# need help seem to have mild bloat



## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

how can I treat mild bloat in my year old calf

she seemed fine all day, then when she came in to get her evening feed kept laying down, didn't eat everything, seems to breath hard for a moment then quit, walked her around and she finally pooped..is there something I can give her before it becomes and issue?


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## Karin L (Oct 5, 2006)

What are you feeding her? Usually giving her a good walk around will clear it up, and she has to be burping, not pooping to clear it up. You might want to consider giving her a bloat-prevention block, like one that has some Rumensin or something similar. 

You can even place her feeding and watering station farther apart so she has to walk to them. Walk is good, gets the gases in her moving.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

I rocked her gently on her belly until she gave a burp, I got her up and walking, gave her a good belly massage then a drench of veggie oil, she improved pretty rapidly, when I put her back in her stall she licked her feed bucket (I had taken out her feed) and finally drank her water, now laying down tooting, burping and chewing cud, everything seems good to go with hay. fprtunate I handle her twice a day with my horses and seemed to catch it very early, she is so full of personality any change is easy to spot.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Is your pasture greening up? She is greedily eating the young grass/clover? When you look at her from behind, her left side looks bloated? Offering minerals with plenty of magnesium helps prevent bloat. They sell "bloat blocks" that are palatable and high in magnesium. Have heard of putting epsom salts in the water, but seems like if it was enough to be effective they wouldn't drink it. In extreme cases, a tube into the gut to release the gas is required, or even puncturing the rumen from the outside. 

Walk her, offer some dry hay, restrict access to the lush new growth, and make sure she has magnesium.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Sweetlix makes a bloat prevention block that you can put out as soon as the grass starts to get lush in the spring. It does a good job.

Therabloat is a liquid to break up the tiny bobbles of frothy bloat, so the cow can burp or poot the gas out. It has a chemical that works on cows like Gas-X works on people. Get a few bottles to keep on hand for cases like this.

Prepare a stomach tube to have available. You can buy them from livestock supply stores. You slip this tube down the cow's throat into the rumen to let the gas out. Search for, read and memorize the instructions for using the tube.


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

Having had to both tube and stick the trocar in the rumen from young calves to mature cows (never a bull thank goodness!), prevention is always the preferable option. The bloat blocks are effective. Try to limit the pasture initially in the spring, especially when they are wet with dew or after a rain.

But as Genebo said, make sure you have made preparations just in case. We have several sizes and lengths of tube, and I've made up some PVC pipes about 14" long to help guide the tube through the mouth and past the back teeth so they don't chew the flexible tube. It's much easier to guide the tube with them. Make sure the ends of everything have been rounded.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

MO_cows said:


> Is your pasture greening up? She is greedily eating the young grass/clover? When you look at her from behind, her left side looks bloated? Offering minerals with plenty of magnesium helps prevent bloat. They sell "bloat blocks" that are palatable and high in magnesium. Have heard of putting epsom salts in the water, but seems like if it was enough to be effective they wouldn't drink it. In extreme cases, a tube into the gut to release the gas is required, or even puncturing the rumen from the outside.
> 
> Walk her, offer some dry hay, restrict access to the lush new growth, and make sure she has magnesium.


This is what I thought, also. We used keep bloat blocks out for our cows in the spring.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

my guys are on a very small pasture which I baby and manage like a miser, it keeps coverage but stays chewed down and short from wear and tear, but it is getting some new green spots and I planted clover behind the pasture for the bees.. her left side did look filled up...I have free feed good quality hay, turnout it is more for recreation than anything else will go grab a bloat block and put it out, have added corn oil to her feed, I read that online as well somewhere, figure it can't hurt. She is on Omeline 300


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

she also has a mineral block in her stall as well...


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## whodunit (Mar 29, 2004)

Tide is what our vet recommended for bloat prevention.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Like the detergent? I just bought a sweet mag block to put out...will that help prevent bloat? Or grass tetany?


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

whodunit said:


> Tide is what our vet recommended for bloat prevention.


whoa, what...your vet said to feed them soap?


