Calf with badly buckled front legs

[rockridgecattle]

:bang:
Selenium...one shot treatment dose then follow directions for the second shot if needed...follow label directions in medication. If done at birth or when first noticing...visible improvement in 24 hours and in less than a week, would not know the calf had a problem.
Keep it simple

 

[kjonesel]

I haven't been on for awhile and just saw your post, by now everything may be improving. We had one over a year ago and it took a long while for it to be able to walk and he is still bowlegged but we began to give him 2 teaspoons of fish oil a day for a few days and the legs straightened within 48 hours.

 

[waihou]

We have seen a few of these calves with contracted tendons over the years, none this year though. Usually due to large calf in a small space, so they say.
Sometimes they come right within a day or two, or a week at the most-even if you don't do anything. This one couldn't stand to drink for the first day, and was about 12 hours before he was able to stand. He had a very patient Mum, who stood over him, and he could actually drink without standing up!

After a week with no improvement we strapped his legs with bubble wrap, inside 1 litre split plastic milk bottles and sticky vet wrap. Only left them on a few days as the wet and mud plus chafing caused him to lose all the hair below the knees.

He took about 6 weeks to come right and walk normally. He was sold as a weaner and was killed for the home freezer as an 18month old with a terrific carcase so they say!

 

[Rusty2]

Hi,
We bottle fed him for a while because he was too unsteady to feed off mum, but now he's able to walk over and drink from the cow. He's still walking on his wrists and as I said they crack when he walks. We haven't given him anything. He's pointing his feet a little more when standing though so that's progress...

 

[chippie]

He's 3 weeks old. Did you give him a Selenium injection? Time's a wasting.

 

[milkmaid]

A picture of the calf in question would be nice......

Most of the calves that people ask about are a simple case of contracted tendons due to selenium/vitamin E deficiency or lack of room in utero. The others are various forms of congenital crooked calf disease, e.g. angus arthrogryposis, lupine or hemlock poisoning, etc. If this is just simple contracted tendons, most of them will straighten out on their own (usually in about a week); if it's crooked calf due to genetic factors or lupine, he's not going to improve.

If he's as bad off as you make it sound, allowing him to continue to walk on the dorsal (front) of his fetlocks is inhumane. He needs to be splinted or euthanized - bearing weight on the joint will result in joint damage, and in some cases, soft tissue damage leading to joint infections.

 

[wbvs58]

Milkmaid, Arthrogryposis multiplex in Angus is a lethal recessive gene. Calves do not survive and are stillborn. There is not any mild form of the condition that allows the calf to survive.
Ken

 

[colleen]

It took our calf longer than 1 week to get better. It was about 2 1/2 weeks before we saw improvement. Our vet said no way not selenium and not to splint it because it would cause other problems. He suggested. Stretching the limbs gently and if in 2 weeks we did not see improvement of any sort then he would come out and gives shot of oxytetracycline. But hedid not want us doing it because the calf is so young and the dosage needed to be just right. I don't know anything about selenium deficiencies but he said that that was not a problem we would have. I just read a little on the subject and it said sel def. cows wil give birth to sel defic. Calves and selenium adequate cows will give birth to selenium adequate calves..??? I guess i need to read more on selenium and white muscle disease. Personally I would wait 14 days then if the calf is not improving at all, I would get the vet to administer the shot. Or is there a way to test if the newborn is selenium deficient?

 

[greybeard]

I see why selenium inj would be an option, but isn't oxytetracyline just an antibiotic?
What does oxy do to help contracted tendons?

Colleen:
http://mrdata.usgs.gov/geochem/county.p ... th-central

http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/aver ... tydata.htm

Nothing is written in stone tho--your area may vary--even within your own properties and within a county.

 

[dun]

I see why selenium inj would be an option, but isn't oxytetracyline just an antibiotic?
What does oxy do to help contracted tendons?

