10 day old calf bloated

You move him around he has gas coming out of both ends, but wants to lay down.  He was running around earlier today. 

Any quick suggestions?

Mineral oil?  Therabloat?  If so much for a 10 day old calf.

Maybe the hillbilly way but I have used a tube or hose and put it down the left side of the calves mouth. Use mineral oil for lube and once it gets down far enough you will hear the gas release. Just my little two cents.

We had the same thing happen in Feb to a 10 day old hfr calf...not sure why, but she was picking at some leafy hay in the round bale feeder.  I was told by our vet not to tube one that young, since they don't have a functioning rumen at that age, and things are actually routed a little differently in their stomach till they get older.  We gave her 2 cups of Milk of Magnesia to act as a laxative in case she was bound up.  I also put about 1 cc of therabloat in it too.  Seemed to work, as she was better the next day, although a little loose behind which was expected.  Good luck!

Didnt get a chance to do anything.

Got back outside 20 minutes later with a tube, dead as a hammer.

Not really sure what to think there.

Walked to new pen, 20 minutes later dead.

Sorry to hear that. Thanks for the info bluffcounty. Never been told that before about not tubing a calf that young. I remember using arm and hammer baking soda in a bottle of water to help relieve the bloat to.
Worst part of the cattle biz for me is finding a dead one. Sticks with me for awhile. hang in there.

Hate it when that happens. Maybe he got a twisted gut. For bloat in calves that age we have used 60cc of Bloat eze.(it has mineral oil in it ) Just gave it to them in a syringe and got them to to drink it like a drench.

GLZ said:

You move him around he has gas coming out of both ends, but wants to lay down.  He was running around earlier today. 

Any quick suggestions?

Mineral oil?  Therabloat?  If so much for a 10 day old calf.

Click to expand...

Just a precationary thought, It may have been colstridial perfingens. Systems sound similar. May want to look @ small intestines.

I agree with CAB that is exactly what i was thinkin

Almost certainly that is what it was.  If it ever happens again, give quick shot of peniciiin

I agree...Clostridium....penicillian down the throat, we give about 15 cc's to calves that are that young and bloat.

Even with all cows being vaccinated last spring?

GLZ said:

Even with all cows being vaccinated last spring?

Click to expand...

I can't think of any vaccine that is going to help you a year later and I wouldn't think that you would use a vaccine that would have anything in it for the colstridials in your cow's vac program. If you were giving the cows a scourgard type of a vaccine that may help, but they would be administered precalving @ 60 & 30 days.

CAB said:

GLZ said:

Even with all cows being vaccinated last spring?

Click to expand...

I can't think of any vaccine that is going to help you a year later and I wouldn't think that you would use a vaccine that would have anything in it for the colstridials in your cow's vac program. If you were giving the cows a scourgard type of a vaccine that may help, but they would be administered precalving @ 60 & 30 days.

Click to expand...

Everything gets Cattlemaster Gold and Ultrachoice 8.  Ultrachoice 8 protects against Clostridium Perfringens C and D.

Had this happen to me yesterday. Checked the calves saw one that was bloated and kept wanting to go to the ground and kick at his gut. I quickly got some penicillin and some C & D Clostridium. Shot 5 cc of pen and 10 cc of clostridium down the throat. An hour later the calf was fine. This seems to happen every year, this time of year.

I lost a healthy 3 day old calf yesterday the same way.
Vet and herdsman claim it was a twisted gut.

At 10 days, the condition is possibly caused by inadequate or inferior colostrum.  Mature cows produce higher quality colostrum than heifers.  Calf Immune system is inadequate and susceptible to all infections.
The challenge is to keep the calf alive until it can produce its own antibodies at 6 weeks of age.
Treatment:  Banimine for bloat and pain,  Trivetrin - 10 days,  Newcells B Vitamins
Reduce the bloat and nursing resumes.
Affected calves continue as poor doing until the 6 week turning point.  Then performance is largely improved.

What cause cattle to be bloated?

american honey said:

What cause cattle to be bloated?

Click to expand...

Rapid build up of gas in the stomach that can't pass fast enough therefore causing the calf to die from suffocation from too much pressure on the lungs.

This is kind of on the subject:  We had a calf that was 3 weeks old come up dead today..He was a twin bull calf about 40 pounds at birth and  born two weeks early..

We tubed him the next day with colosturm, and then let the mother take over from there.  After about two weeks we decided one bottle a day might help him and the heifer.  Today we went out and found him dead.  When we found him there was a "smell" to his carcass, yes we checked them this am and everything was fine. 

What are your thoughts...