bottle fed calf can't/won't walk

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eugene43

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I'm bottle feeding a 13 week old Charolais calf, the weaker of twins. She's had several infections, partly my fault, as I'm new to this and didn't realize need for sanitation. Also turned out allergic to soy-based replacement milk, became extremely weak before I found a vet who diagnosed. Now she's getting raw, whole milk from the dairy. No obvious pain, gaining weight, appears contented. Spends almost all day lying down, however. Gets up when I bring milk, moves very stiffly, like a little old man. Lies back down almost immediately. She's been two weeks now on good milk. Also calf starter fed with a spoon. Will she regain strength, start moving normally? Shall I try to make her walk around? Or am I fighting a losing battle?
 
Sounds like you may be fighting a losing battle. From the sounds of it she may have had a navel infection that has moved into the joints. This is very hard, if not impossible, to clear up.

As to the soy based milk replacer, most likely it wasn't that she was allergic to it, but that she could not digest it well enough to get much out of it. Baby calves do not have the digestive system to get enough food value out of plant materials.
 
A friend who's a small animal vet suggested the same thing. She was able to move around normally before the allergy issue, however. Taken off milk replacer, put back on whole milk, she began to improve almost at once. No more cramps, constipation, started gaining weight and strength almost at once. There's no economic issue, really. She's become a pet. So I guess I'm gonna stick with it a while longer. She's not in pain or unhappy, as far as I can tell.
 
A calf on the cheap crap soy based milk replacers is pretty much just slowly starving.
 

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