A preliminary study of the correlations of serum concentrations of electrolytes and trace elements with clinical signs in diarrheic dairy calves

To study the correlations of clinical signs with serum electrolytes and trace elements, 50 diarrheic dairy calves in a dairy herd were examined. The diarrheic calves, before any treatment, were clinically examined, and fecal consistency score, age, and days between disease onset and sampling were recorded per calf. The serum concentrations of calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, manganese and iron were measured. Serum copper concentration had a significant correlation with PCV (r=-0.56, P less than 0.001) and had marginally significant correlations with calves age (r=-0.32, P=0.06) and disease length (r=-0.31, P=0.07), and serum calcium concentration had significant correlations with body temperature (r=0.41, P less than 0.01) and calves age (r=-0.41, P less than 0.01). Fecal consistency score or diarrhea severity had a significant effect on none of the measured serum factors. Our results showed the importance of diarrhea length and the calves age vs. fecal score in estimation of changes in serum parameters in diarrheic calves.