Table 1. Assigned reasons for euthanasia of 252 critically ill neonatal calves with diarrhea based on a review of 1,400 medical records.

Reason for euthanasia	Number of calves	Frequency (%)
Ongoing anorexia or insufficient milk intake	58	23.0
Ongoing depression, no improvement in response to treatment	57	22.6
Advanced cachexia and general weakness	45	17.9
Severe neurologic symptoms (e.g. seizures or opisthotonus)	44	17.5
Marked deterioration of general condition	32	12.7
Abdominal emergencies	30	11.9
Complicated navel problems	25	9.9
Septic arthritis	24	9.5
Miscellaneous orthopedic problems (e.g. paresis, phlegmon, gangrene)	24	9.5
Advanced pneumonia	24	9.5
Miscellaneous	18	7.1
Financial constraints in case of multiple concurrent problems	17	6.7
Agonal state	13	5.2
Evidence of ruminitis	9	3.6
Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus infection	7	2.8

The frequency percentage sums to more than 100% because some calves had more than one reason for euthanasia.