Grinding teeth in a calf may indicate some diseases that affect young animals at an early age. If the disease is confirmed, specific treatment is required. Let's consider why a calf can grind its teeth, diseases in which grinding is a symptom, methods of their diagnosis and treatment, what needs to be done to prevent diseases.
Causes of teeth grinding in calves
First of all, it is necessary to exclude the possibility of sand or soil getting into the feed, or the calf eating bedding, plaster from the walls, or pieces of soil. This is caused by feeding low-quality, inferior food, as a result of which it contains few nutrients, the deficiency of which the calf tries to compensate for using the means available to it. Sand and other solid inclusions can get into the calf's food if the care rules are not followed, the feed and the stall are not ideally clean.
Typically, squeaking caused by solid particles in food occurs during feeding or chewing gum and can be easily identified by this sign. In other cases, creaking is a symptom of diseases that do not end in self-healing and require mandatory treatment. These are pathologies such as gastroenteritis, rumen parakeratosis and white muscle disease.
Gastroenteritis
Basically, the causes of inflammation of the stomach and small intestine are nutritional disorders or feeding with low-quality food: stale food, rotten hay, moldy concentrates. Symptoms of gastroenteritis: the calf grinds its teeth, diarrhea, mucus and blood may be observed in the stool, its temperature increases, its appetite decreases, and the animal becomes lethargic.
Scar parakeratosis
This disease is typical for young calves up to six months of age. Occurs due to disturbances in the diet, when cows are given feed with an increased content of concentrates, insufficient carotene, and a small proportion of roughage. With parakeratosis, symptoms include grinding and grinding of teeth, drooling, mild contractions of the rumen, and weak bowel movements.
White muscle disease
The exact causes of white muscle disease have not been established, but it is believed that the disease may be of viral origin and may develop due to a deficiency of vitamins E and A and mineral elements, such as cobalt and selenium. Symptoms of white muscle disease include the characteristic grinding of teeth, severe general weakness in which the calf will not eat or drink, upset stomach, foul-smelling feces, and cloudy eyes.
With white muscle disease, degenerative-dystrophic changes occur - muscle fibers are replaced by connective or fatty tissue or are destroyed.
Diagnosis of diseases
External symptoms may not be enough for a correct diagnosis. If the calf grinds its teeth more than once, laboratory tests need to be carried out. This is especially true if white muscle disease is suspected, when incorrect diagnosis and treatment or its absence can lead to the death of the individual.
To determine the pathology, blood and urine are taken from the bull for analysis. With white muscle disease, the number of red blood cells and protein will be less than normal, the creatine content in the urine will be increased, and the reaction will be shifted to the acidic side. If gastroenteritis is suspected, parasitic and infectious diseases with similar manifestations must be excluded.
What to do if a problem occurs
As soon as it is possible to determine what the cause is and establish the disease, you need to immediately begin treatment.
Drug treatment
Medicines are prescribed based on the disease that caused the symptom such as teeth grinding. Treatment for gastroenteritis is a starvation diet for 1-1.5 days, during which time only warm salted water can be given. Then the calf is given fresh sour milk, skim milk, and liquid oatmeal.If in the future the symptoms are generally favorable, you can gradually transfer the calf to a regular diet. Treatment of scar parakeratosis consists of normalizing the diet, which is necessary to restore body functions; additionally, retinol, sodium bicarbonate, and burnt magnesia are given.
To treat white muscle disease, sick individuals are separated from others, since the cause of the disease may be a virus. Calves are prescribed injections of vitamins A and E, and products containing selenium (sodium selenite is used). This drug is toxic and should only be administered by a veterinarian; an excessive dose may cause the calf to die. If abscesses occur at injection sites, antibiotic drugs should be used.
Traditional methods and recipes
For gastroenteritis, to relieve symptoms, calves are given oatmeal or rice broth, salted heated water. In case of parakeratosis, young animals are given a soda solution to reduce the acidity of the juice, the proportion of hay is increased, and the proportion of mixed feed is reduced.
For white muscle disease, drug treatment is necessary; folk treatment should be aimed at supporting the cow’s body to fight the disease.
Any folk medicines are effective as additional complex remedies; they cannot completely solve the problem. Therefore, you cannot rely on them alone.
How dangerous is the problem?
Any of the diseases listed is quite common and can be found in any livestock farm. The consequences of diseases are expressed in disruption of the body functions of calves and cows, which affects their productivity.
Prevention
The preventive measures that need to be taken to prevent these diseases are the following: give cows and calves only high-quality feed, which will consist of products that contain all the nutritional components necessary for cattle. Animals should drink clean, fresh water, walk daily in the fresh air, and stand in spacious, clean stalls. Physical activity, sunlight, and improving the animal's mental state play an important role in maintaining the immune strength of the cow's body. In those individuals that are kept in good conditions, the incidence rate is always lower.
For pregnant cows and newborns, it is necessary to create conditions under which the likelihood of infection will be minimized; after birth, calves should receive colostrum as a source of important nutrients for them. Everyone who works with cows must observe personal hygiene rules so as not to spread the infection throughout the farm.
If a calf grinds its teeth, this is not always a harmless symptom; it may indicate infectious and digestive diseases. Any animal that grinds its teeth should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible and treated.
