Calf problem

Gather App
that's a weird one...
I did have 2 instances of something somewhat similar.., one was a 6 month old calf that got stuck in a bush, had a snag fall on him, and he was there for probably about a day, seriously dehydrated and hypoxic, I got him back into physical health, but he'd lost all notion of eating, drinking or nursing... I tubed him for nearly 3 weeks then put him down. Second one was my cow Tizia, Suddenly one day she wandered down in a ravine and was completely lost, I haltered her and brought her to the pens, she'd pace the pens, always right next to the fence, and always clockwise, I put some hay along the way so she could eat a few bites on each lap.. LA200 the vet gave did nothing, her blood tests came back "Picture perfect" for cell counts.. she was uneasy on her legs, one muddy morning she'd gotten herself cast badly and bloated and I put her down... never did figure out what happened to her
 
Silver said:
I remembered today that I did have this exact problem a few years ago. Found the calf wandering and realized it couldn't see me. Took it back to its mom, found it later with his head in a fence, the next day hung up in a bush, just standing there. Took it to the barn, fed it, gave it antibiotics of some kind, and Metacam. Vitamin injection every day. Brought mom down to be with him. He got feeling better eventually, and I assumed he would just be a blind calf, then one day as I was walking by I saw him watching me. He mad a full recovery. I don't know what the cure was, the vitamins, the anti-inflammatory, or the antibiotics. Maybe none of the above. But it was heartwarming to see the change.
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I always have hope.. Did your calf eat on his own? or did you have to tube feed him?
 
We would try Trimidox for an antibiotic and a selenium shot. Not sure how successful you will be if calf never got first colostrum early enough. We had one that got missed last spring for about 16 hours. Got her going after a couple days and the immune deficiency showed up after she was weaned. Sick, bloat, you name it. I finally shot her to end her suffering.
 
Try a shot of BO-Se I had a calf that wouldn't suck and it fixed him up. It has Selenium and Vitamin E, also it can make their sight come back sometimes, from my experience.
 
Hereford2 said:
Try a shot of BO-Se I had a calf that wouldn't suck and it fixed him up. It has Selenium and Vitamin E, also it can make their sight come back sometimes, from my experience.
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Sucking is not his problem, brain activity is his problem...
 
If he has swelling of his brain, you have to try to relieve that to have any chance of turning him around. Several comments above talk about how to do that. It probably will not happen on its own. It appears he is a "brainer" calf and needs to be treated like one to rule it out.
 
GoWyo said:
If he has swelling of his brain, you have to try to relieve that to have any chance of turning him around. Several comments above talk about how to do that. It probably will not happen on its own. It appears he is a "brainer" calf and needs to be treated like one to rule it out.
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We've done what we could with brain swelling. If he were human, he'd be put in a drug induced coma, life support and IV drugs, but he's a calf....We tried
We'll probably put him down today. He laid down last night and continues to walk on his side... He's stuck in forward. So weird. He's worn himself out pushing on fences, hay bales, gates 24/7... his body is exhausted. But even though his body gave out, he's walking while laying on his side. I have him sitting up with support, but, i see no improvement today and its really hard to keep him still we will give up....
 
cowgirl8 said:
We've done what we could with brain swelling. If he were human, he'd be put in a drug induced coma, life support and IV drugs, but he's a calf....We tried
We'll probably put him down today. He laid down last night and continues to walk on his side... He's stuck in forward. So weird. He's worn himself out pushing on fences, hay bales, gates 24/7... his body is exhausted. But even though his body gave out, he's walking while laying on his side. I have him sitting up with support, but, i see no improvement today and its really hard to keep him still we will give up....
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You did what you could. He’s asking for a break
 

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