Dislocated Shoulder?

[travlnusa]

6 week old holstein steer calf.

Temp is normal. Weaned last week. In past few days, food/water intake down. Calf is up and around. Good looking eyes, and alert ears, however worried about dehydration setting in with water intake down.

It appears that its from shoulder is dislocated. Rather than the leg being inline with body strait down, it is sticking about about 1"-1 1/2". Will do all nessessay not to put weight on that hoof.

Am I calling a vet, or is this correctable for someone who have never dealt with this in the past?

I am willing to call the vet as she will be out here in 2-3 weeks for angus herd health check. May as well move that up if she should come out for that.

 

[milkmaid]

Does it/can it move the leg/shoulder when walking?

 

[travlnusa]

When startled, or something, it will move leg down just enough to not fall over while "running" back to hutch. Otherwise, it will set it on the ground when walking, but does not put any real weight on it.

There is no swelling to lead me to think joint ill.

Thanks

 

[mnmtranching]

Make sure the calf is penned alone, small area out of the weather. Water and food. As long as its eats and drinks should recover all right. As long as there is no open wound, not likely to run a fever unless there are other complications. I say it will be fine in a month or two. Good luck.

 

[travlnusa]

I am not trying to be a smart (rear), but are you saying if I leave the shoulder alone it will go back to where it should be?

Calf is in its own hutch as it has been since 3 hrs after birth.

Please, no offence, I am just wanting to learn all I can from all of you.

Thanks

 

[milkmaid]

Has the calf, by any chance, been given any injections of anything (particularly LA200) in the neck recently?

Have you checked all the joints on the calf's leg?

 

[travlnusa]

No injections at all.

But for future reference, why do you ask?

 

[dun]

The front shulder isn;t a socket joint, it's kind of a hanging joint. Can;t really discribe it all that well. It's more of a tendon/ligiment/muscle kind of deal.

 

[travlnusa]

Dun,

Your answer makes the other posting logical to me now.

Mnmtranching, again I hope I did not offend you. I value all opinions, thus I come here.

I feel fooling not knowing this. I will keep it alone, but will move out my good hutch and set up in a seperate dry area. Need to clean the hutches for new batch of calves coming in Thursday.

Milkmaid, I would ask that you explain to me why you asked about the neck. As I sell these guys as feeders, I do shoot the neck. What do I need to learn here?

 

[dun]

Milkmaid, I would ask that you explain to me why you asked about the neck. As I sell these guys as feeders, I do shoot the neck. What do I need to learn here?

Not Milkmaid, but she may have asked because LA200 is well known for causing irritation/swelling when injected. But I may be totally wrong in my assumption.

Something else you may consider is giving the calf a half dozen aspirin twice a day for a couple of days. Brings down swelling and can help with pain.

 

[milkmaid]

Milkmaid, I would ask that you explain to me why you asked about the neck. As I sell these guys as feeders, I do shoot the neck. What do I need to learn here?

Not Milkmaid, but she may have asked because LA200 is well known for causing irritation/swelling when injected. But I may be totally wrong in my assumption.

Very close guess. Oxytetracycline can also cause temporary nerve damage if injected IM too close to the nerve that runs in front of the scapula (shoulder). I've also seen a case of long-term (1 1/2 yrs) temporary nerve damage, suspected cause was an injection of Nuflor.

I'm going to say this is looking like a situation we can't make a reasonable online diagnosis for, and you'd be best off just moving up your vet appt if you really want to know what's wrong with the little guy. 'Course, Holstein bull/steer calves are only worth 5-30 bucks as day-olds in my area, don't know about yours, so it may not be worth it.