Bloat

Cow with bloat

(c) W. Ayako, KARI Naivasha

X-ray - dog with bloat

(c) Joel Mills, Wikipedia

How animals get bloat

• Animals eat too many legumes or too much fresh, lush grass (e.g. olenge grass (Luo)) 
• Animal eats too much grain (e.g. finger millet, Acacia pods) 
• Animal eats cassava leaves or peels 
• Something blocks the passage of food in the stomach or gullet 

Types of bloat

Causes of Frothy Bloat

• The primary cause of frothy bloat appears to be a change in the composition of certain pasture plants, the change being one that facilitates the development of a stable foam that in turn prevents belching 
• Frothy Bloat normally happens at the start of wet season when the diet of grazing animals abruptly changes from dry feeds to wet lush pastures that contains some legumes. 
• Animals also get Frothy Bloat when they feed on ripe fruits or other feeds that ferment easily. 
• Some poisonous plants can cause sudden and severe bloat. 
• A sudden change in the type of food can also cause Frothy Bloat. 
• Frothy bloat can also occur in feedlots with insufficient roughage, or food too finely ground. This leads to a shortage of rumen-stimulating roughage, and prevents the rumen's ability to move spontaneously and hinders belching and release of gas. 

Signs of Bloat

• The left side of the abdomen behind the ribs becomes very distended and very tense, like a drum. Later the right side also becomes distended
• The animal stops eating
• The animal may grunt and have difficulty in breathing
• There may be mouth breathing
• The animal may stamp its feet on the ground
• Sometimes green froth comes out of the mouth and nose
• There may be extension of the tongue from the mouth 
• Diarrhoea is common in cases of Frothy Bloat
• Animals may collapse and die after only an hour or so
• There is often frequent urination 

Prevention - Control - Treatment

Prevention of bloat

Treatment of bloat

• Do not feed the animal for a few hours and make the animal move around (remember it can die within 1 hour if the bloat is severe) 
• For less severe cases of frothy bloat, give 500 ml to large animals and 100ml to small animals of any edible vegetable oil, solid cooking oil, butter oil, ghee or milk orally (by mouth). Non-toxic mineral oils can also be used effectively. 
• Severe bloat is an emergency and rapid action is required to save the animal's life. In life-threatening cases where the animal can not breathe, an emergency rumenotomy may be necessary. Puncture carefully the skin and the rumen of the animal on the left flunk to let the gas out. Use a knife or any sharp thing but the best instrument to use is the trochar and cannula. The hole should be made at a hands' width behind the last rib and a hand away from the edge of the backbone. Push hard because the skin is very tough. Gas and froth will come out when you make the hole. It helps to put a tube or cannula through the hole to keep the hole open. There will be an explosive release of gas and rumen contents. Remember that in severe cases if this is not done the animal will die. SO DO IT . 
• Pour some vegetable oil into the rumen through the hole to help stop further gas or froth formation. Complications are rare. Call a veterinarian to attend to a punctured abdomen or a difficult case of bloat. 
• Another aid is to tie a stick in the mouth to stimulate the flow of saliva, which is alkaline and helps to denature the foam. 
• Forceful walking may help to coalesce the foam into larger bubbles and stimulate belching.
• Give bloat medicine such as the following: Stop Bloat, Bloat Guard or Birp once daily for 3 days 
• In cases of Free Gas Bloat due to a foreign body lodged in the oesophagus, it may have to be dislodged by using a probang or stomach tube, for which the services of a veterinarian will be required.

Common traditional practice 

• Gabbra: Mix 4 teaspoons of laundry detergent with 1 litre of milk. Drench 1 litre for an adult cow (0.5 litre for sheep and goats) 
• Turkana: Mix 500 g Magadi soda with 1 litre of water. Stir well and drench adult cattle with the mixture. For calves, goats and sheep use 0.5 litre. For large camels give 2 litres. 
• Luo: Mix 0.5 litre of paraffin oil with a handful of olulusia (Vernonia amygdalina) leaves and 2 spoons of salt. Drench with half this amount. 
• Kamba: Mix a handful of wood ash with 1 soda bottle (300 ml) of water. Sieve and drench adult cattle with this amount. Use half the amount for calves, sheep and goats. 

