Diarrhea
Symptoms
· Defecation more frequent than
normal.
· Loose feces that sometimes contain
blood, mucus or both.
· Dry skin.
· Hindquarters are soiled.
· Animal stops chewing cud.
· Animal has dull and sunken eyes and does not move
energetically.
Diarrhea
Causes
· Sudden change in diet
(especially from dry fodder diet to green fodder).
· Intestinal parasites like amoeba.
· Bacterial and viral diseases.
· Contaminated water.
· Overeating.
Prevention
· Good hygiene and nutrition.
· Proper husbandry practices
such as giving clean feed and water, keeping animal quarters and surroundings
clean, etc.
· Do not graze the animal
immediately after a rain or too early in the morning before the dew has dried.
· Do not provide drinking water
immediately after giving legumes and green fodder as feed.
· Deworm the animals regularly.
See Internal parasites, page 38.
· Vaccinate animals against
rinderpest in areas where it is seasonally endemic.
@ Caution
· Watch out for
rinderpest—bloody, foulsmelling, shooting diarrhea with high fever that
affects many animals in the village. (See Infectious diseases).
· If there is chronic diarrhea
with wasting away and no response to treatment, seek professional help.
Treatment
Provide a soft, pulpy diet to animals with diarrhea. It is
necessary to make the animal drink extra liquid to replace the liquid lost in
the diarrhea. Diarrhea that lasts for 2 to 3 days may cause dehydration. This
can lead to shock and then death. It is, therefore, necessary to make the animal
drink more liquid.
Use any of the following drenches. The dosages of the treatments
given below are for adult cattle or buffaloes.
Use half the amounts for calves, goats and sheep. Further
drenches are described in Dehydration, page 18.
· Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt
and 4 teaspoons of sugar in 1 liter of water. Drench 2-3 times a day as needed.
Continue giving the treatment for as long as the diarrhea lasts. (India. 1, 2,
3, 4, 5)
· Boil 1 handful of tea leaves
in 1 liter of water. Strain, and add ½ handful of ground ginger rhizome to
the liquid. Drench twice a day for 3-4 days. (India. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
· Grind ½ handful of fresh
ginger rhizome and ½ handful of bishop's weed (Trachyspermum ami) seeds.
Add this mixture and a handful of tea leaves to 1 liter of water and boil. Cool.
Drench half of the amount in the morning and half of the amount in the evening.
Repeat the next day until the diarrhea stops. (India. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
· Give the water from cooked
rice mixed with 1 g of dried ginger rhizome powder to the animal to drink.
Repeat 2 times a day. Give half the quantity for sheep and goats. (India. 1, 2,
3, 4, 5)
· Drench 500 ml to 1000 ml of
young coconut water twice a day until the diarrhea stops. (Philippines,
Thailand. 1, 2, 3)
Some treatments to help stop diarrhea are described below. As
before, use half the dosages given below for calves, sheep and goats. Continue
the treatment for as long as the diarrhea lasts.
· Mix 1 handful each of bishop's
weed (Trachyspermum ami) seeds, dried or fresh ginger rhizome and cumin
(Cuminum cyminum) seeds with ½ handful fenugreek
(Trigonella foenum-graecum) seed powder. Mix with 50 g brown sugar to make bolus
and feed by mouth twice a day for 2-3 days. (India. 1, 2, 3, 4)
· Boil ½ kg of fresh guava
(Psidium guajava) leaves in 3 glasses of water. Drench twice a day. (Thailand.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
· Boil about 20 fresh star apple
(Chrysophyllum cainito) leaves in 2 cups of water. Drench 3 times a day for 1-3
days. (Philippines. 1, 2, 3, 4)
· Grind coconut shell charcoal
to a powder. Mix 1 cup with 500 ml of water. Drench 3 times a day for 3 days.
(Philippines. 1, 2, 3, 4)
· Mix 5 to 10 crystals of
potassium permanganate in 1 liter of water. Drench twice a day. (India. 1, 2, 3,
4)
· Drench the animal with any of
the following ingredients in the amounts indicated, mixed in 300 to 400 ml of
water: powdered chalk (4 g), kaolin earth (5 g), or potassium aluminum sulfate
crystals (0.8 g).
· Crush 15 g each of the young
fruits and roots of Momordica charantia to obtain the juice. Mix the juice into
1 liter of young coconut water and drench once a day for 3 days. (Philippines.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
· Prepare a decoction of 10 to
15 leaves of Psidium gunjava in 1 liter of water. Divide the liquid in 3 equal
doses and give 3 doses per day for 5 days. (Philippines. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Some further treatments to stop diarrhea are presented in the
following table. All plant parts used in the treatments are dried and ground to
powder form.
Mix the dosage indicated with 300 to 400 ml of water and drench
with this amount twice a day for 3-5 days or as long as the diarrhea lasts.
