bloody diarrhea in calves is a very broad concept. This is not a disease, but a symptom. Moreover, laboratory tests are often required to make an accurate diagnosis. It can only be unequivocally stated that in this case the gastrointestinal mucosa is damaged. But there can be many reasons for these injuries.
Why does a calf have diarrhea with blood
Bloody diarrhea can be caused by:
- food poisoning;
- ingress of a foreign body into the gastrointestinal tract;
- worms;
- infectious diseases.
All of these can be the cause of bloody diarrhea in calves, but before you start treatment, you will have to identify the true cause. Worst of all – a foreign object in the digestive tract. If other problems can be dealt with on an outpatient basis, then there is only an operation. And it is beneficial if the calf is super valuable in breeding terms. In all other cases, you will have to hand it over for meat.
Poisoning does not all lead to bloody diarrhea. Usually, blood in the feces appears after feeding feeds with chemicals:
- a large amount of table salt;
- nitrates;
- salts of toxic metals;
- mycotoxins.
The latter is not a chemical substance, but a waste product of mold fungi. Although cows are considered very resistant to eating such poisonous feed, they can also get poisoned.
Hay in this state cannot be fed even mixed with good hay. It is not suitable for bedding.
It is sometimes necessary to feed the mold due to the fact that the purchased hay was poorly dried, and the other is no longer available. But it is better not to give moldy feed to calves even in a mixture.
A large number of fluke worms in the gastrointestinal tract of a cow can also lead to the appearance of blood in the feces. The fluke attaches to the intestinal wall, damaging the mucosa. If there are few worms, the blood is simply invisible, although it is present in the excrement.
Bloody diarrhea can also be a symptom of salmonellosis.
Since the causes of bloody diarrhea in a calf are different, it makes sense to start treatment after establishing an accurate diagnosis. Otherwise, you can lose time, during which the condition of the animal will only worsen.
At the same time, viral diarrhea is normally called so precisely because of diarrhea as the main symptom of the disease. But the virus is very variable and there are many forms of diarrhea.
In adult bulls and cows, diarrhea with blood occurs for the same reasons as in calves. Only the percentage of causes changes: adult animals are more resistant to infections, and the cause of diarrhea in them usually lies in poisonous feed. Adult cattle no longer suffer from diseases of young animals, although they can be carriers of the infection.
What is the danger of bloody diarrhea in calves
Any diarrhea is dangerous, not just bloody. First of all, the body dehydrates very quickly. Even pumping the body with a diuretic will not give such a quick and effective result as profuse diarrhea.
Bloody is dangerous not only for dehydration. With large damage to the intestinal mucosa, internal bleeding opens, which is very difficult to stop. Vessels inside cannot be squeezed, as is done with external injuries. The opened heavy bleeding in the intestine will lead to the death of the calf within a few hours.
Calf dehydrated due to diarrhea looks malnourished
How to treat diarrhea with blood in a calf
Strictly speaking, treating only bloody diarrhea in calves is a hopeless task. If you do not eliminate the cause, it will resume. But it takes time to establish an accurate diagnosis, during which the calf can die. Therefore, symptomatic treatment is carried out first:
- Removing the calf from the feed. With bloody profuse diarrhea, they are still not absorbed, and solid particles can damage the walls of the gastrointestinal tract even more.
- Hemostatic injections.
- antimicrobial therapy.
Damage to the intestines is a wide-open gate for pathogens to enter the bloodstream. Therefore, with bloody diarrhea, antibiotics are prescribed in any case.
You can guess what caused bloody diarrhea by the degree and speed of the spread of the disease. In isolated cases, the disease is most likely non-contagious and may be caused by individual intolerance to any component in the feed. Also, a single case can be caused by swallowing a foreign body. There may also be poisoning, but the calf ate the poison somewhere “on the side” while walking.
With a high content of substances toxic to livestock in hay or feed, mass poisoning is possible. It usually occurs when new foods are introduced into the diet:
- a new batch of compound feed or hay;
- succulent feed supplementing the diet;
- fresh grass with poisonous plants or simply “on fire”.
But in this case, bloody diarrhea will begin in animals at the same time with a maximum difference of several hours.
If the spread of the disease occurs fairly quickly, but the number of calves with bloody diarrhea increases gradually, an infection can be assumed. Focusing on these common signs, you can start treatment before an accurate diagnosis, so as not to lose time.
