Adrian Tordiffe, [12 Mar 2024 at 12:20:42]: White rhino calves with diarrhoea. My colleagues here in India have had some trouble with their 3 white rhino calves (ages 5 years, 3 years and 1 year). All have had some degree of diarrhoea for more than a month. No intestinal parasites have been identified after repeated sampling. They have been Salmonella, M. paratuberculosis negative. Some sand was noted in the faeces. The diet is mostly good quality Timothy hay with a small amount of pelleted concentrate. Faecal occult blood test is occasionally positive, but not all the time. None of the adult animals in the same enclosure are affected. Treatment was with omeprazole paste, probiotics and activated charcoal, but there has been no real improvement. Steps were taken to prevent further sand ingestion. Feed intake is pretty good for all the calves. Any advice? Ulf Tubessing, 12 Mar 2024 Adrian, I treated 2 rhino orphans with chronic recurrent bouts of diarrhea, often extremely watery and at times with fresh blood in stool. Faecal wet preparation examinations revealed Giardia and Blastocystis. The Giardia responded well to metronidazole but the Blastocystis was extremely resistant to metronidazole and just about any other antibiotic. Both rhinos deteriorated and were kept on drips and one even received a blood transfusion. If you have motile parasites on a faecal wet preparation, the diagnosis of a protozoal enteritis is relatively obvious. Stained smear (Cams Quick) helps identifying specific bugs. I have seen Giardia in rhino calves before and these usually respond well to metronidazole, whereas Blastocystis is often very resistant. I would put my money on these guys If you want I can find photos of stool samples and post on group but attached article has quite good pics Blastocystis in stool of rhino calf Adrian Tordiffe, 12 Mar 2024 Thanks Ulf...I will get them to have a closer look Ulf Tubessing, [12 Mar 2024 at 19:35:41]: With the rhinos I treated, they sometimes had no parasites in the stool and 2-3 days later, masses of parasites. So it's very important to do repeat wet preparations / stained smears. Adrian Tordiffe, [28 Mar 2024 at 12:26:28]: What are the doses of metronidazole that you guys use for rhino calves? In foals and horses normally 10 to 15mg/kg bid. The guys here have been treating a 1year-old white rhino calf with metronidazole at 5mg/kg sid. After 7 days, the chronic diarrhoea she had got a lot worse and her food intake decreased significantly. The only other treatment has been omeprazole for suspected gastric ulcers due to sand ingestion (some sand found in her faeces and faecal occult blood test is often positive). Repeated faecal cultures for Salmonella and Clostridium are reportedly negative and they say they can't detect any protozoa either. Any thoughts? Ulf Tubessing, [28 Mar 2024 at 13:04:36]: We went for 15 mg/kg bd. Protozoa are not easy to detect unless they know what they are looking for. Do faecal wet preparations as well as stained smears. We found varied parasite loads in stool, negative for 1-3 days then suddenly high parasite load. Do repeat faecal examinations 3-4 x day
