Bad breath

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I have a heifer calf that has bad breath. I'm talking, a vile, sour smell:sick:. Only noticed it because she recently became a hand feeder; comes up to me, begs for cubes and will take them from my hand. None of the other cows or calves will take a cube after I've fed her - it's that bad. Born 3/20, treated for pneumonia 4/20 but otherwise looks and acts like a perfectly healthy calf. Thought maybe it could be from her dams milk but she has a great udder and the calf doesn't look malnourished at all (no hay belly & probably a solid 500 lbs, nice shiny coat).

Any thoughts? Possibly an underlying health problem? Maybe she eats a forage or weed none of the others will? Only other time I recall having one with serious bad breath, she was kicked in the mouth when she was a few weeks old and it knocked her teeth loose, resulting in kind of a pocket when it healed, trapping residual grass inside.
 
I had one bottle calf that breath that would about knock me over, unfortunately it didn't make it vet said it's lungs were infected,. It didn't show any outward signs like coughing or anything.
 
If it was a younger calf, I'd say diphtheria. That makes their breath stink bad. Not sure if that would be something an older calf would have. Do you see any bumps or anything on the outside?
 
Have you looked at her teeth?

Mayne she's lost her milk teeth and one is Infected?

🤷‍♂️
Haven't looked at them because this time of year they're generally a mile from any chute. But she did bite the ever lovin' snot outta me - before she realized my finger wasn't a cube.
 
Sounds like an infection somewhere. Give her some sulfa with her cubes?
Sustain should be doable - but in a perfect world, I'd like to take her temp first. That said, sometimes I can do that in the pasture if I scratch their butt & tailhead just right, the tail automatically goes up & to the side. Bullseye!! And as long as I keep scratching, they don't care if I pop in a thermometer.
 
If it was a younger calf, I'd say diphtheria. That makes their breath stink bad. Not sure if that would be something an older calf would have. Do you see any bumps or anything on the outside?
No bumps on her face/around the mouth and not even at the injection site when I treated her for pneumonia (Resflor Gold - she was one of the few that didn't get Inforce 3 at birth).
 
Only time I had a cow with really bad breath was when we had cull onions and 1 cow ate 100's of pounds of them over a week.. her belches would knock a buzzard off a carcass at 100 yards

For yours, I'd check her mouth/teeth first, take her temp too
Honestly, that's partly why I'm hesitant to add garlic to their mineral.

They're in the south pastures now and will probably head north towards the lake in a day or so; hopefully I can head her off towards either the chute at the barn or central pasture.
 
Something the likes of baling twine looped around the base of the tongue with the ends down the oesophagus could cause symptoms like that, no obvious discomfort or lump/bump. Can be hard to spot also. You need a good headlamp.

Ken
We only use netting and I'm diligent about picking it all up. But that doesn't mean I missed some that possibly ripped off. And I keep as many headlamps stashed around the barn, workshop, each Polaris, vet bag as I do my "cheater" glasses;). I have a halter & nose tongs, so should be able to thoroughly examine - when I'm able to get her in.
 
Today is my lucky day. Noticed a party going on at the barn this morning; the herd had split and the group from the west pasture had moved down there - including my stinky calf and she was right next to the trap for the chute. I got nuthin'. Temp was normal (well, 102 but it's rotten hot) and I couldn't find or feel anything in her mouth. She's still acting perfectly fine, so I didn't feel antibiotics were warranted. I'll just keep an eye on her & if she starts acting "off", I can either give her Sustain in the pasture or get her in the chute again.
 
Today is my lucky day. Noticed a party going on at the barn this morning; the herd had split and the group from the west pasture had moved down there - including my stinky calf and she was right next to the trap for the chute. I got nuthin'. Temp was normal (well, 102 but it's rotten hot) and I couldn't find or feel anything in her mouth. She's still acting perfectly fine, so I didn't feel antibiotics were warranted. I'll just keep an eye on her & if she starts acting "off", I can either give her Sustain in the pasture or get her in the chute again.
If your gonna put her with the bull, just get her a bottle of mouth wash..
 
I had one bottle calf that breath that would about knock me over, unfortunately it didn't make it vet said it's lungs were infected,. It didn't show any outward signs like coughing or anything.

Today is my lucky day. Noticed a party going on at the barn this morning; the herd had split and the group from the west pasture had moved down there - including my stinky calf and she was right next to the trap for the chute. I got nuthin'. Temp was normal (well, 102 but it's rotten hot) and I couldn't find or feel anything in her mouth. She's still acting perfectly fine, so I didn't feel antibiotics were warranted. I'll just keep an eye on her & if she starts acting "off", I can either give her Sustain in the pasture or get her in the chute again.

If you treated for pneumonia, there might be something to this, something not right in her lungs. Since no bad/missing teeth or obvious mouth or throat issues. Then again, she could be like a dog and test those piles...
 
Guess I never updated. So, it went from the heifer with stinky breath to 2 steers. All of them perfectly fine and I never previously treated the steers for pneumonia (or anything else). There's gotta be some kind of forage that nobody else really likes because it's hit 'n miss - she's fine now. And possibly because the pastures (and our lawn) have essentially burned up from the epic heat & no rain, the cows are scrubbing for whatever they can get. I got nuthin.
 
Guess I never updated. So, it went from the heifer with stinky breath to 2 steers. All of them perfectly fine and I never previously treated the steers for pneumonia (or anything else). There's gotta be some kind of forage that nobody else really likes because it's hit 'n miss - she's fine now. And possibly because the pastures (and our lawn) have essentially burned up from the epic heat & no rain, the cows are scrubbing for whatever they can get. I got nuthin.
TC, I think you are the only one that would notice their cattle had stinky breath.

Ken
 

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