Colleen:
http://mrdata.usgs.gov/geochem/county.p ... th-central

http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/aver ... tydata.htm

Nothing is written in stone tho--your area may vary--even within your own properties and within a county.

Yes it's just an antibitoic but that's the stuff that for some strange reason works. At least that's what the horse folks do for bumblefoot. I don;t know if it's too late now or not.

 

[greybeard]

I see why selenium inj would be an option, but isn't oxytetracyline just an antibiotic?
What does oxy do to help contracted tendons?

Colleen:
http://mrdata.usgs.gov/geochem/county.p ... th-central

http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/aver ... tydata.htm

Nothing is written in stone tho--your area may vary--even within your own properties and within a county.

Yes it's just an antibitoic but that's the stuff that for some strange reason works. At least that's what the horse folks do for bumblefoot. I don;t know if it's too late now or not.

Well, assuming one does live in a selenium defficient area, would it be considered prudent in the future, to administer both oxy and a selenium injection, since the replies so far seem to be split on the issue? IOW--cover all the basis?

 

[dun]

google foal contracted tendons and there is information on what oxytet does and why it works. It makes sense (sort of) to me

 

[chippie]

It took our calf longer than 1 week to get better. It was about 2 1/2 weeks before we saw improvement. Our vet said no way not selenium and not to splint it because it would cause other problems. He suggested. Stretching the limbs gently and if in 2 weeks we did not see improvement of any sort then he would come out and gives shot of oxytetracycline. But hedid not want us doing it because the calf is so young and the dosage needed to be just right. I don't know anything about selenium deficiencies but he said that that was not a problem we would have. I just read a little on the subject and it said sel def. cows wil give birth to sel defic. Calves and selenium adequate cows will give birth to selenium adequate calves..??? I guess i need to read more on selenium and white muscle disease. Personally I would wait 14 days then if the calf is not improving at all, I would get the vet to administer the shot. Or is there a way to test if the newborn is selenium deficient?

The calf was born on Sept. 27. It is 3 weeks old.

 

[greybeard]

google foal contracted tendons and there is information on what oxytet does and why it works. It makes sense (sort of) to me

Thanks--I looked a little late last night. Either I haven't the brainpower to understand it or it was just the late hour, but I'll re-read it later today. There is little doubt tho, that many drugs developed to do one thing also have good effect when treating other things and even the docs and drug makers aren't sure why or how. Interesting thread for sure!!

 

[milkmaid]

Oxytetracycline binds to calcium. Calcium is necessary for muscle contraction. The tendons that are contracted, are the terminal end of muscles above the animal's 'knee' (carpus). Giving oxytetracycline at high doses binds that calcium and relaxes the tendons indirectly (in most cases- I've seen it not work as well).

Keep in mind that oxytetracycline does have side effects, e.g. kidney damage and damage to teeth at high/continuous doses.

 

[glacierridge]

We had a lot of problems with this about 10+ years ago, don't know if it was the sire or what at the time but lately haven't hardly seen any of it. Be patient. Definitely takes time to get straightened out. Some calves we did splint to help the worst cases but time is the biggest help it seems.

 

[Rusty2]

Hi again,
Apologies for not providing updates sooner. The calf is a month old now and is moving around really well, but still on his wrists. I spoke to a vet at 2 weeks and he said not to do anything but to give it a few weeks to see how things improve. I will be talking to him again shortly to see if he thinks he's saveable or not. Thank you for all the replies.

 

[Rusty2]

Hi all,
Good news for our little calf! He's now 3 months old and while it is still noticeable he is walking around much happier and importantly, on the hoof rather than the wrist. He still stands with his legs very straight but it has been a great success story considering we thought we might have to put him down a few months ago.

Thank you to everyone for giving your advice and sharing your stories.

Regards,
Rusty

 

[Anonymous]

Great. Thanks for the update.

 

[colleen]

Awesome! All it took was a little time! I'm happy for ya.