This document summarizes several common bovine diseases including respiratory diseases like shipping fever complex and BVD, enteric diseases like rotavirus and coronavirus, and other diseases such as pinkeye, milk fever, and Johne's disease. It describes the causative agents, symptoms, treatment, prevention, and control methods for each of these important cattle illnesses.

1. Bovine Diseases

2. Shipping Fever Complex
• IBR- Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (
rednose)
• P13- Parainfluenza Type 3
• BSRV- Bovine Syncytial Respiratory Virus
• +/- Pastuerella multocida ( bacterial infection
secondary to viral infection)

3. • Symptoms
- Fever 103-105, duration 3-5 days
- Loss of appetite
- Dry hacking cough ( +/- tracheal reaction with
palpation)
- Serous nasal/ocular discharge
- +/- rhinitis/conjunctivitis

4. • Treatment
- In uncomplicated cases, treatment is rarely
necessary
• Transmission
- aerosol, morbidity directly related to
management techniques

5. • Prevention
- vaccination, preconditioning program
• Note: recovery from natural infection with
IBR/P13/BRSV results in lifelong immunity
• Economic impact
- Weight loss, decreased rate of gain/carcass
devaluation

6. • Epidemiology
- High ( 80%) rate of exposure/antibody
production
- Morbidity 50-70%
- Mortality <5%

7. Bovine Viral Diarrhea
BVD
• Infection can result in immunosuppression,
may be factor in susceptibility to other
diseases
• Symptoms
- mild, transient diarrhea, many subclinical
- 80% of cattle >1yr have antibodies to BVD
- High morbidity( 100%) low mortality (0%)
- 1-2 % viremic for life, resevoirs of infection

8. BVD Mucosal disease
• Low morbidity (5-10%), high mortality ( 95-
100%)
• Symptoms:
- Excessive salivation/oral erosion
- Oral mucosa has cooked appearance
- Watery diarrhea with blood/mucus/sloughed
intestinal mucosa
- Smells like parvo diarrhea

9. BVD continued
• Treatment – fluid replacement +/- antibiotics
• Prevention- vaccination

10. Rotavirus/coronavirus
• Virus is ONLY in the intestinal tract, does not
enter body
• Symptoms- profuse watery/yellow diarrhea
+/- flecks of blood
• Treatment- fluid, electrolyte replacement

11. Rotavirus/coronavirus cont’
• Prevention
- Sanitation at calving
- Maternal vaccination pre-calving
- Protection is dependent on the presence of
colostral antibodies in the lumen of the
intestine. Serum antibodies are of no benefit
as virus does not leave GI tract
- Stimulate calf’s immunity with oral vaccine at
birth

12. Fluid management of diarrhea in
calves
• Colostrum requirement 1 pint per 20 lbs of
body weight within 1 hour of birth and repeat
within 12 hours
• Maintenance milk requirement 10% of the
calf’s body weight in milk or milk replacer/day
• Maintain 2 hour interval between milk
feedings and oral electrolyte replacement
requirements

13. Dehydration
• 5% dehydration: dehydration, no other clinical
signs, calf nursing normally
• 7% dehydration: eyes slightly sunken, skin
losing elasticity
• 9% dehydration: eyes sunken, gums tacky, calf
depressed
• 12% dehydration: skin tents, calf recumbent,
non-responsive

14. Dehydration cont’
• Multiply percentage of dehydration by weight
of calf( in Kg ) to determine the number of
liters of electrolyte solution required for
replacement
• NOTE: replacement fluids are administered in
addition to the calf’s maintenance
requirement for milk

15. Infectious Bovine Keratitis
Pinkeye
• Bacteria: Moraxella bovis
• Transmission
- Flying insects
- Solar radiation and environmental conditions
(dust) exacerbating factors
• Symptoms
- tearing, blepharospasm, photophobia
- Corneal opacity

16. Pinkeye cont’
• Duration of symptoms
- 3-5 weeks
- Note: weaning weight may be decreased by
10% as a result of pinkeye infection
• Treatment
- Subconjunctival penicillin and dexamethasone
- Eye patch

17. Pinkeye cont’
• Prevention
- Insect control
- Natural infection confers immunity for 12
months
- Vaccine is available but of questionable
efficacy

18. Esophageal obstruction
Choke
• Symptoms- excessive salivation (loss of
bicarbonate>acidosis) dehydration
• Treatment
- Relieve obstruction, sedation
- Head position is critical to avoid aspiration pneumonia
- Lavage/probing ( has corkscrew end to try and snag
obstruction)
- Fluid/electrolyte replacement as necessary
- Warning: symptoms of choke may resemble those of
rabies, always assume rabies first

19. Urethral Calculi
water belly
• Symptoms
- Straining to urinate, urine dribbling
- Ventral subcu edema/fluid accumulation (
post urethral rupture)
• Causes- early castration reduces urethral
diameter, stress at weaning, inadequate
conditioning, environmental factors lack of
water, frozen water tanks
• Treatment- urethrostomy at location of calculi

20. Squamous Cell Carcinoma
• Cause- solar radiation and unpigmented skin
like in Hereford cattle
• Treatment- enucleation
• Economic impact- cost of veterinary care and
carcass devaluation

