calf problem, don't know what

[snsfarms]

We have a bottle calf that three days away went down and can only get up to his feet now if we help him up. Once up he is able to walk and move around just not able to get up on his own. Now this afternoon when clean out is area, where he stays. We found maggets in his bowel movement. Only found one pile like this and he had just had the movement.

What can we do for him? Wouldn't you know that today is a holiday and we will not be able to have a vet till tomorrow :x

We would appreciate anyones input on this calf and his problem...

 

[Alice]

The maggots aren't coming from inside of him. Wash his butt off with soapy water and use a pet fly spray on it.

Also, if you can't get a vet to make an emergency call (somewhat expensive), then keep the calf hydrated with electrolytes until tomorrow. Feed him his milk replacer, about a half bottle, then an hour later give him a half bottle of electrolytes. Do this thru out the day.

Also, keep the calf cooled off. Make sure he's in the shade and mist him down with water.

You might try to find some scour halt that works for E Coli. I don't know that E Coli is the problem, but I'd try it anyway. And, you can probably find some coccidiosis drench to give him.

Oh, give him a shot of vitamin A,D &E and B complex. Also, if you can find some Bose, give it a shot of that.

I know this sounds like a lot, but when a calf gets down this bad, I figure hit it hard with everything. It'll either cure it or kill it, which isn't always a bad thing.

Good luck...this kind of stuff is really stressful.

Alice

 

[snsfarms]

Thanks for your reply Alice.

Wash his butt off with soapy water and use a pet fly spray on it.

We have been using alot of fly spray on all the babies this summer, some reason or the other the flies in our area are just terrible.
We will get him bathed up again this afternoon, he hads baths but oh well he will have to deal with it.

You might try to find some scour halt that works for E Coli.

We don't have any scour halt {and he does not have the scours yet} but we have Sustain III calf bolus, should we try this?

Also, keep the calf cooled off. Make sure he's in the shade and mist him down with water.

He is in a shed that has the door (dutch so both) are open with a fan on him. I will once I get him rebathed, I will start misting him.

Oh, give him a shot of vitamin A,D &E and B complex. Also, if you can find some Bose, give it a shot of that.

Last night my husband gave him a shot of vitamin A D. We don't have (on hand) A D&E and B complex or the Bose. Guess if we are going to have these FFA babies then we need them.

Good luck...this kind of stuff is really stressful.

Once again Thank You for your reply. And yes this is stressful, lots of lost sleep. But we are hoping we can pull this guy through.

He is a mix breed dairy bull. Our daughter has him as a FFA project for this year. :roll: And this guy is puzzling us all. I know with livestock you lose some,but this guy is almost three weeks old (will be Wednesday) and has been doing so well. He still has a really good appetite, drinks water from the bucket and his milk replacer from the bottle. Just not eating grain or hay :?: . Now our other little guy is doing fine, kinda a little piggy and follows us everywhere and will eat anything we have to eat for ourselves :lol: . The other guy is a mix breed as well but he is not all dairy like "Fred" is.

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[Alice]

I guess I missed where you said the calf was 3 weeks old. In that case, he probably doesn't have the scours...

Is he coughing and/or gurgling when he drinks from his bottle?

Just wash his butt off...don't stress him anymore with a whole bath.

I'd still give the electrolytes off and on...it seems to act as a "pick-me-up." Oh, give the calf a big slug of Probios!

You definitely have my sympathy. I lost a 3 week old just the other day from a really, really bad upper respiratory thing that came on so fast...I know it was from the wretched and heat and himidity and the weedy pollen stuff.

Let us know what the vet tells ya'...

Alice

 

[snsfarms]

Here are photos of the little guys. Not new photos they where taken on the 16th of Aug. 2007

This is "Fred"

And this is "Red" our little piggy :lol:

 

[Alice]

Oh, those are pretty babies! Thanks for the pics. I surely hope all goes well.

Alice

 

[snsfarms]

Is he coughing and/or gurgling when he drinks from his bottle?

Yes yesterday in his afternoon feeding he did start gurgling when he would drink from the bottle.
Put my hand on his ribcage area and he did not feel raspy but you could hear it (not loud) but this morning and afternoon he is getting louder and is feeling raspy.
But still very aleart and once we stand him up he moves around well.

My daughter and husband are out washing his hinny up and legs. Daughter came in to say that places of hair was coming off as they washed those areas

I'd still give the electrolytes off and on...it seems to act as a "pick-me-up." Oh, give the calf a big slug of Probios!

