calf with possible damage lungs..

[jmbadavis]

At this point I am wondering what I could of done differently because the damage has been done. We had a heifer calf on April 6th. She was born during the night. It was cold and raining night. So we got mom and baby into a dry shed as soon as we could so baby could dry off. It was the next week and we started to notice the calf was breathing heavy. So we started her on nuflor. The vet was out April 15th. He took a look at her, said there was fluid on her lungs and continue with the nuflor. Actually I think we may have given her a couple shots of baxtril before going back on the nuflor. Her temp would run anywhere from normal to 104.4. Had another vet, same office, come out on May 17th. He took a look at her, said there was damage to her lungs and gave her a shot of draxxin. So we have been on a weekly dosage of draxxin since then. I called a different vet, different office, to get a second opinion. Now realizing that I am already caused the damage to her. This second opinion vet did give me some different suggestions that should have been done. I mad at myself for not pursuing this further. This is our first beef calf we have ever had. He said that the heat will probably get to her this summer. This was a cow/calf pair my son wanted to show at the county fairs. Not sure if she will be able to take the heat at the fair. I will continue with the antibiotics. I hate to just give up on her. This is just so frustrating. We have used this vet for almost 20 years. I realize he is only human and can make mistakes but still is maddening. We have another calf that is close to the same age at the sick one. I compare their activity levels and seem pretty close. Weight wise she is gaining good weight. I think what I am going to do is have the vet out that I got the second opinion from just to know for sure what we are dealing with. Even with damage to the lungs, we should be able to get rid of the bacteria that is causing the fever????

 

[Alice]

By now I would think that the bacteria has been erradicated by all of the antibiotics and then again, maybe not. Did any of the vets have you give banamine with the antibiotics? Banamine works to help with the inflammation in the lungs.

By now the calf may be chronic, and again, maybe not. I've spent a ton of money on Nuflor and Draxxin...and I always give banamine with Nuflor and Draxxin. And, when they high dollar meds don't work, I scale down to Tylosin, but I always give banamine with it. Ya never know what might hit just right in these situations. And, as always when you give antibiotics, cram a whole bunch of probios down that calf's throat.

I congratulate you on being able to get 3 vets to look at your calf. I've yet to get one to even call me back, much less come look at a calf.

Oh, and quit beating yourself up. Sounds to me like you did all you humanly could.

Alice

 

[jmbadavis]

What is probios?

 

[Alice]

probios is a brand name microbial paste in a tube that replaces the good bacteria that is wiped out along with the bad bacteria by the antibiotics. Nuflor, especially, is hard on a calf's gut because it wipes out the bacteria that helps the calf process what it eats.

you can get the same stuff cheaper at Walco, if you have a Walco in your area. otherwise, you can get Probios at any feed store and even at tractor supply.

Alice

 

[Bucky]

My vet book -Raising Beef Cattle by Heather Smith Thomas- says you can also inject DMSO for inflamation when dealing with pnemonia. I HAVE NOT tried it myself, but if I was out of options I would try it. Talk to your vet about it. I am not sure how you would inject it - IM or SQ.

 

[angie1]

I am dealing with calves with damaged lungs, 2 of them. One of them has obvious signs of stress ~ is thin, has to be in by 10:30 every morning as he can't take the heat. Started with Nuflor and dexamethazone (my vet said dex works better with lung issues), went to mycatil and banamine, then to A180, then back to dexamethazone with draxil. The first calf responded well to the mycatil and has not needed drugs, is doing great, no obvious signs of damage at all. Second calf looks like something out of a scary movie but still wants his bottle twice a day. He is 10 weeks old, still gets a bottle due to weight issues, is given probios in powder form everyday. Your baby may be just fine, my first one is. I know how very frustrating the whole process is....

 

[jmbadavis]

I have the vet that I called for a second opinion coming out this afternoon to take a look at her. Doing alot of praying that she is not too far gone. My son will just be heartbroken if he looses his first calf. Unfortunately he knows the ups and downs of owning animals.

 

[Alice]

A chronic "lunger," as my brother would call it, does not necessarily mean that the calf is suffering or won't continue to grow and thrive. It just means the calf is gonna cough a lot and will be prone to lung problems and will need to have plenty of shade in the summer and adequate shelter in the winter. Depending on what you want to do with the calf when it is grown, and since the calf is putting on weight and can still eat and gain weight despite the possible lung problem, I wouldn't count it down and out just yet.

Alice

 

[milkmaid]

I'm not sure I understand completely - is the calf still running a high temperature? still coughing? still breathing heavy?

If the calf still has an obvious respiratory infection, pick your drug, choose your treatment plan, and put the calf on several days of a daily treatment.

If the calf doesn't appear to have an active infection, well... Some calves just take time to recover completely from BRD. I had one heifer I kept wondering about because she just seemed much shorter of breath than her contemporaries - esp when the calves were all out frolicking. She'd been treated but appeared to have some lung damage. Once summer hit, green grass, and it was warm out... the breathing problems vanished and I haven't seen them since. Been more than a year now.

Rally 20/Recov'r (or however you spell that second one) are antihistamines - triplennamine hydrochloride if I remember correctly. Both will help calves with lung problems - I'd give it SC and at a lower dose, after seeing a colt with a strong reaction yesterday.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Sorry to hear of your unpleasant experience. Based upon your description of events it sounds to me like the infection is probably over & further antibiotics will not be helpful & could actually contribute to kidney & liver problems if continued for too long. When cattle get a bad case of BRD, it can leave abcesses & scar tissue in the lungs, which reduces the breathing capacity of the lungs. The more severe & prolonged the infection the worse the damage can be. That is why it is so critical to get BRD treated immediately with an effective antibiotic along with Banamine.