Single case
First of all, you need to check for the presence of foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract of the calf. Such equipment is available at large complexes, but it is unlikely that any of the private owners of cows keeps ultrasound and X-ray machines at home. In addition, damage to the intestinal mucosa by a foreign body is an indication for surgery. It is better for a private owner to immediately proceed to measures to provide emergency assistance in case of poisoning. Nothing else can be done in a private courtyard.
It is not easy to give an enema to a calf in case of poisoning, but it is necessary
Poisoning
The general principles of first aid for poisoning are the same for all poisons. In case of intoxication, a complex of various means is used and they do it as quickly as possible.
First of all, the cause of the poisoning is eliminated. Remove suspicious feed from the access zone. Other measures, ventilation of the room, are unlikely to be relevant for bloody diarrhea in calves. Such diarrhea can also occur with poisoning through the respiratory tract, but this requires the use of BOV.
Further, if possible, remove the remnants of toxic substances from the gastrointestinal tract: washing, laxatives, enemas. Since a free-range cow can wallow in something poisonous, and then lick the poison from the skin, the animal is thoroughly washed. But this is with suspicion of the presence of poison on the wool.
To remove it from the body, calves are given various sorbents: activated carbon, white clay, enterosorbent B, polyphepan, smectite.
For acid poisoning, sodium carbonate is used.
To remove the already absorbed poison, intravenous administration of saline, glucose, diuretics and laxatives is used. In simple terms, “put droppers.” If it is known what kind of poison the calf was poisoned with, an antidote is administered to it.
Carry out therapy, which is aimed at increasing immunity, improving metabolism, maintaining the respiratory, cardiovascular and other body systems.
If poisoning is suspected, even if it was an isolated case, feed and water are urgently sent for analysis to the laboratory. Frankly, it is unlikely that a private owner will do this.
Often, a dropper has to be placed directly on the pasture, taking on the functions of a rack for a container with a medication.
Helminths
A large number of worms in the intestines can be life-threatening for a calf. Even roundworms can stray into a ball and cause mechanical blockage of the gastrointestinal tract. The use of strong anthelmintic drugs causes the death of parasites. With a small population, dead worms will come out of the intestines without creating problems. But if there were a lot of worms, toxins from decaying corpses will penetrate into the blood of the calf and cause general intoxication of the body.
salmonellosis
The appearance of bloody diarrhea in a calf with salmonellosis means an already advanced stage. Since an accurate diagnosis is made on the basis of laboratory tests, one can only assume what caused the disease, based on additional symptoms:
- heat;
- thirst;
- conjunctivitis;
- signs of pneumonia;
- bloody diarrhea.
Treatment is with broad-spectrum antibiotics. To maintain the body, vitamin and mineral preparations are administered.
Preventive measures
It is impossible to carry out prevention only of bloody diarrhea. Measures must be taken to prevent the causes of diarrhea. And always consider that diarrhea, “normal” or bloody, is only a symptom of the disease.
Prevention of foreign bodies entering the stomach is carried out by cleaning the area where cows walk. So that cattle do not try to compensate for the lack of vitamins and minerals by eating various inedible items, they are provided with a complete diet with the addition of vitamin and mineral premixes.
For the prevention of poisoning it is necessary:
- observe the technology of procurement and storage of feed;
- constantly monitor their quality;
- do not violate the technology of feed preparation and preparation for feeding;
- check the condition of water bodies and pastures.
It is also impossible to feed moldy and fermented feed to calves. If freshly cut grass was piled up and warmed up, it should not be given to animals. Any food with unnatural color or rot is excluded from the diet. Veterinarians are obliged to constantly monitor the composition of plants in nearby forests and meadows, whether fertilizers or pesticides were used in grazing areas. All these measures are impossible in a private economy.
For the prevention of worms, it is enough to follow the deworming schedule. In this case, the parasites will not have time to multiply to a critical number. Infection with eggs and larvae of worms of healthy animals is prevented by sanitizing pastures.
Preventive measures to prevent salmonellosis are the same as for other infectious diseases:
- regular disinfection of equipment and tools;
- keeping the bedding clean;
- storage of feed and water in a place inaccessible to rodents;
- disinfection of overalls for personnel;
- quarantine for newly arrived animals;
- providing calves with a complete diet.
Compliance with sanitary and veterinary requirements for keeping livestock significantly reduces the risk of infectious diseases.
Regular clearing of pasture from manure will protect calves from unnecessary problems.
Conclusion
Bloody diarrhea in calves is an extreme degree of the disease, which can be prevented if you carefully monitor your animal. The only exception is a foreign object. But here it is difficult for a private trader to keep track of what exactly his cow captures when eating grass.