We will keep up the electrolytes till we are told to stop.
I have a tube of equine Probios, is it safe to use that in place of the Bovine Probios?

When we sold off all our cattle three years ago we also let all our supplies go with the herd. Now the girls are getting into the FFA stuff and doing cattle. I had just last week (I think it was that long ago) told my husband we need to get to the vet and resupply on stuff. But never imagined either of these two babies would have gotten down or sick.

Our last two that they just sold in Aug. where excellent, never got sick or any problems out of them.

This was our oldest daughters first baby that she sold in Aug. and we never had any problems out of her other then her thinking she was a dog and not a Bovine.

 

[snsfarms]

Thanks Alice.

Just thought I would let everyone see the babies so that everyone knows what we are dealing with.

I will keep everyone updated on what is happening with "Fred".

Thanks again for your help.

 

[snsfarms]

what do I use to kill all those nasty little white maggets?

He has been cleaned up and has a few bare spots. I will put something on those bare areas to keep the bugs off and keep it soft. Sure hope the hair will grow back.

I found this site back in Jan. 2007 and have really enjoyed reading on the site, very imformative. You all are so very helpful and full of information. Thanks so much for a wonderful forum. But I never thought I would be on here asking for help . And I'm thankful that for the help I have gotten this far.

 

[Alice]

You can kill the maggots with regular fly spray once they hit the ground. Also, put out some quick bait fly granules.

Alice

 

[snsfarms]

Thanks Alice once again you have been very helpful with this problem.

I just came back in from spraying with Clorox, hoping if there are any germs it will help to kill them and also hoping it will kill those little white nasty maggots.

I have moved "Fred" from this location of the shed and have him in another run in type shed right now waiting for his regular area to dry up so I can rebed it and put him back in there.

He has been standing for around 45 minutes without laying back down.

Also when I offered him his bottle of electrolytes just a little while ago, I noticed he was not raspy.

 

[rockridgecattle]

in response to the raspy, coughing while drinking, our bottle fed ozzie did that. We have treated for pnemonia 2x now. Cause, and this if from a vet, keeping housed. The amonia smell can affect the lungs and actually damage them. Sometimes we do not notice the smell but it is there. It's common among dairy calves, so i am told cause they are housed.
So the first round of treatments we used La 200 and predef. thought we caught it. It returned about 5 weeks later and that is when we talked to the vet and she told us the pnemonia barn housed thing. I think she called it enzomaic (sp) pnemonia. We started him on a week and a half course treatment on Nuflor and Anafin. anafin is not a steriod but is an anti inflamatory and Nuflor is a strong antibiotic.
We thought he might be getting it again about 2 weeks ago due to the damp weather so we gave him a subQ of nuflor and a shot of anafin and he is okay. When the vet gets back from her holidays next week we are going to have her on the farm for some health checks on a few animals and Ozzie is included to find out if his lungs are permenant damaged or if he is okay to ship this fall.

 

[larryshoat]

Pull temps if over 102.5 treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic.
Check navel for screw worms. I would go ahead and pour both calves with 10 ml ivomec pour on this will help with the flies.As Alice suggested quick bait is good.It looked like in one of the pics calf is not holding his head straight.If this is the case then we need to talk about other treatment.

 

[MistyMorning]

We had one that had maggots really bad in the beginning of the summer and we did all of the things these guys have suggested.

Two additions, our vet told us to give a shot of iron in addition to the antibiotic, take his temp and if he has one give him an aspirin in the am and one in the pm until fever goes away. Call your vet maybe and do a phone consult and ask if they would agree with this stuff or have any additions.

The hair has grown back.

Good Luck, keep us posted

 

[Sir Loin]

Re:

Daughter came in to say that places of hair was coming off as they washed those areas

Bingo! That is what I thought from the beginning and from photo #2.
The little guy has a bad case of external parasites.
Give him a shot of Ivomec and spray a light coat of Blu-Kote on exposed skin and wounds.

It's either that or is being caused by the fly spray you are using on your calf.

It is not uncommon to find maggots in poop as that is where flies usually lay their eggs.
How ever, as maggots only eat dead flesh(skin) and you find them on the animal there has to be a wound of some sort for a fly to lay her eggs there. External parasite bites are the most common cause of skin wounds.
SL

take his temp and if he has one give him an aspirin in the am and one in the pm until fever goes away.

