constipated calf

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Hi,

I have a 5 or so day old calf that seems not to have ever taken his first bm. He had blood in what little doo doo was coming out. He has been isolated, As I realised that he has not made a bm for 2 days he was dosed with veg oil 2x nothing much except oil coming out. In desperation I gave him a laxative thinking he may need a softener? Still almost nothing ( maybe 2 TB ) What did come out was Bright yellow, like the first bm usually is. Any Suggestions would be very welcome. Plenty of fluids in him. He's alert and seems fine. With as many calves as I've raised in the years I never thought this would be a problem. Ususlly it's the other way around.

Take Care, Ginger

-- ginger (gbgirl@progressivetel.com), February 19, 2002

Answers

I may be wrong, but to me it is likely that he either has a twisted bowel or a malformity in his colon. Sounds like vet time to me.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@farm.com), February 19, 2002.


Ginger, I don't have too much to tell you. My guess is he's all right and is just pretty empty right now. If he acts fine, he probably is. If there is something congenitally wrong with him he'll no doubt go fast when it catches up with him, but I wouldn't go borrowing trouble ahead of time by worrying. (There wouldn't be anything you could do about it anyway.) Remember we are all different and he may just be a little out of the ordinary for most calves in this respect. Good luck with him. :)

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), February 19, 2002.

Believe it or not, we had this exact situation with the most recent calf we purchased. When the hired woman at the farm lifted him into our truck, she was rewarded with a sleeve full of calf poo. The thing is, that was the last time anything came out for a long time - over a week. We were very concerned; I checked the litter in the pen several times per day - nothing. We gave a laxative - nothing. But all the while he was eating well. Every so often we saw a lifted tail, but no water coming out below, so he must have been passing some gas. Finally he started having regular bm. Never went off feed or acted ill. He is now six months old and never missed a beat. He has been normal in every way since then.

-- Dianne Wood (woodgoat@pacifier.com), February 19, 2002.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the answers. The calf seems to be giong a little more these past couple days. The vet would be out of the question $ wise. He may end up in the freezer. This is our first time using non medicated milk and things are a bit different then we are used to. Sounds funny maybe? The calves are not acting like their ususal "crack addict" self when it comes to milk. We just thought that is how all calves acted. We are both wondering here, if that medicated stuff isn't addictive in some way?? Things are different though. They are all active and healthy seeming even, the no bm boy.

Thanks Again Ginger

-- ginger (gbgirl@progressivetel.com), February 23, 2002.


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