Physiopathology of diarrhea in young calves: clinical signs and metabolic disturbances

The aims of the current study were to characterize the main clinical consequences of diarrhea and to identify metabolic disorders due to this neonatal disease in newborn calves (≤30 days of age). Forty seven calves of two selected dairy herds in the province of Constantine were involved in this study. Clinical examination and analysis of blood samples collected from untreated calves over 3 periods (birth to 7 days,8 to 15 days and over 15 days) were carried out from February to October 2013.Hematological (Hemoglobin (HGB) and Hematocrit (HCT)), biochemical (Sodium (Na+), Potassium (K+), Chloride (Cl-) and pH) and organic parameters (Total protein, Glucose, Urea and Creatinine) were analyzed at the onset of diarrhea, before any treatment in diarrheic calves and subsequently compared with the values obtained in clinically healthy calves and standards reported in the literature. Base excess (BE) and the strong ions difference (SID) were also calculated by the previous assays.Results of this study showed that respiratory rate was significantly higher in calves with diarrhea (P<0.05). The occurrence of a minimal insignificant metabolic disturbance (P>0.05) was observed in diarrheic calves. A significant increase in total protein, and an insignificant difference for the rest of the analyzed hematological and biochemical parameters in diarrheic calves were observed at the statistical level P<0.05 during the experiment. A negative energy balance reflected by hypoglycemia (107.2±2.5 mg/dL in diarrheic calves versus 121.8±4.6 mg/dL in healthy calves) was also noted during the diarrheal syndrome (P>0.05).