Indicators that treatment is not timely
The severity of symptoms at first treatment is the most obvious indicator of treatment timeliness. Consider all the calves you have treated for pneumonia in the past week, month or three months. If the majority of them had heavy nasal discharge, coughing, and temperatures above 103.5°accompanied by shallow breathing and elevated respiration rate, then diagnosis and treatment was probably later that desirable.
A second indicator is clustering of treatments. Go back to your treatment records. Do your records show that you frequently treat two or more calves on the same day (first treatments) and none on many other days? This often happens when we spot one seriously sick calf. While treating her we have an opportunity to observe other nearby calves. Among them are previously unobserved treatable cases.
Published reports comparing clinician versus calf raiser diagnosis rates for pneumonia show significant differences. That is, calf raisers diagnosed pneumonia later or completely missed diagnosing cases when calves had been diagnosed as clinically ill with pneumonia by the veterinarian.
Doing a better job of diagnosis and treatment
The first step toward improvement is to make a commitment to observe all the calves. Our tendency as care givers is to be in hurry. However, a small amount if time spent observing calves at feeding time can save many hours of treatment time later. It is important to remember that in just a few seconds if we know what to look for, we can make a valid assessment of a calf’s well being. Actually, anytime you are working with the calves (feed grain or water, bedding) this is an opportunity to watch for discharges from the nose or eye and/or lack of usual energetic behavior.
We are watching for:
- Calf is slow to get up to eat.
- Calf does not immediately begin eating vigorously.
- Calf lingers in the milk bucket longer than others.
- Calf has colored or opaque nasal discharge.
- Calf coughs.
In whatever way fits our management system, when we see any of these symptoms those calves need to be marked for an additional health exam after feeding.
The second step toward better and timelier diagnoses of respiratory illness is to know what to observe and how to interpret what we see. A practical on-farm diagnostic guide is available at the University of Wisconsin Vet School address: www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/calves.htm
Once at this web site, scroll down to calves and click on “Calf Respiratory Health Scoring Chart.” The Calf Health Scoring Criteria give standards for assessing calf health. Especially helpful are the color pictures showing nasal discharge. The “normal” picture shows nothing more that a small amount of thin, clear, water-like liquid. In contrast, the picture for the most seriously ill calf shows a lot of discharge from both nostrils that is thick, opaque and discolored. The chart minus the pictures is:
|
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Rectal Temperature |
|
|
|
| 100-100.9 |
101-101.9 |
102-102.9 |
>103 |
| Cough |
|
|
|
| None |
Induce single cough |
Induced repeatedcoughs or occasional
spontaneous cough
|
Repeated spontaneous
coughs |
| Nasal Discharge |
|
|
|
Normal serous
discharge |
Small amount of
unilateral cloudy
discharge
|
Bilateral, cloudy or
excessive mucus
discharge |
Copious bilateral
mucopurulent discharge |
| Eye Scores |
|
|
|
| Normal |
Small amount of ocular
discharge |
Moderate amount of
ocular discharge |
Heavy ocular discharge |
Ear Scores
|
|
|
|
| Normal |
Ear flick or head shake |
Slight unilateral droop |
Head tilt or bilateral
droop |
Dr. McGuirk suggests assigning number values between “0” and “3” to your observations. When she gets a score of “Four” she marks this calf for observation the next day. A score of “five” rates immediate treatment. The most significant value of Dr. McGuirk’s observation guide is the benefit of achieving timeliness of treatment. Not to be undervalued, however, is achieving consistency from day to day and among caregivers.
|