And you all had a hay day laughing at me when I said give him an aspirin.
Now it's my turn.

Re:

I would go ahead and pour both calves with 10 ml ivomec pour on this will help with the flies.

I would use the inject able. It encompasses the whole body and is faster acting.

 

[snsfarms]

Almost have all the maggots gone this has been a battle this afternoon/evening. Hard to believe that yesterday we did not see any on him and today he has them .

We thought that maybe he had gotten some pnemonia, and was hoping this was not the case. Also thought that maybe he might have navel illness :?: and hoping it is not that either.
Just know that this has us all puzzled, even my father in law and grandfather whom both have been involoved in the cattles for most of their lives if not all of thier lives.

So far both guys are holding their heads straight.

I did check his navel area and did not found anything or see any signs where anything had/was there. But did find more maggots in his ball sack area so it was back to work at cleaning up that area and getting them gone. So we are now hoping we have them all gone. Gonna let him rest a little while and check him again shortly.

In the mean time, I took these pictures of both boys just a little while ago. I'm hoping that "Fred" will pull through this and be alright.

Fred (my sick calf)

Red

I want to Thank Everyone that has responded to my quest for help. We (the Steele family) appreciate everyones help.

 

[Sir Loin]

But did find more maggots in his ball sack area so it was back to work at cleaning up that area and getting them gone.

OK, you will probably find them in his arm pits also.
The maggots are not your real problem, they are only a symptom.
Maggots are actually good as they eat dead tissue and help stop in cause from spreading.
But if you feel you must get rid of them, use hydrogen peroxide straight out of the over the counter bottle. Just poor it on.

Your real problem is what is causing the wounds that are causing the flies to lay their eggs on him.
Look closely on his skin for anything that looks like flea bites in unaffected raw areas on the inside of his legs.
Look for them on your arms while you work on him. Do you feel bites on you in your most tender areas?

If you don't have Blu-Kote to spray his wounds, just wash them with hydrogen peroxide and leave them alone. They will heal.

Your most recent pic says it all to me.
He is infested with fleas, mites, lice or some other external parasite.
A shot of ivomec (over the counter) will cover them all.
Please keep us posted
SL

 

[snsfarms]

Thanks for your reply Sir Lion.

I was hoping that his new pictures would help with maybe someone being able to tell what his problem is at this point.

The only reason I want the maggots gone is they get all over me and I have heard that they can eat a calf alive pretty much. So figured get rid of them to help him out if possible at this time.

Have put a few calls in to farms around us to see if anyone has any stuff on hand that we might be able to give this little guy till the vets office opens in the morning. So far no luck as everyones answering machines are picking up being a holiday most folks are with family members for dinner and what not like that. But still not losing hope as I'm sure someone will get home soon and hopefully will have something to bring to him....

So far today I have given him Probios, and Banamine. Yesterday he was given a shot of Pencil. and A D . He does not have a temp so far, I will keep checking.
How often do I give him the Probois and Banamine?
Trip to vet tomorrow so please tell me what all should I ask him to give to us to keep on hand for when something like this or worse happens and we can not get to the office or get the vet out here?[/b]

 

[rockridgecattle]

in the cow medicine chest you should always have on hand some LA200, an anti inflamatory, needles, syringes and a few extra incase one breaks, epinphrine incase of a reaction to something given. Mineral oil...incase, alcohol for disinfecting and iodine for a scrub. Those are the basics. the rest comes as you have a need.
For example you have pnemonia in an animal, LA200 does not work, trip to the vet and you get nulflor or something else to help it take a hike. Then you have nuflor in the medicine chest.
Each drug is costly and has an expireation date. And must be stored differently. Brown bottles, out of the light, some in the fridge, some in a cupboard. Each bottle gives storage instructions. As well you should have some type of book, log if you will where you record the shot, what, where it was given, IM /SUBQ, broken needle if one was lodged inside, and withdrawl date from last shot. I see you have the RFID cool.

Lastly, develope a client/vet relationship with your vet, get advice on vaccinations, calving, then when you have an off hours emergency, call there might be a contact number to call, or leave message for the vet to call you back. Rarely does an emergency happen during 9-5 but rather weekends, hoildays, midnight etc

 

[rockridgecattle]

oh yeah add to the chest a couple of individual servings of electrolytes just in case needed. Never know.