Diarrhea of the young

Introduction

Causes

Signs of Diarrhoea

• Bad smelling soft, sometimes watery, faeces which is usually whitish in color and sometimes frothy. In older calves, the color of the dung is darker. 
• The affected calves lack appetite, becomes dull and refuse to drink. 
• The calf develops fever and loses water, minerals and energy very fast until it canot stand up any more.
• The skin of the calf becomes dry and looses elasticity. If you raise a skin fold it remains standing for a while and does not move back. This is a sign of severe dehydration. 
• Also the mouth of the calf beocme cold and the eyes sink into the socket. 
• Calves that are dull, have a cold mouth and a dry skin and cannot stand may die very fast. 

The major symptoms of diarrhoea are dehydration (lack of water), profound weakness, and death within one to several days of onset. Onset is sudden with passing of a lot of liquid faeces.The calf rapidly becomes depressed because of loss of fluids, salt and energy. It becomes too weak to stand. Death may occur in severe cases within 12 - 24 hours. 

• Salmonella infections usually occur in calves older than 14 days and can also affect weaners. The faeces are often foul smelling, and contain blood, clots and mucous. There is general infection (septicaemia ) with high fever, and depression leading to collapse and coma. Affected calves lose weight rapidly and often die despite treatment with antibiotics.
• Clostridial diarrhoea affects calves/lambs/kids of a few days old, which are strong and have good appetite. Onset is sudden with depression, weakness, bloody diarrhoea, abdominal pain and death within a few hours. Clostridia produce a lot of toxin which kills very fast. Most die before treatment can be started.
• Viral infections such as those due to Rotavirus or Coronavirus affect calves of 5 - 15 days old but can affect older calves up to several months of age. Most are only moderately depressed and continue to suck and drink milk. The faeces are soft to liquid, and often contain large amounts of mucous. The diarrhoea often persists for several days. Response to fluid and electrolyte therapy and nutritional support is usually very good.
• Cryptosporidiosis occurs most commonly in the second week of life, with persistent diarrhoea which does not respond to treatment. Often it is mild and self limiting but if mixed with other organisms may be severe and life-threatening.
• Coccidiosis causes diarrhoea in young calves/kids/lambs but also in older animals up to weaning age. They are unthrifty, faeces are thin watery with blood. Faeces look red at first and then become dark. Calves often press trying to pass faeces. They may be depressed, not eat and become dehydrated.
• Dietary diarrhoeas occur in calves less than 3 weeks old and shows pasty faeces often of a gelatinous consistency. Initially calves are bright and alert and have good appetites but if the diet is not corrected they become weak and emaciated. Many infectious forms of diarrhoea are often complicated by poor quality feeds or insufficient nutritional intake.

Prevention and Control

• A new-born calf must drink at least 5% of its bodyweight of colostrum, preferably during the first 2 hours after birth, and certainly within the first 6 hours after birth. Adequate feeding of colostrum to calves at birth provides passive immunity to calves. A significant portion of both naturally sucking calves and handfed calves do not acquire adequate amounts of immunoglobulin because of delayed sucking or feeding, ingestion of an inadequate volume of colostrum, or ingestion of colostrum of inferior immunoglobulin concentration. 
• Always Provide clean water to young calves/lambs/kids for drinking
• Vaccination of mother and calf against specific infections, such as E.coli can help to increase the resistance of the newborn. 
• Clean calf pens regularly. Do not allow faeces to accumulate. 
• Avoid over crowding of calves, and reduce the degree of exposure by isolating diseased animals, moving calving and calf rearing to a separate area and practising good hygiene. 
• Find out which specific organism is causing the disease. This requires a laboratory test on a faecal sample or rectal swab handled by a skilled veterinarian, since some of these pathogens are harmful to humans. Where the pathogens are known, the right antibiotic, if indicated, can be given. 

Treatment

• Mix 5 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of salt with 2 litres of clean water (boil water and let it cool down before mixing). Instead of 5 tablespoons sugar it is also very good to use 5 tablespoons of honey. A calf of 30kg needs minimum 3litres per day (minimum 1 litre for 10 kg of body weight per day). Feed the rehydration fluid in small portions at the rate of one and a half cup full at a time (equal to about 0.5litre). Kids and lambs need less of the fluid because they are much smaller (minimum 0.1litre per kg body weight per day). 
• Rehydration fluid should be given for five days. 
• In addition finely crushed charcoal (like powder) can be added to the rehydration fluid (2 handful of charcoal powder per litre, then passed through a sieve before giving it to the calf). 

Milk may be withheld for first 24 hours but not for longer than 36 hours. So from the the second day on you can start giving small amounts of milk while still feeding rehydration fluid.

Calves that are recumbent and weak need both oral and intravenous electrolyte therapy for which the services of a veterinarian will be required.

