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Calf bloating

B

Big Muddy rancher

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Feb 10, 2005
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Big Muddy valley
I've got a 500 lb hfr that's weaned a couple of weeks. Just getting hay and lick tubs. She had a fever and been treated last week. temp is normal today but is bloating. In distress last night when i took the gas off and blown up a bit at noon so tubed her. filled up again tonight.

Anybody got a home made remedy to drench her with?

She is passing decent looking manure and passing water.
 
Give her vegetable oil right down the throat. I use 60cc syringes and fill them up and hold her head and slowly squirt it down her throat. I suppose i give anywhere from a pint to a quart at a time. It will cut down the froth and coat the stomach not to mention it is cheap. Then give her some rumen bugs. You can get boluses or paste, etc. A friend of mine who feeds a lot of calves put me onto a microbial paste call BP-1. Not sure who makes it but really worked for me.

If she is bloating on hay and tubs i would say she has a "bug" problem in her guts.
 
i also forgot to mention that some calves are a little more sensitve to antibiotics. And when you treated her for the fever you could have killed some of the bugs in her rumen.
 
I kind of figured a Probiotic was what would be needed because of the past treatment. I have had the odd calf in the past that was a bloater that never tipped over but always carried some gas. i have tried probiotics/ fresh bugs before and had mixed results.

I had never heard of 50cc's of LA down the throat. Kind of counter intuitive to what i figured but I tried it tonight and will see how it works. :D

Thanks for the responses. :D :D
 
Probiotics, for sure!! Bloat indicates an upset rumen, so the bugs need
replenished.

One year in this area, there was quite a lot of bloating for some reason.
Every critter that bloated that received the probiotic treatment lived,
the others died.

Something she is eating is causing the bloat. Is the hay straight grass hay?
If not, I'd get her on that, and only that, til she gets over bloating.

Good luck!
 
Did she have pneumonia? Sometimes pneumonia damages the nerve to the rumen, and then they bloat. I agree with the probiotics suggestions. We drench them with tympanex (dioctyl) It works the best for us. You can buy it by the gallon from the vet, and it's a good thing to keep on hand.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
I kind of figured a Probiotic was what would be needed because of the past treatment. I have had the odd calf in the past that was a bloater that never tipped over but always carried some gas. i have tried probiotics/ fresh bugs before and had mixed results.

I had never heard of 50cc's of LA down the throat. Kind of counter intuitive to what i figured but I tried it tonight and will see how it works. :D

Thanks for the responses. :D :D
Click to expand...


Sooo...did it work?
 
Seems to me our vet told me that a lot of guys in feedlot situations deal with chronic bloaters by using a tool similar to a trocar that actually leaves a piece in the calf to keep the pressure off. According to him in time the piece works it's way back out and falls on the ground. I think he said he sells the tool, so it must be available at vet supply stores.
 
The calf is still alive. I haven't let any gas off since last night when I gave it the LA. It is still carrying a bit of gas but not suffering. It didn't have a high temp but this morning was quite snotty. It wasn't eating real good today but seems OK.
Lets give it some time. :D
 
I have also used a long valve stem out of a truck tire tube, just sharpen the threaded end take out the core,cut out a three or four inch circle around the base of the tube so it can't go inside the hole and leave it in for three or four days to let the air out..... The vet does sell one that falls out but if u r cheap like me the less I use the vet the better.
 

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