Electrolyte for calves: how to do it yourself at home

Rehydration solutions are used to replenish tissues with fluid after it has been lost through diarrhea. Electrolyte solutions in animal husbandry are used in the complex treatment of calves and adult animals. Consider the types of electrolytes for calves, the rules for their use, contraindications, how to make a solution at home with your own hands.

Diarrhea remedies

Diarrhea in small calves is one of the main causes of death and economic loss in livestock production. With diarrhea from the body of animals, along with the liquid, s alts that are important for life processes are excreted.Dehydration sets in. This is a dangerous condition for the animal, with a strong violation of the mineral and water balance, the calf may die. You can restore the water-s alt balance with a saline solution. For calves, you can use drugs for people that can be bought at a pharmacy. These are Regidron, Polysorb and others.

Means with electrolytes are divided into 2 types:

• solutions for dairy calves;
• drugs in powder form that can be mixed with water (used for calves fed adult food).

The types of funds differ only in consistency.

What are they used for?

Feeding calves with s alt solutions is necessary for diarrhea caused by feeding a milk substitute, due to the transition to adult feed, due to stress during vaccination, transportation, changing conditions.

The solution also helps with diarrhea in infectious diseases.Cold, dampness, drafts, crowding, dirty bedding can also cause diarrhea. During the treatment of infections, calves should receive not only electrolytes, but also medicines that fight pathogenic microflora. Usually these are antibiotics Tetracycline and Levomycetin.

When diarrhoea, as a result of water loss, calves quickly lose weight. Without treatment, against the background of diarrhea, calves can die from acidosis, hyperkalemia, hypoglycemia, sepsis, and hypothermia. Soldering the electrolyte fluid solves this problem. It is necessary to monitor their condition and, if symptoms appear, immediately treat them. Dehydration can be determined by behavior, activity, how the calf behaves - more stands or lies, by the elasticity of the skin.

In electrolytes, different ingredients perform different functions:

• sodium enhances the absorption of water, which restores the amount of extracellular fluid;
• glucose provides energy, keeps you active and also enhances water absorption;
• glycine aids in the absorption of fluid, sodium and simple carbohydrates;
• alkalinizing agents reduce metabolic acidosis;
• potassium chloride replenishes systemic electrolytes;
• alkaline agents that normalize the acid-base composition of the blood.

The ratio of sodium, potassium, chlorine in saline and glucose maintains the osmotic pressure at a normal level.

Some preparations contain thickeners that give them the desired consistency, and beneficial microflora that normalizes the digestive tract. The composition includes vitamins, lactic acid bacteria, flavoring additives.Electrolyte solutions should be given to calves at the first sign of dehydration and as a preventive measure when calves are moved to another location (it is recommended to skip the first 2 milk feeds and give the animals a saline solution instead of milk).

Rules of application

Inventory for drinking electrolyte solutions (buckets, bottles, probes, nipples) must be clean and disinfected. It is recommended that each calf have its own container to drink from. If the calf can drink on its own, the solution is injected into the stomach. In case of severe dehydration, the solution is administered intravenously.

Taste of ready-made electrolyte solutions is not liked by calves due to the alkaline components included in the composition. Therefore, you should not wait until the animals drink everything on their own, it is easier to start drinking by pouring liquid into the mouth from the bottle. At home, it is important to observe the dosage and volume norms when preparing the product. The lack of s alts, as well as their excess, have the same negative effect on the body of the animal.

Before you make a solution, you need to determine the degree of dehydration. You can find out by the symptoms:

1. 5-6% - no clinical signs other than diarrhea. The calf is mobile, normal sucking reflex.
2. 6-8% - the animal moves little, is depressed, the sucking reflex is weak, smoothing of the skin after pinching occurs within 2-6 seconds.
3. 8-10% - the calf hardly moves, lies a lot, eyes are dull, gums are pale and dry, skin smoothing takes longer than 6 seconds.
4. 10-12% - the animal does not get up, the skin does not smooth out, the legs are cold, there may be a loss of consciousness.

After determining the percentage of dehydration, divide it by 100, then multiply by the weight of the animal in kg. The resulting number is the volume of electrolyte solution to be prepared and given to the calf along with the milk.In this case, milk and solution should be taken equally. How to feed a calf:

• only solution, no milk during the entire period of therapy;
• give electrolytes on the first 2 days, 3 days together with milk 1 to 1, on the last day only milk;
• give milk and solution in full, but alternate.

In practice, it has been established that giving up milk does not justify itself, since, in addition to s alt, calves need nutrients and glucose, which gives energy. There is little glucose in electrolyte preparations, because of this, the solutions cannot provide the animals with the necessary amount of energy. Milk or substitute contains proteins and carbohydrates that have energy value.

To make DIY products, you need to store the powder or liquid correctly. Preparations should be kept in a dry, cool place, in sealed packaging so that the powder does not accumulate moisture and does not cake.

If it is not possible to prepare a solution from the drug, it can be made from available funds. It must be remembered that it is impossible to replace glucose with sugar, since it is not absorbed in the body of cattle. Sucrose not only will not bring benefits, but can also harm: diarrhea and dehydration of the body will increase. A sample s alt solution recipe you can make at home:

• 1 tbsp l. s alt;
• 1 tbsp l. soda;
• 1 tbsp l. fruit pectin or flax seed powder (for an enveloping effect);
• 1 tbsp l. potassium carbonate;
• 1 tbsp l. glucose or honey.

To normalize the intestinal microflora, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria can be added to the saline solution. Mix the components in 2 liters of clean water at room temperature. Water can be replaced with whey, fresh hay infusion, a weak decoction of oak bark. Or infusions of medicinal herbs: horse sorrel, chicory, plantain, nettle, yarrow.

Feeding rate: for 4.5 kg of calf weight 0.5 l of the mixture. Water the animals 3-4 times a day, immediately after preparing the solution. Give formula 2-3 hours before or after drinking milk.

Are there any contraindications and side effects?

Electrolytic agents have no contraindications and no side effects. This applies to industrial preparations and prepared by hand. A small overdose is not dangerous, it is much more dangerous if, with an incorrect dosage or an error in volume, an insufficient amount of s alts enters the body of the calf. In this case, dehydration and diarrhea will not stop, and the problem will not be solved.

Analogues

The pharmaceutical industry produces many electrolyte preparations. In addition to Regidron and Polysorb, Normohydron, Maratonik, Orasan, Smekta, Zosterin, Laktofiltrum, Enterosgel, Alfasorb, Enterodez, Pepidol can be given to calves , "N altrexone", "Enterumin" and others.

Electrolyte solutions are a necessary tool for restoring the water-s alt balance in the body of calves with diarrhea that has arisen for various reasons. The use of s alts is essential, without them the animal may die. The effectiveness of electrolyte therapy depends on the composition of the drugs, the concentration of active particles, dosage and drinking regimen.

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