Respiration (breathing) not only supplies the body with oxygen, it is an important part of transferring heat out of the body. When you see an animal panting they taking in more oxygen but also are removing excess heat. Cattle have very little excess lung capacity compared to similar sized animals such as a horse and that is why even a moderate case of BRD can have a significant impact on the animals life. What usually happens to these animals that survive the infection with significant lung damage is they can perform fairly well when temperatures are not too high. Unfortunately when temperatures get hotter they will not be able to transfer enough heat from their body and will die. Some with moderate damage may survive if they have adequate shade & nutrition. But even these animals are usually poor performers.

IMO-there is no further treatment that can help this particular calf. Just make sure she has good nutrition, plenty of shade., water & let nature take its course. If you're lucky she might come around but I wouldn't get my hopes too high. Even with the best, most timely treatment some just don't repond. Your initial treatment appears sound. Possibly some Banamine could have helped. It all comes down to the individual animal as some just don't respond as well as others. Don't beat yourself up over this as it comes with the territory. As ol' CB says "You can't loose em if you ain't got em". Just my 2 cents worth.

Good luck & happy trails.

Brock

 

[Roadapple]

I think the dexamethasone would work pretty well. Although it is a steroid and I like to avoid it if I can. I would try banamine and draxxin. If that dont work she is to far gone anyways to worth spending anymore money on. So at that point I think I would have to have her butchered for some veal. No offense. It sounds like you have done all you can do already and then some. Some animals just wont make it. As cb would say if you own livestock you will have dead stock.

Before butchering I'd look into withdrawal for the drugs first.

 

[Pooog1]

Not sure on what your thinking of doing with this heifer, but whatever you do, don't keep her. Even if she appears to get better, she more than likely has permanent lung damage and could be more prone to get pneumonia later in life. Had this happen with a 3yr old we purchased. She was a little smaller than her piers but in good condition. She lost her calf about 1 month early and about one month after calving got pneumonia. Treated her and got her over it but she came down with it about 6 weeks later again. Got her in the barn out of the pasture and she recovered again, but shipped her off as soon as treatment/withdrawal allowed. She didn't bring much as being run through the sales barn had her breathing harder than normal. Tough experience and quite a loss of $$$.

 

[jmbadavis]

here is what happened with the second opinion vet. He came out took a look at the calf. Right off the bat, she was not what he expected. She was in much better condition than he expected. He did an exam on her. In the meantime, the cow came over, we tied her up so he took a quick look at her. We had noticed that mom has had what I would call a snoring sound sometimes when she would breath. So we mentioned that to him. He listened to her throat, then listened to the calf again. He says that both the calf and cow have what is like degradic (sp?) laryngititis in their throat. The calf's lungs sounded fine (what a relief). He said it is some type of bacteria, may be chronic, but put both of them on sulfur medicine. On one hand I was so relieved that the calf's lungs were fine, but also a bit ticked at our vet for mis-diagnosising. Especially because I have been in contact with him since this started (2 mos. ago) with the calf and he just kept prescriping nuflor and/or draxxin. Has anyone ever heard of this? The vet says they pick it up on the ground or just in the environment.

 

[ginahelm]

I am dealing with calves with damaged lungs, 2 of them. One of them has obvious signs of stress ~ is thin, has to be in by 10:30 every morning as he can't take the heat. Started with Nuflor and dexamethazone (my vet said dex works better with lung issues), went to mycatil and banamine, then to A180, then back to dexamethazone with draxil. The first calf responded well to the mycatil and has not needed drugs, is doing great, no obvious signs of damage at all. Second calf looks like something out of a scary movie but still wants his bottle twice a day. He is 10 weeks old, still gets a bottle due to weight issues, is given probios in powder form everyday. Your baby may be just fine, my first one is. I know how very frustrating the whole process is....

Inquiring on what happened with both calves?

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Inquiring on what happened with both calves?

With all due respect the calf you are inquiring of is about 16 years old (or would be).
In all probabilities that problem has been laid to rest so to speak.
In regard to your question as to what happened to the calves, I do not know.

 

[ginahelm]

I have a calf that was born September 6, 2021 to a neighbor who got his first young heifer from a man who was using his land to graze his herd. She became pregnant and had the little calf. She left the calf to fend for himself and after 3 or 4 days the neighbor came over with the calf and asked if I could help because I have goats and poultry. After I laughed, I began researching and we got him colostrum. Of corse it was late and we got him to the vet. The calf had pneumonia and does great in the winter, but summer in Texas is a beast. The calf is back to having a cough which he seems to keep during hot times, but goes away in the cool weather. All the neighbors and

Not sure on what your thinking of doing with this heifer, but whatever you do, don't keep her. Even if she appears to get better, she more than likely has permanent lung damage and could be more prone to get pneumonia later in life. Had this happen with a 3yr old we purchased. She was a little smaller than her piers but in good condition. She lost her calf about 1 month early and about one month after calving got pneumonia. Treated her and got her over it but she came down with it about 6 weeks later again. Got her in the barn out of the pasture and she recovered again, but shipped her off as soon as treatment/withdrawal allowed. She didn't bring much as being run through the sales barn had her breathing harder than normal. Tough experience and quite a loss of $$$.

That must have been hard, but lesson learned. I'm going though this and thank you for posting so I know where I'm headed.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Sell it or eat it. Lung'ers are prone to dying in the feed lot. Make lemonade while/if you can. Good luck..