Abstract
An observational study was conducted to comparatively assess the efficacy of three different oral rehydration and buffering solutions, differentiated by their strong ion difference (SID) concentration, for treatment of neonatal calves with naturally acquired diarrhea. The SID concentrations tested were 100 mM, 170 mM and 230 mM for treatments SID(100), SID(170) and SID(230), respectively. Clinical assessment and blood gas analysis were completed for 18 diarrheic calves once pre- and twice post- (6 and 24 hr after) oral administration with one of the three treatments. A repeated measure mixed model approach was used to analyze (a) the within-group efficacy of each treatment over time and (b) the between-group comparison at each timepoint. SID(230) treatment resulted in a significant increase in blood pH, HCO(3)(-), BE, SID and Na(+) at 6 and 24 hr after treatment, and a significant decrease in AG and K(+) by 24 hr after treatment. There were no significant changes in any of the blood gas parameters after treatment with SID(100) and SID(170). SID(230) treatment also resulted in blood gas parameter changes that were significantly different to the other two groups. These results suggest that the optimum SID concentration for the treatment of calves with diarrhea is likely to be higher than current recommendations.