Intravenous fluid therapy of calves

Dehydration in neonatal calves with diarrhea is a common cause of death. Despite progress in understanding the pathophysiology of the disease, calf diarrhea remains a major cause of economic loss to the cattle industry. Good calf-raising management and vaccination to produce hyperimmune colostrum in the dam's mammary gland can reduce the incidence of neonatal diarrhea(22, 103); however, neonatal diarrhea remains a major cause of financial loss because of treatment costs and the loss of genetically valuable replacement heifers and bulls. According to the World Health Organization, the development of successful oral rehydration therapy is one of the major advances of human medicine in this century. Oral rehydration therapy has saved numerous human infants and neonatal animals with diarrhea; however, oral rehydration may not rapidly restore the hydration status of moderately to severely dehydrated calves. In these circumstances, iratravenous fluid therapy remains the best treatment option for dehydration. The approach to intravenous fluid therapy should be simple and cheap to serve the needs of practitioners and agricultural producers; The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of intravenous fluid therapy in calves using practical on-farm treatment options.