Antibiotics are not required to treat diarrhoea caused by viruses, or protozoa such as cryptosporidia or coccidia. In cases of septicaemia due to E.coli or Salmonella antibiotic may be helpful (use injectable antibiotics).
Coccidiosis is easy to confirm in the laboratory and should be treated with specific anti-Coccidia drugs (Amprolium, also some sulphonamides given orally).

Foot and Mouth Diseases (FMD)

Early FMD symptoms

(c) Dr. Hugh Cran, Nakuru, Kenya

 

 

Introduction

 

WARNING: Notifiable disease! If you suspect an animal has foot and mouth disease, you must inform the authorities immediately

Foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious viral infectious disease of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. It can also affect wild animals, especially buffalo, which act as significant hosts, and in which the disease is generally much milder than in cattle. It is caused by seven serotypes of Foot and Mouth disease virus namely: A, O, C, SAT 1, SAT 2, SAT 3 and ASIA 1.

Mode of spread

The virus can be harboured for periods in the nose and throat of wild animals. 

The importance of the disease in small stock such as sheep and goats is largely as carriers of the disease to cattle; but in Kenya it has been shown that goats are infrequent carriers and sheep not at all. The disease is enzootic in many parts of the world.

 

FMD is mainly transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of the virus from contaminated feeds and direct contact with infected animals. The incubation period is on average 3 to 8 days after the animals are infected with the virus. Infected animals will then discharge the virus to materials they are in contact with or directly to other animals, thereby infecting them. This can be through the saliva, rupture of vesicles and blisters on the tongue and feet, discharges from the nose, and through coughs.

 

Meat, milk and semen from infected animals can spread infection. 

 

Humans can also transfer infection to other animals through movement of people and vehicles from infected premises to susceptible areas. People working with infected cattle can harbour the virus in their nasal mucosa for up to 28 hours. Ticks also spread infection.

Windborne spread can be important under certain conditions as can spread by flocks of birds. 

The important thing to remember is that this is one of the most contagious diseases known, and to act accordingly by taking every possible measure to prevent the entry of infection. 

 

Signs of foot and mouth disease

• Severe lameness, due to the presence of blisters and vesicles between the toes, which then rupture and become secondarily infected 
• The animals develop a high fever, become weak and dejected, and there is a rapid loss of condition. Mortality in calves is high
• Cattle stop eating due to the pain arising from the lesions in the mouth
• There is a drastic drop in milk production 
• The coat becomes rough and there are blisters and vesicles inside the mouth especially on the tongue. There is profuse salivation with long ropey strings of saliva, and a characteristic smacking of the lips
• Blisters also form above and between the claws, and some blisters appear on the teats. 
• Abortion is common
• Most animals recover but there is a frequent chronic and sometimes permanent loss of condition. 
• In some instances, heart failure may occur causing sudden death 
• Any combination of salivation and lameness with blisters and vesicles in the mouth must always be regarded as being Foot and Mouth Disease until proved otherwise
• Sheep and goat suffer a much milder disease than cattle 
• Also pigs can be affected by Foot and Mouth disease:

 

 

Typical posture of pigs with painful blisters on the feet

(c) USDA

Diagnosis

• Clinical signs and history 
• Samples of vesicular fluids and epithelium can be sent to the lab for confirmation and sero typing at FMD Research Institute at Embakasi in Nairobi, Kenya. 
• Differentiate diagnosis with Foot rot for leg and foot lesions. The disease can also be confused with Bluetongue. 

Diseases with similar symptoms

• Leg and feet lesion: see Foot rot
• Mouth lesions: see Rinderpest
• In sheep can be confused with Bluetongue

  

Prevention - Control - Treatment

 

Prevention and Control

• Report occurrence immediately so as to invoke quarantine after the disease is confirmed by the veterinary authorities. Such quarantines should be lifted only by the authorities, usually 6 weeks after the last recorded case. 
• Disinfect premises and motor vehicle tyres with suitable disinfectant to prevent further infections. 
• Vaccinate regularly. This should be done after determining the strain of the virus in order to give the correct sero type vaccine. Usually a multivalent vaccine is administered every 6 months as preventive measure. Outbreaks have occurred following vaccination and have been attributed to the production of carrier animals. 
• Strict adherence to sanitary measures e.g. destruction of feed and beddings of infected animals. 

Recommended treatment 

There is no medical treatment for Foot and Mouth Disease. However, you can help the animals to recover:

• Shade them from the sun and give them plenty of water 
• Give them soft feed such as green, soft, lush grass, which is better than hay as the blisters make it painful for the animals to eat. The addition of molasses is advised to give the animals energy. 
• Use Magadi soda for foot baths and wound treatment. 
• Give antibiotics by intramuscular injection to prevent secondary infection of the blisters. 