21. Traumatic reticulitis/pericarditis
Hardware disease
• Incidence- cattle eating hay made from or
grazing on field containing old rusting fences,
baling wire, or in vicinity of a building that was
torn down
• Symptoms- sharp drop in milk production,
arched back, grunting when pressure is
exerted on the xiphoid process

22. Hardware disease
• Treatment- rumen magnets, traumatic
pericarditis may require surgery, rib resection
and pericardial drainage
• Prevention- monitor quality of feeds and
pasture

23. Rumenal tympany
Bloat
• Incidence-
- cattle turned out on lush pasture, frothy bloat
- Cattle fed a diet with low roughages to
concentrate ratio, gas bloat
• Symptoms
- Distension of left flank, dyspnea, collapse, sudden
death
- If untreated, death occurs within 3-4 hours of
onset of symptoms

24. Bloat
• Treatment
- Surfactants administered via stomach tube
- Trocharization of rumen
- Rumenotomy
• Prevention
- Restrict access to new pasture
- Feed hay before turning cattle out on new
pasture
- Prophylactic use of antifoaming agents

25. Clostridial diseases
• Anaerobic bacteria
- Gas producing, toxin producing, spore
producing
- Sensitive to penicillin
- Unbiquitous in environment
- Speciation variation in susceptibility

26. Clostridial diseases of cattle
• Cl chauvei- blackleg
• Cl. Septicum- malignant edema
• Cl. Novyi- Blacks disease
• Cl. Hemolyticum- Redwater disease
• Cl. Perfringen Type C- Hemorrhagic enteritis
Prevention- vaccination

27. Leptospirosis
• Agent- spirochete
• Transmission- organisms in urine of affected
animals, may be asymptomatic
• Symptoms
- Chronic infection, abortions, stillbirths, weak
calves
- Acute infection, jaundice, fever, death

28. Lepto con’t
• Treatment
- Acute infection, antibodies
- Chronic infection, no treatment
• Prevention
- vaccination

29. Post parturient paresis
Milk Fever
• Incidence
- Usually within 72 hours of calving
• Symptoms
- unsteadiness, sternal recumbency with head
displaced to the side, intestinal stasis, loss of
anal tone and death

30. Milk Fever Con’t
• Diagnosis
- symptoms, interval post calving
- Blood calcium levels 3-7 mg/dl ( normal 10
mg/dl)
• Treatment – IV calcium
• Prevention
- Dry period nutrition
- Calcium supplementation,

31. Displace Abomassum
• Abomassum becomes distended with gas and
or fluid and shifts to an abnormal position
between the rumen and left abdominal wall
• Incidence- occurs withing 2 weeks of calving,
associated with high concentrate level in diet
during dry period
• Diagnosis- abdominal percussion, ping sound
• Treatment- roll cow, surgery

32. Ketosis
• Symptoms- inappetance, constipation, mucus
covered feces, decreased milk production,
breath has acetone odor
• Incidence- usually secondary to other disease
• Diagnosis- ketonuria, ketonemia, ketones in
milk
• Treatment- glucocorticoids, address
precipitating conditions

33. Brucellosis
Bang’s disease
• Brucella abortus
• Symptoms- abortion, infertility, birth of weak
calves, enlarged, arthritic joints
• Transmission- bacteria shed in milk, aborted
fetus, placenta or reproductive tract
discharges

34. Brucellosis Control
• Brucellosis Eradication Program
• Surveillance
- Bulk milk tank screening with Brucellosis Ring
Test
- Non milk producing animals tested at market
or slaughter with Brucellosis Card Test

35. Eradication program con’t
• Disease identification
- Herd quarantined, movement to slaughter
only
• Prevention
- vaccination, strain 19, Strain RB51
- Test all replacement animals, quarantine
before admission to general population

36. Johne’s disease
• Mycobacterium paratuberculosis
• Symptoms
- Chronic diarrhea
- Weight loss, unthriftiness, emaciation
• Transmission
- Oral bacteria excreted in feces and milk
including colostrum

37. Johnes Control
• Avoid feeding raw, unpasteurized milk
• Do not permit offspring to nurse off infected dam
• Maintain colostrum from Johne’s negative
females
• Do not pool colostrum from multiple animals
• Avoid manure contamination of feed
bunks/water troughs
• Premise disinfection, chemicl tuberculoid
• NOTE: will take 5+ years to eliminate Johne’s

38. Actinobacillosis
Wooden Tongue
• Normal inhabitant of the bovine mouth an
rumen that Actinobacillosis lignieresii that
enters wound in the mouth, especially the
tongue
• Symptoms- inability to prehend food,
excessive salivation, anorexia, tongue
protrudes ( make sure not rabies)
• Treatment- sodium iodide 70 mg/kg IV repeat
in 1 week

39. Actinomyces
Lumpy Jaw
• Caused by Actinomyces bovis which is a
normal inhabitant of the bovine mouth which
enters a wound
• Symptoms- hard immoveable painless mass
on mandible and may cause loose teeth
• Treatment- sodium iodide 70 mg/kg IV or
penicillin 10,000 U/kg in valuable animals BID,
treat any fistulas tracts that develop