Calf with severe breathing problem

Help Support CattleToday:

Katpau

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Messages
830
Reaction score
547
Location
Roseburg, Oregon
I have a 41 day old calf that is on the cow and weighs about 175 lb. The calf has very loud raspy breathing. It can be heard from a hundred feet away. She is gasping from her abdomen. Once she lowered her head and attempted to cough something out. I first saw this when rotating pastures two nights ago, but could not catch her until the next AM. (yesterday) Her eyes, ears and attitude are good and she is still eating. She is strong enough that catching her was very difficult.

I gave her 10cc Nuflor and 1.75cc Prevail (florfenical – like Banamine) yesterday about 9AM at the recommendation of the Local Vet. Her temp was 103.5 at the time. There seems to be no change yet, although I forgot the thermometer when we went down to the chutes this AM, so I still need to check that. She is still breathing just as hard, but seems to be strong except for that breathing. The Vet thought maybe Diphteria, but she does not have most of the symptoms. I think it is some type of Pneumonia. Her over all health does not seem to be deteriorating which puzzles me. When I first saw her I thought she would be dead by morning, just from the way she sounded, yet she is still strong, up, and active.

Should I have seen a response in how she is breathing by now from the Florfenical?
 
Thanks for the reply. Her breathing is still quite audible this evening. I would like to hear from someone who has used Banamine or a similar product. How long after she receives an anti-inflammatory is there a visible response?
 
Are you sure there isnt something stuck in its mouth...we had a cow one time that showed all the signs of pneumonia. Treated her for it, but the next morning something didnt look right. We put her in the chute and when i felt of her face i could tell something was lodged deep in her mouth. It was a vertebra that she picked up in the pasture to chew on. It was sideways in the back of her mouth, and the hole in the center was allowing her to breath, but barely.. Fit perfectly.... WIth it stuck in her mouth, she'd wheeze and stick her nose out to breath.
Last year i had a calf who has a wad of grass stuck in the back of his throat. Standing next to him you'd swear he had pneumonia..
 
cowgirl8":1k9n9rcr said:
Are you sure there isnt something stuck in its mouth...we had a cow one time that showed all the signs of pneumonia. Treated her for it, but the next morning something didnt look right. We put her in the chute and when i felt of her face i could tell something was lodged deep in her mouth. It was a vertebra that she picked up in the pasture to chew on. It was sideways in the back of her mouth, and the hole in the center was allowing her to breath, but barely.. Fit perfectly.... WIth it stuck in her mouth, she'd wheeze and stick her nose out to breath.
Last year i had a calf who has a wad of grass stuck in the back of his throat. Standing next to him you'd swear he had pneumonia..

Something like this could be very possible.
 
I too think it could be something caught somewhere, but I did not find anything when I reached up into her mouth and stuck my fingers in her nose. I also palpated all along her larynx and could not feel anything. It could be something pretty small though, like a Foxtail seed. Her temperature this AM was 102.5, so within the range of normal. She still looks perfectly fine if you plug your ears and don't look at her gasping abdomen. Very active and eating hay. The wheezing sound stops momentarily as she swallows. She occasionally coughs, but not often. I can't figure her out.
 
Randi":11qq04wa said:
Diphtheria...
The Vet suggested this without seeing her. I looked it up and it said there would be an odor and sores. I could not smell anything nor see any sores. I plan to talk to the Vet more after I get a temperature and give the second shot of Nuflor this AM. I hate to spend more money on a calf that is likely worthless, but I may have the Vet take a look on Monday. I am leaning towards some obstruction in the windpipe, so diphteria would be suspect if she had any other symptoms. She kind of whistles with each breathe.
 
Any calf we've had with diphtheria repiritory problems has not had any odor or visible sores.But the raspy breathing is pretty much a deadngive away.

The protocol we follow for it is... Resflor and Second every second day for 8 days then Oxytetracycline ever third day for another 9 days.

It is difficult to clear up,.we run about a 50% success rate.
 
Just treated neighbors calf for diptheria here three days ago with Nuflor and it's like a brand new calf as of yesterday. Raspy breathing was largely gone in 12 hours.
 
Randi":1bg9vfny said:
Any calf we've had with diphtheria repiritory problems has not had any odor or visible sores.But the raspy breathing is pretty much a deadngive away.

The protocol we follow for it is... Resflor and Second every second day for 8 days then Oxytetracycline ever third day for another 9 days.

It is difficult to clear up,.we run about a 50% success rate.
I am not sure what you were saying above. "Resflor and second"? My Vet said give a double dose Nuflor SQ every 4th day rather than the normal dose IM every 2. I hope he is right in believing that is more effective. (Resflor and Nuflor are both Florfenicol from different companies). Do you know why Resflor is given 8 days before the switch to Oxy? When you had success, how long was it before you saw improvement in their breathing? It has been 4 days and she sounds neither better nor worse. Her temperature seems to stay about the same too. Running between 102.5 and 103.5.