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## Karin L (Oct 5, 2006)

Why not? Dish soap works just as good as mineral oil when tubing for bloat. We've used dish soap detergent before with success. And laundry soap is a detergent as well, and likely just as effective as dish soap.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

I've used palmolive to sleeve goats before but never had to stick it down their throats before thank heavens!!


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

Karin L said:


> Why not? Dish soap works just as good as mineral oil when tubing for bloat. We've used dish soap detergent before with success. And laundry soap is a detergent as well, and likely just as effective as dish soap.


do they burp bubbles?


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

lakeportfarms said:


> Having had to both tube and stick the trocar in the rumen from young calves to mature cows (never a bull thank goodness!), prevention is always the preferable option. The bloat blocks are effective. Try to limit the pasture initially in the spring, especially when they are wet with dew or after a rain.
> 
> But as Genebo said, make sure you have made preparations just in case. We have several sizes and lengths of tube, and I've made up some PVC pipes about 14" long to help guide the tube through the mouth and past the back teeth so they don't chew the flexible tube. It's much easier to guide the tube with them. Make sure the ends of everything have been rounded.


how do you know you are not getting it in the lungs?


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Frothy bloat is a collection of small bubbles in the rumen. The small bubbles won't pass out, much like trying to rinse soapsuds down the drain. The object of Therbloat and vegetable oils is to break up the bubbles, making one big bubble that gets burped out.

I'd think that feeding soap to a cow would be the wrong way to go. Just my opinion. I've never heard of it before.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

okay, possible I am just a worry wart and she is just hot...we have had record heat these last few days. she was down earlier looking miserable, now she is up eating hay....bought a bloat block but afraid it might be toxic to the horses....think I will just keep adding oil to her feed to be safe, worse case she gets shiney


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## Karin L (Oct 5, 2006)

farmgirl6 said:


> do they burp bubbles?


No.  The soap helps break up the bubbles in the rumen, no matter if it's free-gas bloat or frothy bloat. 



For those of you who are skeptical about using dish detergent as an anti-bloating agent, check out here: VM164/VM122: Bloat In Cattle



> Treatment and Prognosis
> 
> For free gas bloat, passage of a stomach tube is generally sufficient to relieve the discomfort of mild to moderate distention of the rumen with free gas. Manipulation and repositioning of the tube after it enters the rumen is sometimes required to deflate the gas pocket. If acidosis is responsible for the incidence of bloat, antacid therapy should be provided in the form of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda ~ 1 lb in cold water) introduced via the stomach tube.
> 
> If no gas can be released by the introduction of the stomach tube, the cause of the bloat is probably from froth or foam within the rumen. Treatment of this type of bloat should include providing via the stomach tube one of the following: Poloxalene, mineral or vegetable oil, or a surfactant such as _dish soap_. These products help break down the froth within the rumen into larger pockets of gas which the animal can eructate or which can be relieved via a stomach tube.


And dish soap is also not uncommon to be used in goats and sheep, like here: 
Bloat
http://www.esgpip.org/PDF/Technical bulletin No.31.pdf

Dish soap is something that I wouldn't hesitate to use if I don't have the time to run to the vet to pay $20 for a bottle of mineral oil or something else with a bit more of a fancy name. JMO.


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

farmgirl6 said:


> how do you know you are not getting it in the lungs?


Don't force it in, let the cow swallow it naturally just as it would food. After it is inserted, you can also put your ear to listen, or your mouth over the tube to detect if it is breathing through the tube.


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

I might also add that there could sometimes be an obstruction in the esophagus that can lead to bloat. Carrots, apples, other things can become lodged and don't allow the clearing of the gas in sufficient amounts. In that event you have to carefully tube in order to see if the obstruction can be pushed into the rumen. If the esophagus is obstructed for too long of a period, necrosis can occur which will cause further complications.


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

I might also add that there could sometimes be an obstruction in the esophagus that can lead to bloat. Carrots, apples, other things can become lodged and don't allow the clearing of the gas in sufficient amounts. In that event you have to carefully tube in order to see if the obstruction can be pushed into the rumen. If obstructed for too long of a period, necrosis of the esophagus can occur which will cause further complications.


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