Half Baked Veterinarian

21/11/2025

🗞 Common Poison & their Antidote 🩺

20/11/2025

🗞 Ascites and Flip-Over Syndrome in Poultry 🐔

Ascites and flip-over syndrome are metabolic disorders that mainly affect fast-growing broilers. These conditions are linked to rapid growth, poor ventilation, high energy diets, and stress. Although not caused by an infectious agent, they lead to major losses, especially in commercial broiler production.

🖋Cause
Ascites develops when the bird’s heart and lungs cannot keep up with the rapid growth of the body. This leads to fluid build-up in the abdomen. Flip-over syndrome occurs when sudden heart failure causes a bird to fall on its back and die suddenly. Both conditions are strongly connected to:

* Poor ventilation and low oxygen
* Very fast growth rates
* High-energy or high-fat diets
* Overcrowding
* High temperatures
* Stress during brooding

🩺Symptoms
Signs of ascites include:

* Swollen abdomen filled with fluid
* Difficulty breathing
* Slow movement
* Pale comb and wattles
* Poor growth
* Sudden deaths

💉Signs of flip-over syndrome include:

* Sudden death without warning
* Birds found lying on their backs
* Healthy appearance before death
* More common in heavy broilers

📨Prevention
The best control measures focus on management.

* Ensure good ventilation to supply enough oxygen.
* Avoid overheating during brooding.
* Use balanced feed to reduce excessively fast growth.
* Keep stocking density within recommended limits.
* Maintain good litter management.
* Provide clean drinking water always.
* Reduce stress by avoiding loud noises or sudden changes in the house.

🖋Treatment
There is no specific treatment for ascites or flip-over syndrome. Once severe signs appear, affected birds rarely recover. Management focuses on preventing conditions that lead to the problem.

* Improve ventilation immediately.
* Reduce heating if temperatures are high.
* Adjust feeding to control rapid early growth.
* Remove severely affected birds to reduce suffering.

✔️Importance of Good Management
These conditions show the importance of proper brooding, feeding, and ventilation practices. Well-managed poultry houses with balanced feed and good airflow experience much lower losses from ascites and flip-over.

18/11/2025

Metritis can delay first ovulation by up to 20–30 days postpartum, and conception rates may drop by 15–25%

(LeBlanc et al., Journal of Dairy Science, 2002)

17/11/2025

✨✨ Case Study for Dairy Veterinarians 🩺

🐄 You are presented with a collapsed
2-month-old beef calf .

🐄 The re**al temperature is subnormal (38.1°C).

🐄 The eyes are markedly sunken and the skin tent is extended beyond 5 s, consistent with 7–10% dehydration.

🐄 The ocular and oral mucous membranes are markedly congested ، The heart rate is 120 beats per minute ، The respiratory rate is elevated to 28 breaths per minute with a slight
expiratory grunt.

🐄 The abdomen is distended and palpation elicits a painful grunt.

1. What conditions would you consider?
2. How could you confirm your provisional diagnosis?
3. What is the prognosis?
4. What treatment would you recommend?
5. What control measures would you recommend?

📃✍👇
1. Conditions 👀

✔️ abomasal perforation;
✔️ clostridial enteritis;
✔️ intestinal torsion;
✔️ acute peritonitis;
✔️ hairball causing obstruction to abomasal outflow;
✔️ intussusception;
✔️ necrotic enteritis;
✔️ septicaemia;
✔️ ruptured bladder/uroperitoneum
✔️ Salmonellosis

2. Confirmation ☝️

🤙 The clinical diagnosis could be supported by abdominocentesis, which would yield blood-tinged fluid.

🤙 Ultrasonography may reveal several litres of fluid in theperitoneal cavity.

🤙 Explorative laparotomy may be undertaken.

3. Prognosis 🥺

🫴 The prognosis for abomasal perforation/acute septic peritonitis is hopeless
despite early veterinary attention.

🫴 Profound weakness, dehydration, injected
mucous membranes, rapid pulse >100 beats per minute, and expiratory grunt arepoor prognostic indicators.

4. Treatment 👏

® Symptomatic treatment comprises
2.2 mg/kg of flunixin meglumine injected
intravenously.

® Five litres of isotonic saline are given intravenously over 1 hr(50 mL/kg).

® A further 5 L of isolec are infused over the next 3 hr.