 

WARNING: Do not give antibiotics by mouth to adult cattle, camels, sheep and goats. It makes these animals sick by destroying essential bacteria in their rumens that are there as a vital part of the digestive process.

Common traditional practices

Some of these are sensible and useful. Feeding of easily digested energy feeds are very beneficial as are disinfection of wounds with Magadi soda.

• Kipsigis: Mix 10 kg of maize flour in 10 litres of water. Add 2 kg of pounded finger millet. Allow to ferment for 3 days. Give an infected animal 4 litres of this brew to drink. Treatment for hooves: Spread 5 kg of ash or 5 kg of Magadi soda mixed with 5kg of ash in the morning and in the evening, at the entrance of the boma so the cattle must walk through it on the way to graze and when they return. 
• Luo: Pound half a handful of fresh olulusia (Vernonia amygdalina) roots. Mix with 4 kg of finger millet flour and 5 litres of water. Sieve and drench adult cattle with 2 litres (1 litre for calves, goats and sheep) twice a day until recovery. 
• Turkana: Mix 500 g of Magadi soda in 5 litres of water. Use the mixture to treat wounds in the mouth and externally on feet and teats. Repeat twice a day until recovery.

Haemorrhagic Septicaemia

Mode of spread

• Transporting and herding animals may trigger an outbreak.
• Spread within a group usually occurs at night when animals are enclosed, and between groups via communal watering points. 
• In areas where the disease is prevalent, small numbers of healthy animals - cattle and water buffalo - carry the bacteria in the nasopharynx (the area of the upper throat that lies behind the nose) or tonsils and act as reservoirs of infection. Bacteria are then spread through the air. 
• During an outbreak sick animals excrete large numbers of bacteria in runny noses, saliva and faeces. 
• For several weeks after an outbreak 20 - 50% of animals carry the organism and are capable of infecting susceptible in-contact animals. 
• Indirect transmission can also occur. 
• The causal bacteria can survive for several hours in moist conditions, but die rapidly if exposed to sunlight or thorough drying 

Signs of Haemorrhagic Septicaemia

(c) USDA

Signs of Haemorrhagic Septicaemia 

• Occurrence rates range from low to high, but in general death rates are over 50% and may approach 100%. 
• Most cases are acute or peracute, resulting in death within 8 - 24 hours after onset. Because the course is so short, clinical signs may easily be overlooked. 
• The infection is thought to first increase in the region of the tonsils. In susceptible animals, blood poisoning develops rapidly, and death due to the presence of toxins produced by the bacteria follows within 8 - 24 hours after the first signs develop. 
• The first signs are dullness, reluctance to move and fever. 
• Excess salivation and a clear nasal discharge appear. 
• A common feature is oedema (swelling) of the laryngeal (throat) region, which spreads down to the brisket, and up to the region of the parotid gland near the ear. It sometimes involves the whole head. 
• The tongue may swell and protrude and mucous membranes are congested. Affected animals have difficulty in breathing. 
• Most animals collapse and die within a few hours. Recovery is rare. Occasionally an animal may remain sick for several days. Death is due to suffocation and to the release of toxins produced by the bacteria. 

Diagnosis

• Post-mortem reveals extensive oedema of the head, throat and brisket. The fluid is straw coloured and infiltration may extend from the subcutaneous tissue into the muscle. 
• Numerous small haemorrhages are found throughout the carcass. 
• Blood-tinged fluid may be found within the pericardial sac and in the chest and abdominal cavities. 
• The pharyngeal and cervical lymph nodes are swollen and frequently contain small haemorrhages. 
• In those animals which have survived for several days pneumonia with thickening of the interlobular septae may be seen, but well- established bronchopneumonia is more likely to be caused by other serotypes of P. multocida or P. haemolytica than in true Haemorrhagic Septicaemia. 
• When calves are affected haemorrhagic gastroenteritis may be seen.
   

Diseases with similar symptoms

• Swollen lymph nodes, fever and froth discharge from the mouth: See ECF and MCF (under construction) 
• Anthrax, Salmonellosis, Rinderpest - see below

Prevention - Control - Treatment 

Prevention

• The principal means of prevention is by vaccination, which in areas where the disease is prevalent, should be carried out on an annual basis.
• Where the disease is not prevalent, the cost of regular vaccination may not be justified, but when an outbreak occurs, vaccination should be considered in order to control the spread of infection.
• Herd quarantine, the segregation of sick animals from healthy ones, and routine disinfection all help to slow the spread of disease between and within herds. 
• In previously infected herds, natural immunity exists and occurrence rates and death rates are substantially lower than in herds not previously infected. Immune animals, however, can carry and transmit infection.