Talked to the Vet this morning and he said the smell is only noticed after the infection is worse, so your observation is consistent with that. He still believes we are dealing with diphtheria. He did not feel he needed to come out, and recommended following up the Florfenicol (Nuflor) with Oxytetracylene and some sulfur boluses. I have Noramycin 300 on hand, so we will try that. This calf was fine just two days prior to treatment, so I think I caught it early. I am surprised by how labored the breathing was considering she was perfectly normal 48 hours before. I had done an inventory two days before, and I spent a fair amount of time walking through the herd writing down tag numbers. Most of the calves were bunched up in a small area in the shade, so I don't think I could have missed the sound of her breathing.
 
Katpau":gg0gkrpq said:
Randi":gg0gkrpq said:
Any calf we've had with diphtheria repiritory problems has not had any odor or visible sores.But the raspy breathing is pretty much a deadngive away.

The protocol we follow for it is... Resflor and Dexamethasone every second day for 8 days then Oxytetracycline ever third day for another 9 days.

It is difficult to clear up,.we run about a 50% success rate.
I am not sure what you were saying above. "Resflor and second"? My Vet said give a double dose Nuflor SQ every 4th day rather than the normal dose IM every 2. I hope he is right in believing that is more effective. (Resflor and Nuflor are both Florfenicol from different companies). Do you know why Resflor is given 8 days before the switch to Oxy? When you had success, how long was it before you saw improvement in their breathing? It has been 4 days and she sounds neither better nor worse. Her temperature seems to stay about the same too. Running between 102.5 and 103.5.

Talked to the Vet this morning and he said the smell is only noticed after the infection is worse, so your observation is consistent with that. He still believes we are dealing with diphtheria. He did not feel he needed to come out, and recommended following up the Florfenicol (Nuflor) with Oxytetracylene and some sulfur boluses. I have Noramycin 300 on hand, so we will try that. This calf was fine just two days prior to treatment, so I think I caught it early. I am surprised by how labored the breathing was considering she was perfectly normal 48 hours before. I had done an inventory two days before, and I spent a fair amount of time walking through the herd writing down tag numbers. Most of the calves were bunched up in a small area in the shade, so I don't think I could have missed the sound of her breathing.

That should have been Dexamethasone, not second..Autocorrect got me.

You should notice improvement fairly quickly. The long treatment I believe is because the infection is in the larynx and there isn't a lot of blood flow there (what I've read). Dex will help to reduce the swelling.
 
I think we have finally figured out the problem and there is probably not much that can be done. The calves larnyx was somehow injured and she kind of honks on exhale. Perhaps she was kicked or maybe she did have Diphtheria. She has a normal temperature, but the noise has gotten worse IMO. I have talked to 4 Vets including a retired Vet who I ran into at the clinic. I never got one out here because the area is short on cattle Vets and the few available are trying to keep up with emergencys during calving season. None felt a trip to the farm would be a financial good choice for me. I don't want to stress her by hauling her in. After treating for infection with two rounds of SQ Nuflor, two rounds of SQ Oxyetracycline 300, Sustain sulfur boluses, an anti-inflammatory drug, and worming for lung worms, it was suggested that I listen to her throat instead of the lungs. It was pretty obvious exactly were the obstruction was doing that. After hearing it, I could even feel it on palpation. Palpation makes her cough but she rarely coughs otherwise. She makes a loud honking sound when exhaling and breaths at a very rapid rate. She continues to eat well and grows at a normal pace. She gained 30 pounds in just less than two weeks which is pretty average for this cow. She even runs around playing and does not act sick or stressed other than the rapid breaths and awful honking sound. I kind of expect it may continue to get worse, eventually blocking her airway, but I will leave her be and hope she will outgrow it.
 
I thought I would post an update on this calf. I turned her and the cow out with about 25 other pair at the same time I made the above post. She did not have an elevated temperature and I felt pretty confident she wasn't contagious. For the next few weeks, every time I visited that pasture I could hear that loud honking sound from 100 feet away, but otherwise she seemed fine. Then one day I realized I was standing out in the middle of all the calves and I was not hearing her, but I could see her watching me. I had to get really close to hear anything out of the ordinary. From that day on it seemed like she rapidly improved. She seems to have completely recovered now. There is nothing unusual about her breathing anymore. No noise and she breaths at a normal rate. I did not believe this much improvement was possible when I turned her out. It seems odd that she sounded just horrible for almost a month and then in less than a week she seemed to completely recover. Today the cattle were rotating pastures and she stopped only feet away from my ATV to nurse. I watched her and listened very carefully. The last time I heard anything was a few weeks ago and that was when she turned her head way to the side to nurse, but today she moved around and nursed both sides. She sounded like any other normal healthy calf.
 

Latest posts

Top