® In this case amidline explorative laporotomy under xylazine (0.1 mg/kg intramuscularly) and ketamine (2–3 mg/kg intravenously) general anaesthesia revealed an abomasal perforation with contamination of the abdominal cavity.

® The calf was euthanased for welfare reasons.

5. Control 🛂

👉 Abomasal perforation through a single focal 1–2 cm diameter punctate ulcer
occurs sporadically in 2–3-month-old beef calves.

👉 The cause of this sporadic condition has not been determined.

17/11/2025

Common Antibiotics 🩺

15/11/2025

🗞 Joint ill in calf 🐄
It occurs in new born animals of all species.
🖋Causes :
E. coli, Salmonella, Brucella, Streptococci, Staphylococci, Corynebacterium.

Initially organisms remain in septicaemic phase and later on they localize in various
organs viz. joints, brain etc.

🖋Signs :
i)Involvement of more than one joint (knee, hock)
ii)Joints are swollen, hot and painful.
iii)Lameness
iv)Fever, anorexia and dullness may be present.

🖋Diagnosis:
On the basis of clinical signs.

🩺Treatment :
1)Parenteral administration of antibiotics for 5 – 7 days.
e.g Strepto-penicillin, Amoxycillin.
2)Use of analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs. e.g. meloxicam @ 0.5 mg/kg iv, im.

💥 Joint ill in calf ~~~ 🐄🐄🐄

13/11/2025

🩺Blue Tongue in Sheep 🐑

Bluetongue, a disease which is transmitted by midges, infects domestic and wild ruminants and also camelids, however sheep are particularly badly affected. Cattle, although infected more frequently than sheep, do not always show signs of disease. Virus spreads between animals occurs via the midges of Cullicoides species.

The likelihood of mechanical transmission between herds and flocks, or indeed within a herd or flock, by unhygienic practices (the use of contaminated surgical equipment or hypodermic needles) may be a possibility.

🖋Clinical signs include:

Sheep : eye and nasal discharges, drooling, high body temperature, swelling in mouth, head and neck, lameness and wasting of muscles in hind legs, haemorrages into or under skin, inflammation of the coronary band, respiratory problems, fever, lethargy.

In cattle : nasal discharge, swelling of head and neck, conjunctivitis, swelling inside and ulceration of the mouth, swollen teats, tiredness, saliva drooling, fever.

🖋Note: a blue tongue is rarely a clinical sign of infection

🗞Control:

Inspect stock closely, particularly focusing on the lining of the mouth and nose and the coronary band (where the hoof stops and the skin starts). If an animal is suspected as having bluetongue, it must be reported as quickly as possible. Telephone your local animal health office immediately.

✔️Preventive measures and treatment (ethovet):

Since the animal is not taking any feed the starvation may lead to death. So the animal has to be administered orally the following food. Banana fruits (one) smeared with sesame oil (50 ml) for 2 to 3 times. By this animal will recover little. However, this will not control the disease fully. Next the leaf pulp of "sothukathalai"(Aloe vera) has to be administered daily. Administering of Aloe vera has to be continued for more days till the animal fully recovers from this disease. By this treatment the infected animal will recover from the disease. The disease will not spread to other animals if all animals are administered with Aloe vera as a preventive treatment. Administering aloe vera also increases the body weight of animals as it is against all intestinal parasite.

08/11/2025

🗞 DDx between FMD, PPR & Vesicular stomatitis 🐐

📑 Peste des Petit Ruminants (PPR), Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) & Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) are three viral diseases affecting livestock, but they differ in terms of etiology, affected species, clinical signs, and impact.
Here's a comparison:

1️⃣ Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR)

📌Causative Agent: PPR virus (a Morbillivirus, family Paramyxoviridae)

📌Affected Species: Primarily sheep and goats

📌Transmission: Direct contact, aerosols, contaminated feed and water

📌Clinical Signs:
- High fever
- Nasal and ocular discharge
- Oral ulcers and necrotic lesions
- Severe diarrhea
- Pneumonia
- High mortality, especially in young animals

📌Economic Impact: Severe in small ruminant populations, causing major losses in developing countries

2️⃣ Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)

📌Causative Agent: FMD virus (a Picornavirus, family Picornaviridae)

📌Affected Species: Cloven-hoofed animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, buffalo, and wild ungulates)

📌Transmission: Direct contact, aerosols, contaminated fomites, milk, meat, and carriers

📌Clinical Signs:
-High fever
- Vesicles (blisters) on the mouth, tongue, feet, and teats
- Lameness
- Excessive salivation
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Reduced milk production

