Stories of life on our farm in Northwest Georgia where every day is an adventure in this beautiful spot that God has entrusted to our stewardship.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Wellie and Colitis X Update

On June 13 I posted about our Dexter calf Wellie's bout with Colitis X.  Here are some photos taken July 1, along with an update on the rest of Wellie's treatment and recovery.

Following Dr. Tyree's instructions, I gave Wellie two more doses of Sustain III.  Each dose was two boluses, based on his size.  The first one was the 11th, followed by another dose on the 14th and a final one on the 17th.  During this time I continued the ProBios gel twice a day, 10 grams each time.  There were no more bloody stools during this time.

On June 19 I gave the second and final shot of Excede.  I continued with the twice daily regimen of ProBios for the next nine days.  That would take us through the entire week that the shot was effective and two days beyond.
By June 21 I didn't need to milk Siobhan anymore.  Wellie was handling everything on his own at about three and a half weeks of age.  He was quite active and lively and very obviously doing well.

June 26 would have been the last date to consider the Excede being effective.

There had been no further blood in his stools.  So when I ran out of the tubes of ProBios two days later, I figured I would see how he did without it.
On June On June 29 there was a tiny amount of blood in one otherwise normal stool.
Since then we have seen no further blood in Wellie's stools.

What we have seen is liveliness, spunk, energy, a shiny coat and bright eyes.  Our hottest weather this summer (low 90°s) occurred earlier the day I took these photos.  The sun was setting by the time I let Wellie and Siobhan into the round pen, and he obviously had energy to burn!

I'll be sending this post to Dr. Tyree, but I feel confident that he'll have no hesitation in pronouncing Wellie cured!

2 comments:

  1. Glad to hear he is alright. He is such a cute little guy, I would like to see what he looks like when he is full grown.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Gordon. (And sorry I just found out that Google quit sending me notification of comments, so I've had no idea that there were any comments.) I'll be sure to post regular updates on him, and I plan to do a feature soon about telling a chondro-positive calf from a negative one.

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