"Brain Fever"??

[joanied]

Hello,
I am new here, so hope I am posting in the right place. I did a search but didn't find any help, so I hope someone here can shed a little light on this...

We had a 10 month old feeder calf die this morning. He was apparently healthy, as we have the calves near the house & feed everyday, so we watch them all.

This morning we found him standing behind the house (with 2 buddies) in a shallow irrigation ditch...we got him out easily because he offered no resistance at all. Once out he just stood as if asleep on his feet, for some time.
I was on the phone to the vet when all of a sudden he bolted, ran about 100 yeards, began running in a wide circle, then ran straight and as fast as he could..he ran across the feild, ran thru two fencelines and crashed into and got out of three irrigating ditches.
He bawled a bit during all this.
He ended up in another ditch and while my husband watched over him, I went to get meds from the vet (who happens to be out of town, and we decided not to call in another vet because we had a calf die from this same thing 2 yrs. ago, and we were able to give him medications before he did die).
He also seemed to be very blind...no reaction within his eyes at all. Took me 30 minutes to go to the vet's office & home again, and during that time, he died.

So we have a healthy calf that was sort of commatose on his feet, then went crazy running, seemed to be blind, then died. No frothing of the mouth either.
I spoke to the vet via cell phone and he said it was probably "Brain Fever"...I'm sure there is another term for such a thing, but that is what he said.

Can anyone shed some light on this...what do you think this calf died from, if it was a nurological type thing like "Brain Fever", what would cause this...our calves are happy, healthy & up to date on vaccinations ect.

Thank you very much

 

[milkmaid]

What kind of mineral program are they on?

 

[joanied]

Hi milkmaid,

Oh, we feed them all our own alfalfa hay and free choice mineral blocks. That's it.
Our calves always do great this way, fat, healthy and have great coats.

Thanks.

 

[milkmaid]

Sometimes deficiencies or an overabundance of some minerals can result in something like what you described. Or ingestion of certain plants.

If it happens again -- which hopefully it doesn't! -- leave the calf alone, as the books I've seen say it is best to avoid disturbing the animal; a lot of those problems really have no treatment except time.

Let me look through my books and I'll get back to you on just which plants/minerals can be responsible for those sort of symptoms.

 

[milkmaid]

Magnesium deficiency... "only the acute form is unmistakable. An affected cow becomes restless, unsteady, detached from the herd, stops grazing, and with little or no provocation moves violently and often falls. Tetanic spasms of the limbs, back, and neck are interrupted by periods of clonic convusions. The eyes roll, the mouth froths, and the teeth grind."

OK, that doesn't sound like it if he wasn't frothing at the mouth. Treated by an IV of magnesium, BTW.

Larkspur can cause plant poisioning... "uncertain gait, stiff legged, suggestive of a cow collapsing due to milk fever or grass tetany (magnesium deficiency). ...Affected animals should not be excited."

Again, doesn't sounds like it.

Buckeye (horse chestnut) poisioning.. "central nervous system is affected and affected cattle walk as though they were on hot pavement. They frequently appear to be disoriented, walking into objects, or even circling. Weakness is apparent and animals frequently lean against trees, fences, or buildings in an effort to remain standing. Severe trembling is apparent. The mucus membranes are congested and the pupils are often dilated."

Getting warmer, maybe. It's most common in early spring or early autumn when branches appear/nuts fall to the ground.

Poisioning by insecticides can cause convulsions and such. "During or immediately after a seizure the rectal temperature may be as high as 106 to 116F. Occasionally, an affected animal will only appear depressed until the terminal convulsion occurs, or convulsions and periods of depression may alternate."

Perhaps. Appears poisioning due to insecticides often causes convulsions or muscle spasms until the animal is recumbent and finally dies. So that sounds like a longer period of time (hours?) than what you mentioned, but I could be wrong.

Has this brought up any ideas or comments so far? anything sound familiar? I'm positive I've heard of another case on the forum, similar to the one you've mentioned, but what caused it and the name is eluding me. Maybe someone else will remember it.

 

[joanied]

Thanks, Milkmaid...
But, none of those things in your post are exactly what this calf went thru, and none of the 'causes' you mentioned..the weeds, mineral imbalance ect. would be something that may have happened here.
Besides our alfalfa hay and the trace minerals, the calves have all been out eating sugar beet tops (leaves)... we grow sugar beets and every year all the farmers put their cattle and/or sheep out on beet tops. This time of year in Wyoming, there are no weeds ect and he hadn't gotten 'into' anything that we know of.

This is a mystery!!

I am goping to do more research via the internet myself, maybe come up with something, as the vets here can't seem to find any rhyeme or reason, just something that happens every once in a while....if it didn't cost so much, we'd have done an autopsy.

Thanks for your help and maybe someone here will have been thru this too and offer some explanation.

Thanks again.

 

[Gale Seddon]

joanied, it doesn't sound like lead poisoning (I googled that and found this: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... l/agdex791

Then I searched lead poisoning on these boards and found a thread called "Brain Fever" (Jan. 11, 2005) that you might want to read. Vicky the Vet posted some ideas there.

Do you have a state lab? Usually a necropsy runs about $70, but if it can save one of your other animals, it might be worth considering.

 

[joanied]

Hi Gale,
Thank you so much...I will visit the link you have in your post.

I did a search on the boards for Brain Fever, author Vickie the Vet, but came up empty...could you please reply to me again and try to put that post from Vickie as a link I can use to get right to it....I think I need to read that one.

Thanks again and look foward to your next reply.

 

[milkmaid]

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9330

There ya are. ;-)

 

[Gale Seddon]

Thanks Milkmaid, why didn't I think of that? :roll:

 

[dun]

It was covered by V the V in the thread that MM linked to.

 

[dun]

WHn this subject came up before I asked the vet about it. His opinion was that it's an answer for wehn you have no idea what the problem is. He had some other terms that are the same kind if deal but I don;t recall what they were

dun

 

[joanied]

Hi guys,

Thanks again...as I just posted, I did find that post from Vicky the Vet, and from that found quite a few vet articals on the subject...
just for your info, our cows/calves don't get silage...just good alfalfa hay and trace minerals, and are also eating the leaves left behind from our sugar beet harvest...as I mentioned, everyone in this area that farms grows sugar beets, and everyone puts their cattle and or sheep on the tops after harvest...the critters love the stuff...we have had one other calf die from this, 2 yrs ago, so I guess 2 calves in about 30 yrs of having cows/calves ain't too bad.

But it was a horrible thing and we felt so sad for that calf. We suppose this calf may have been more stressed over weaning, which we did about 2 wks ago, and maybe his immune system was not as strong as the rest of his buddies...we have about 55 calves...they all seem extremely healthy, happy, fat and have fun playiong with each other...silly calves!!

Again... thanks to all of you here...cows are my husband & his dad's thing...I am all about horses!!!

Thanks all!!

 

[Beefy]

i would think that the term "brain fever" would be a common name for one of the brain swelling ailments that are often accompanied by fever. like meningitis or encephalomyelitis of a sorts or something.

 

[joanied]

Yes, you are right...it's a 'layman's' term.
Thanks