Fluid Therapy

Question 1

What are some of the reasons you would administer fluids to a cow?

Answer 1

(Animal dehydration, rumen dehydration, carrier for medications, and to stimulate appetite)

Question 2

What can impact your ability to assess dehydration using the sunken eyeball method?

Answer 2

(If a low BCS, retrobulbar fat pad may be small and eye can look sunken when not dehydrated)

Question 3

What is indicated by an empty paralumbar fossa?

Answer 3

(Cow is off feed and/or dehydrated)

Question 4

Any dairy cow that is off feed is likely at least what percent dehydrated?

Answer 4

(5%)

Question 5

What is the fluid deficit in pints, gallons, and liters for a 1200 lb cow that is 7% dehydrated?

Answer 5

(84 pints (1200 x 0.07), 10.5 gallons (divide pints by 8 bc 8 pints in a gallon), or 38 liters (divide pints by 2.2))

Question 6

What are the goals of fluid therapy in cattle?

Answer 6

(Rehydrate the animal, rehydrate the rumen, encourage appetite, and deliver any needed medications)

Question 7

Pair the appropriate fluid therapy plan with the percent dehydration:

< 8%

A - Oral fluids alone
B - IV + oral fluids
C - Depends - if you choose this option, additional question of depends on what?

Answer 7

A - Oral fluids alone

Question 8

Pair the appropriate fluid therapy plan with the percent dehydration:

8%

A - Oral fluids alone
B - IV + oral fluids
C - Depends - if you choose this option, additional question of depends on what?

Answer 8

C - (Depends on if she has a condition that will cause her to have continuing losses/generally make her feel worse/less likely to be eating/drinking on her own after giving oral, then you’d choose oral + IV fluids)

Question 9

Pair the appropriate fluid therapy plan with the percent dehydration:

> 8%

A - Oral fluids alone
B - IV + oral fluids
C - Depends - if you choose this option, additional question of depends on what?

Answer 9

B - IV + oral fluids

Question 10

How much does the cattle pump system pump in one stroke?

Answer 10

(A pint)

Question 11

Why should you make sure you’re not pumping fluids too quickly with a cattle pump system?

Answer 11

(Prevents regurg and aspiration which is potential fatal)

Question 12

How do you know if a cow you are pumping fluids into with a cattle pump system is going to regurgitate?

Answer 12

(She should normal be chewing while you have the pump system in place, if she stops, regurg is imminent)

Question 13

How many gallons per 100 lbs of body weight can be administered orally in cows?

Answer 13

(0.5-0.75 gallon per 100 lbs of body weight, should be warm)

Question 14

Why would you add 60-100 grams of calcium to a cows’ oral drench?

Answer 14

(Off feed and/or fresh dairy cows are typically hypocalcemic)

Question 15

What is the purpose of adding 3-5 pounds of alfalfa meal to a cows’ oral drench?

Answer 15

(Gives the bacteria in the rumen a growth substrate, adding ¼-½ a lb of yeast also helps to accomplish the same goal)

Question 16

If you’re going to add KCl to an oral drench to replace potassium losses, how much do you add?

Answer 16

(90 grams)

Question 17

If you’re going to add propionate to an oral drench, how much do you add?

Answer 17

(12 oz)

Question 18

If you’re going to add NaCl to an oral drench to replace losses, how much do you add?

Answer 18

(120-160 grams)

Question 19

What is the dose of hypertonic saline in cattle, which is a great economical way to rehydrate moderate to severely dehydrated ruminants?

Answer 19

(2-3 ml/lb)

Question 20

Why do you need to make sure a cow is either drinking or you administer oral fluids in a cow that you administer hypertonic fluids to?

Answer 20

(Bc in those cases, water will be drawn from the rumen by the hypertonic fluids so there needs to be fluids in the rumen to draw from)

Question 21

In what conditions is hypertonic saline contraindicated and why?

Answer 21

(Salt intoxication and anemia; salt intoxication better make sense to you already or you should just quit while you’re ahead, for anemia hypertonic saline pulls water from the cells which will dilute that already minimal number of blood cells and then it’ll be time to kick the bucket)

Question 22

What brand of bottled water is best for making homemade lactated ringers and why?

Answer 22

(Deer park (this part really was just for shits and giggles), or any company that uses reverse osmosis)

Question 23

What electrolytes and how much do you add to 18 liters of reverse osmosis water to make homemade lactated ringers?

Answer 23

(140 grams NaCl, 90 grams of KCl, and 10 grams of CaCl)

Question 24

What do you need to ask yourself when trying to decide if you are going to give a calf with scours oral versus hypertonic IV versus isotonic IV fluids?

Answer 24

(What is causing the diarrhea and is it malabsorptive or secretory diarrhea; oral obviously won’t work if it is malabsorptive and neither will hypertonic because they need to absorb fluid from the GIT for hypertonic to work)

Question 25

If you have deemed a scouring calf a good candidate for oral fluid therapy (they are still drinking on their own just not enough, they don’t have abdominal distension, and they have secretory diarrhea), how much can you give and how often can you give it?

Answer 25

(2 quarts 2-3 times a day)