📌Economic Impact: Highly contagious and economically devastating due to trade restrictions, loss of productivity, and culling measures

3️⃣ Vesicular Stomatitis (VS)

📌Causative Agent: Vesicular stomatitis virus (a Rhabdovirus, family Rhabdoviridae)

📌Affected Species: Cattle, horses (most affected), pigs, and occasionally sheep and goats

📌Transmission: Insect vectors (sand flies, black flies), direct contact, fomites

📌Clinical Signs:

- Fever
- Vesicles and ulcers in the mouth, tongue, and lips
- Excessive salivation
- Lameness due to lesions on feet
- Self-limiting disease with low mortality

📌Economic Impact: Trade restrictions and production losses, but less severe than FMD

Vet Med Info 🩺 -The voice of voiceless!

05/11/2025

🩺 Useful medications in avian medicine:
◾ Meloxicam: 0.5–2 mg/kg PO, IM, SQ q12–24h
◾ Metronidazole: 25–50 mg/kg PO q12–24h
◾ Ivermectin: 0.2–0.4 mg/kg PO, SQ, topical once q7–14d
◾ Diazepam: 0.05–1 mg/kg IV or IM
◾ Enrofloxacin: 20–30 mg/kg PO, SQ, q24h
◾ CaEDTA: 35 mg/kg IM, IV q12h × 5d

Medical Management of Wildlife Species, 2020

©️ Arman N.

05/11/2025

🗞 Dry Matter Intake: The Engine of Your Dairy's Profitability 🐄

Dry Matter Intake (DMI) isn't just a number; it's the single most critical factor driving your herd's health, production, and efficiency. Get it right, and you unlock performance.

1️⃣ The Two "Governors" of DMI: What Tells a Cow to Stop Eating?

A cow's appetite is controlled by two main systems, and understanding which one is in charge is key.

- The 'Full Tank' Signal (Physical Fill) 🌾

This is the primary limit for cows on high-forage diets. The rumen physically fills up with fiber (NDF), stretch receptors send a signal to the brain, and the meal ends. The slower the fiber digests, the longer the rumen stays full, and the lower the DMI.

- The 'Fuel Gauge' Signal (Metabolic Control) ⚡

For cows on high-energy, low-fiber diets, the liver acts as a fuel sensor. As it processes VFAs (especially propionate) from starch fermentation, it signals to the brain that energy needs are met, creating a feeling of satiety and shutting down intake.

2️⃣ The Lactation Shift: Which Governor Is Driving?

- Early Lactation: DMI is almost always limited by Physical Fill. The cow has a massive energy demand, so metabolic signals are weak. The goal is to get as much high-quality forage through her as possible.

- Late Lactation: As milk production drops, Metabolic Control takes over. The cow is in a positive energy balance, and her liver's fuel gauge is what determines her intake.

3️⃣ Key DMI Drivers You Can Control 🔑

- Forage Quality (The #1 Factor!): Higher NDF digestibility (NDFD) is non-negotiable. Forage that digests faster clears the rumen faster, allowing the cow to return to the bunk for her next meal.

- Body Condition (BCS): Fat cows eat less. Over-conditioned cows (BCS > 3.5) have suppressed appetites, putting them at high risk for fresh cow diseases.

- Starch Fermentability: "Hot" starches (e.g., steam-flaked corn, barley) produce more propionate, triggering the metabolic "stop" signal faster than cooler starches like dry ground corn.

- Protein Levels: Inadequate protein (especially Rumen Degradable Protein) starves the rumen microbes, slowing down fiber digestion and depressing DMI.

- Heat Stress: A massive DMI killer. At temperatures above 20°C (68°F), intake begins to drop significantly.

4️⃣ Your DMI Action Checklist ✅

1- Test Your Forages: What is your 30-hour NDFD? Work with your nutritionist to optimize it.
2- Audit Your BCS: Are your dry cows at the target (3.0–3.25)?
3- Watch the TMR: Are cows sorting? Check for overly long particles and consider TMR moisture (~55% DM) to improve consistency.
4- Manage the Environment: Are your heat abatement systems (fans, soakers) running effectively?
5- Ensure 24/7 Access: Maintain constant feed availability and frequent push-ups.

05/11/2025

🗞 Signs of equine cushing disease (PPID) 🐎

05/11/2025

🗞 Injection Techniques 💉