> We were given a calf at 5 days
> old, she had been pulled, she was
> born 3 weeks premature. Have had
> her to vets, he's given her
> Selenium, long acting penicillin,
> and Bentamin 2ml each day for 6
> days. We are using the last of the
> Bentamin today. She can move all
> her legs, but still doesn't seem
> to have the strength to stand up,
> she's nursing well, I am feeding
> her 4x a day about 4 pints each
> feeding. We are new to this, and
> was wondering if there's anything
> else we should be doing? Also,
> should we have a sling or
> something made up to help her have
> strenth in her legs? I think that
> her tendons haven't fully
> developed in the legs. Would
> appreciate any help I can get, we
> take her back to the vets on
> Wednesday for followup.
The only thing I know to do is just keep working with her. If your vets aren't better than ours, they're no help. We only have 3 vets in our area that work with "large animals" even though we are in cattle country here in Texas. The last calf we took to a vet last year (7 months old) died only a few hours later. The vet didn't even do much of an exam. Several years ago we had a very small calf born. She refused to stay up and walk. Her mother would just go off to pasture and leave her. We bottle fed her and tried everything we could to get her to move about. She'd just lay in the same spot. One day my little nephew came to visit. He has a very bad personality and animals sense this and won't stay around him. He went with us to feed the calf. When he got close to her, she got up and left and has been walking ever since. She's grown now. I know this won't help you, but you might find it amusing. Maybe you just need to find a mean little kid.
I hope your "baby" survives,
William Parris
Victoria, Texas
[email protected]
