5 Hypomagnesaemic Tetany in Calves

Transcript

Now we are going to see about lesson-5, before that we will see what we have discussed in the previous class, that is- What is Treatment for Hypermagnesaemia and which is mainly Calcium along with the Magnesium containing solutions or a preferred drug of choice.

Apart from that injectable Magnesium Sulfate solution of 10 to 20% by IV injection followed with a high concentrated subcutaneous injection even rectal enema of Magnesium containing solution improve the absorption of Magnesium. And supplementation of Magnesium Oxide and Chloride acid drench but only excess feeding of Magnesium may cause diarrhea, so overdosing should be avoided, and the control measures top dressing of foliage or pasture land with a Magnesium containing solution and then a Magnesium salt lick, and then magnesium bullets and a high concentrate diet and the rotational grazing of animal on the pasture land.

Finally, this is the last session of Hypermagnesaemia, lesson-5, which is a Hypermagnesaemic Tetany in Calves and we are going to see about how it occurs in calves and What all the Etio reasons for Hypermagnesaemia and Clinical sign Manifestation and the Management. That is a Treatment of Hypermagnesaemia here in calves, so as I said earlier Hypermagnesaemia occurs in 2 forms:-

that is in Lactating dairy cattle– it mainly occurs due to decreased availability of a Magnesium and it causes Acute to Chronic form.

Whereas in Calves– it is mainly a calves age of a 2-4 month it occurs and unlike adult cattle here the absorption occurs at the level of a small intestine and whenever diarrhea and animal are done only on milk it predisposed them to go for hypermagnesemia, always hypermagnesemia here also occur concurrently with hypocalcemia.

Why there is Hypermagnesaemia in the Calves- one interesting thing is cows in preliminary calves, if they are fed only on whole milk, so no other roughage or concentrate is given, even after two months which fed on only milk source, are sometimes they are raised on a milk replacer diet and or else with the poor quality of roughage food, so all these may cause a dietary deficiency of Magnesium because milk is a poor source of Magnesium. So the calves that are fed on only this milk replacer diet, are mainly predisposed to Hypomagnesemia.

Apart from that if the calves are raised on a dry bedding material, that is wooden shavings or anything so the constant chewing causes excess loss of Magnesium in the saliva thereby the availability of magnesium to the animal decreases and more magnesium is excreted in feces and the animal has diarrhea. So in that condition also the absorption of magnesium in the intestine decreases and it predisposes the animal to go for Hypermagnesemia.

So and the absorption of Magnesium from the Intestine, that is immediately after birth, the absorption will be 85% but it slowly decreases within two months period as low as 30% in three months period the absorbing capacity or the level of the intestine decreases, that is why the disease occurs if the animal is only maintained on a milk diet and then without any roughage or concentrate.

In the newly born calf, there is rapid absorption of Magnesium from the small intestine nervous and it slowly decreases as the age advances.

So whenever the animal is maintained only on milk which is a poor source of magnesium, then there will be a composite mechanism by the way of mobilization of magnesium from the bone, but they’re also the reserve capacity decreases as the age advances. So the Tetany signs are mainly seen when the serum level of Magnesium decreases by less than 0.6 milligrams per decilitre. So the Clinical findings absorbed in the Hypomagnesium calves are like they are in Cattle only. So there is an anxiety sign, all the neurological signs, initially, the animal will have mild tetany tremors of muscle, shaking of the head, and then a pricked ears, and the animal will have circling and even mild external stimulation will agitate the animal, it will go for ataxia and other signs. Later on, the increased muscle twitching followed with an animal will have severe tetanic and it will fall down, it will have a tonic-clonic convulsion, frothing of mouth, urination defecation, and opacity on exposure, whatever the convulsive series of signs absorbed in your typical conversion, you can see in calves, apart from that if the animal may have diarrhea due to the feeding of a milk replacer diet.

So in this, you can see very well appreciate the tonic-clonic convulsion and then opacity on exposure and all the excitatory signs in a calf affected with Hypermagnesaemia. So in this, you can see a delta calf showing stamping of feet, the excitatory sign in Hypermagnesaemia.

See how to diagnose Hypermagnesaemia because neurological signs we need to confirm there are other various diseases also may commonly occurring neurological disorders in calves are Polio Encephalomalacia– that is a thiamine deficiency, hypovitaminosis and then could Lead poisoning and Intro toxemia, Rabies. So to differentiate this we need to go for analysis or to prove the Hypermagnesaemia here we need to collect the serum sample and the levels less than 2 milligrams the animal will have neurological signs and titanic signs very low less than 0.6 milligrams you will get a convulsion. So the most important part of Hypermagnesaemia because one way of diagnosis of Hypermagnesaemia at the field level suppose calves are presented with diarrhea, the neurological signs, then we can try Magnesium injections.

So IV solution of 10% Magnesium sulfate, may give an immediate response to the treatment followed because it is transient and the response to bone resorption is also very low then we can go for subcutaneous injection as well as a rectal enema of magnesium-containing solution. Apart from the magnesium supplementation in the form of oral drenching is recommended in Hypermagnesaemia calves.

So, in this case, you can see the calf- it’s represented with diarrhea and then it had recumbency and a crawling and this goes after Treatment you can see the very good improvement, it can stand and walk normally and it had other clinical signs become normal.

In this series of lessons on Hypermagnesaemia, here I think you could have a better understanding of Hypermagnesaemia. So in a nutshell- what are all the points to be remembered in Hypermagnesaemia are :

The Lactation Tetany- is common in high yielders, mainly those that are fed with cereal grain crops lush green fodder and then the feed that is rich in fertilizers of potassium-rich fertilizer or urea containing fodder and mainly it altered the sodium-potassium ratio so they reduced absorption of magnesium and the common manifestation of Hypermagnesaemia and neurological signs. So Acute Hypermagnesaemia, you will get sudden mortality before an animal dies there will be severe tonic-clonic conversion, you can see and subject you to Chronic forms are common in Sub-acute form the onset of signs is more gradual whereas in Chronic Hypermagnesaemia there is unthriftiness and mostly it is a concurrently occurred with the Hypocalcemia and causing downward cow. So you always say whenever you manage Hypocalcemia, Hypermagnesaemia also should be included.

And the Diagnosis of Hypermagnesaemia is mainly by serum level of estimating the magnesium in the serum and a dead animal especially CSF fluid and vitreous humor or for diagnostic importance.

Then the common neurological disorder to be differentiated with Hypermagnesaemia is Acute lead poisoning, Rabies, Nervous form of Ketosis is a metabolic disorder.

The Management mainly Hypermagnesaemia usually combine the solution of Calcium and Magnesium preparation should be used followed by a Magnesium Sulphate IV solution whenever you go for IV preparation always you should carefully monitor the respiratory sign, it will cause severe sudden respiratory arrest, so that diluted 10 to 20 magnesium sulfate suggested for IV preparation and high concentration of even 50% suggested for subcutaneous injection even Rectal enema is useful in improving the blood magnesium level.

And in the Control, we need to go for supplementation of a salt lick as well as a top dressing of foliage with a Magnesium containing solution and overall magnesium-drenching solution.

And finally, the important part of Hypermagnesaemia is the Hypermagnesaemic Tetany in calves that are maintained only on a milk-replace diet or whole milk and are maintained on a rough paddy bedding material, predisposed animal to go for neurological signs and the animal may die after convulsion. So in a pre-rumen calf after the second month of birth, they should be given sufficient concentrates and a roughage diet to avoid the occurrence of Hypermagnesaemia in calves.

Thank you!