Scours kills many calves each year, but the real killer is dehydration. The most important treatment is to replace fluids/electrolytes a calf is losing. Early treatment is important to turn things around before a calf gets too dehydrated.
If the calf is still walking—just dull and scouring—it can still utilize oral electrolytes.
If the calf is still strong enough to absorb oral fluids, the usual recommendation is to give 2 quarts warm water (with electrolyte powder mixed in) by stomach tube or esophageal feeder every six to eight hours, or more often for a young calf with serious diarrhea.
You can use commercial one-dose packets, a measured amount from a tub of electrolyte mix, or a homemade mix—one-half teaspoon table salt (sodium chloride) and one-quarter teaspoon Lite Salt (a mix of sodium chloride and potassium chloride) and if the calf is weak add one-quarter teaspoon baking soda to reverse acidosis.
Oral solutions for a calf that’s weak and dehydrated should supply four things: enough sodium to replace what’s been lost through diarrhea; an agent to facilitate absorption of sodium and water from the intestine (this agent can be glucose, acetate, propionate or glycine); an alkalizing agent like acetate or bicarbonate to correct metabolic acidosis; plus energy. Most commercial products contain these four things.
In a severely dehydrated calf, blood supply to body tissues is decreased and it starts to go into shock. The body shunts whatever fluid is still circulating in the bloodstream to critical organs such as heart and brain. If there’s inadequate blood supply to the gut, the calf can’t absorb oral fluids. If blood circulation is not servicing the gut, it is also not servicing the extremities and skeletal muscles. A calf’s legs will get cold and it won’t be able to walk. If the calf is weak, unable to stand and walk, it needs IVs.
David Rethorst, DVM, of Beef Health Solutions, says that if a calf is down and weak and we’re running IV fluids, we need to address the acid-base balance.
“We can run fluids all day and not see much improvement, but if we add bicarbonate to the electrolytes these calves will perk up within 15 minutes,” he says.
“It takes several days for the gut to heal to where it can absorb fluid and nutrients and function normally again. Keep up the fluids as long as the calf has any diarrhea,” Rethorst says.
Something else you can do to help a scouring calf, if it’s still on its feet, is make sure it has access to salt and clean water, with water sources calves can reach. A calf that’s been scouring will eat salt to help replace what it lost through diarrhea.
Stockmen often use medications like Keopectate or Pepto Bismol to help soothe the irritated gut lining and slow the gut contents. These may help a little, but the main thing is to keep up the fluids so the calf won’t dehydrate.
“It takes time and labor, but fluids make the difference,” Rethorst says. If you are only giving fluid and electrolytes once a day, it’s not enough. A very young calf with serious diarrhea will dehydrate quickly and you may need to give fluids four times a day and sometimes even more often, to keep ahead of it—or administer an IV.
“Some intestinal infections like crypto cause a tremendous loss of bicarbonate as well as fluid. These calves become very acidotic. In order to save them you must use a good electrolyte solution that’s high in bicarb content, and lots of it. You need to give 2 quarts, at least three to four times a day,” says Rethorst.
“If we are giving oral fluids four times a day, we generally don’t need an IV. If the calf is not down and out, we can take care of it with oral fluids, but it takes more than just twice a day,” says Rethorst. — Heather Smith Thomas, WLJ correspondent