Milk Fever

Rinderpest

Rinderpest in the past - now eradicated.

(c) Dr. Hugh Cran, Nakuru, Kenya

Mode of spread

Signs of Rinderpest

• An incubation period of 3-15 days is followed by a fever, loss of appetite, depression, and a discharge from the eyes and nose. 
• Within 2-3 days, pinpoint decaying wounds appear on the gums. These soon enlarge to become cheesy plaques affecting the gums, inside of the lips and tongue, and often also the roof of the mouth. 
• The discharges from the nose and eyes have mucous and pus and smell foul, and the muzzle appears dry and cracked. 
• The final clinical sign is profuse diarrhoea with an offensive smell, often containing mucous, blood and shreds of mucous membranes. There are signs of abdominal pain, sunken eyes, straining, dehydration, general weakness, collapse and death. 
• In epidemic areas the number of animals affected was often 100% and the death rate up to 90%. 
• Post-mortem signs of decay and erosion are seen throughout the gastro-intestinal and upper respiratory tract with classic "zebra-striping" in the rectum. 

Diseases with similar symptoms

Prevention - Control - Treatment

Information Source Links 

• Barber, J., Wood, D.J. (1976) Livestock management for East Africa: Edwar Arnold (Publishers) Ltd 25 Hill Street London WIX 8LL
• Blood, D.C., Radostits, O.M. and Henderson, J.A. (1983) Veterinary Medicine - A textbook of the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, Goats and Horses. Sixth Edition - Bailliere Tindall London. ISBN: 0702012866
• Blowey, R.W. (1986). A Veterinary book for dairy farmers: Farming press limited Wharfedale road, Ipswich, Suffolk IPI 4LG
• FAO Rome 1968: Emerging Diseases of Animals. The Enterotoxaemias of Sheep caused by organisms of the Welch Group 
• Force, B. (1999). Where there is no Vet. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands. ISBN 978-0333-58899-4.
• Hall, H.T.B. (1985). Diseases and parasites of Livestock in the tropics. Second Edition. Longman Group UK. ISBN 0582775140
• Hunter, A. (1996). Animal health: General principles. Volume 1 (Tropical Agriculturalist) - Macmillan Education Press. ISBN: 0333612027
• Hunter, A. (1996). Animal health: Specific Diseases. Volume 2 (Tropical Agriculturalist) - Macmillan Education Press. ISBN:0-333-57360-9
• ITDG and IIRR (1996). Ethnoveterinary medicine in Kenya: A field manual of traditional animal health care practices. Intermediate Technology Development Group and International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Nairobi, Kenya. ISBN 9966-9606-2-7.
• Khan CM and Line S (2005): The Merck Veterinary Manual, 9th Edition, Merck & Co Inc Whitehouse Station NJ USA
• Martin WB (Editor)1983: Diseases of Sheep. Blackwell Scientific Publications ISBN 0-632 -01008 -8
• Mugera, Bwangamoi & Wandera 1979: Diseases of Cattle in Tropical Africa. Kenya Literature Bureau Nairobi 
• Onderstepoort Henning 1956: Animal Diseases in South Africa 3rd Edition 
• Pagot, J. (1992). Animal Production in the Tropics and Subtropics. MacMillan Education Limited London
• Poisoning in Veterinary Practice Prof. E GC Clarke The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry 106 Regent Street London WIR 6DD 1975
• Sewell MMH and Brocklesby DW (editors)(1990): Handbook on Animal Diseases in the Tropics, 4th Edition 1990. Balliere and Tindall, 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX, UK. ISBN NO: 0-7020-1502-4
• Sewell and Brocklesby, Editors 1990: Handbook on Animal Diseases in the Tropics 4th Edition. Bailliere Tindall ISBN 0-7020-1502-4
• The African Veterinary Handbook Mackenzie & Simpson 1964 Pitman, Nairobi
• The Merck Veterinary Manual 9th Edition Kahn & Line 2005 ISBN 0-911910-50-6
• The Organic Farmer magazine No. 50 July 2009 
• The Organic Farmer magazine No. 51 August 2009
• Veterinary Medicine A Textbook of the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses 1983 6th Edition Blood, Radostits and Henderson ELSB & Bailliere Tindall ISBN 0-7020-0988-1