Why don't antibiotics cause ruminants to starve to death?

Question

I've been studying A2 biology and a though has occured. Cows gain the majority of the protein in thier diet from digesting the microorganisms that live in their first two stomachs (Rumen and reticulem). This symbiotic relationship supplies the microorganisms with somewhere to live and plenty of nutrients, and the cow with fatty acid from microorganism respiration and protein from the dead ones.
So if a cow was given antibiotics would it starve to death seeing as the microaoganisms would be killed and it would hence be unable to digest cellulose? Just curious...

Answer 1

please realize the important difference between the term bacteria and microorganisms.

antibiotics kill bacteria (some are more specific - kill only some kinds of bacteria and leave alone the rest, some are broader-spectrum ones - these are better choice if you dont know what bacteria you need to kill, but they can kill aslo the good bacteria )

antibiotics do not affect other microorganisms than bacteria much. that is why we cant have antibiotics for malaria, Ebola, amoebial dysenteria and many other non-bacterial infections.

those microorganisms in rumen are not bacteria at all but they belong to the Protista, as far as i know. so you can treat a cow for bacterial infection with antibiotics and the first two stomachs will function normally.

if the microflora in the first two stomachs is affected negatively (for any reason) it is probably a good idea to give the cow the chow of another cow - what someone said here, while if a human is suffering from digestive disorders due to antibiotics, yoghurt or yoghurt pills are recomended to restore the digestive microflora

Answer 2

It does occasionally happen that an antibiotic kills too many of the digestive bacteria in cattle.

If you are studying cows digestive system, then you have also learned that the cows burp up food from one stomach, re-chew it & swallow it again so it goes into the next stomach. A very simple cure is to steal one of these "cuds" from another cow before she swallows it again and give it to the sick cow. The cud from the second cow will contain all of the bacteria needed by the sick one.

Answer 3

Antibiotics (injected) will reside in the blood and circulate to a problem site such as a splinter. But the splinter will still fester until removed because blood does not circulate through the splinter. If the anitbiotic is administered orally, the dose would have to be high enough to kill all bacteria and the type used must not be broken down by the digestive process.

Answer 4

really simple answer - antibiotics dont go for all the bacteria, only certain types. because we like rumens use bacteria also to help digest food - we just depend less on it

e.g. cypoflaxin (i think its called) is for infections of the urinary tract, but wont kill other infections

Answer 5

Antibiotics don't all kill the fauna and flora inside a stomach... some, like pennicillian, are almost completely broken down when they get there.